Kylian Mbappe, a superstar for France and the 2022 World Cup Golden Boot winner, was born in France to a Cameroonian father and an Algerian mother, but he chose to play for his country of birth. A key contributor to France's 2022 World Cup run to the Final and the victory in Russia in 2018, the striker grew up idolizing fellow Franco-Algerian star Zinedine Zidane.
In fact, he gave up all of the money he made during the previous World Cup tournament to a children's charity. Nearly $500,000 in US currency was allegedly among his tournament winnings. An interesting fact is that the now 24-year-old tried to make the senior national squad for Cameroon, his father's country, despite the fact that he was born in Paris.
Back in the day, Wilfried Mbappe, Kylian's father, revealed that prior to the 2018 tournament, a member of the Cameroon FA asked for money from him in order to guarantee his son a spot on the Indomitable Lions' roster. He has also detailed the events that led to his son playing soccer for Les Blues rather than for Cameroon.
Why did Kylian Mbappe choose France over Cameroon?
“At first, I wanted my son to play for Cameroon but, someone at the Cameroon Football Federation charged a sum of money that I didn’t have to make him play. The French didn’t charge anything," he told Cameroon Concord News back in 2018. While without naming names to pay a bribe to play for the Cameroon national team, Mbappe Sr. added that corruption was hurting the sport throughout Africa.
After the World Cup Final between France and Argentina, Kylian Mbappe became the first player since 1966's Geoff Hurst to score a hat trick in the tournament's final game. The night ended with the striker walking up to the triumph platform to receive an individual award for reminding the world of his enormous skill, but there were occasions when a far larger reward was within his reach.
There was a chance for the Paris Saint-Germain ace to claim this contest as his own and become famous for doing it two times in a row. Mbappe may have won the World Cup in 2018, but four years ago, another No. 10 will forever be associated with the final because he, too, hoisted the trophy.
The Frenchman shone brightly at Lusail Stadium, and for a while, it seemed as though this was once again destined to be his moment. However, in the end, Argentina and Lionel Messi took home the hardware.
