Kylian Mbappe: Details About The Golden Boot Winner

Soccer — football, to the rest of the world — is undoubtedly a global affair. The World Cup, in particular, is a viewer magnet if a report by the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is anything to go by. According to the organization, a record 3.5 billion watchers tuned in to catch the 2018 World Cup Final. France emerged as the tournament's winner, taking home a $38 million prize. The then-19-year-old Kylian Mbappé, representing the French national team, managed a total of four goals. The striker won the hearts of fans and eventually bagged the Hyundai Best Young Player Award.

2022 would be a re-run of Mbappé's exemplary performance. A defending champion, the player put on a stellar showcase at the final World Cup match against Lionel Messi's Argentina. With a reported 24.1 million observers glued to the screen, he scored a hat trick that was one of its kind. By the 90-minute mark, Mbappé had leveled the playing field, quite literally.

To the French fans' disappointment, however, the game went into a penalty shoot-out that handed Argentina a 4-2 win. An obviously disheartened Mbappé won the Golden Boot award. He may have lost, but he's got the world's attention. There isn't a better time to unpack the life of the soccer star. Let's dig in!

According to Wilfried Mbappé, his son was a star in the making from the very beginning. At the age of three, he persistently asked for the chance to play. Wilfried would hold back on having him on the pitch until he was sure of his passion. A young Kylian Mbappé eventually got so skilled, he'd often floor his peers. Wilfried knew he'd struck gold. "Kylian dazzled in front of kids 2 or 3 years older than him. After Clairefontaine, he joined Monaco and I told him: you are going to become a pro," said Wilfried in an interview with Le Parisien.

As a coach, he worked with Kylian in his formative years, often staying true to one golden rule: "What happens on the pitch stays on the pitch or the locker room." Theirs was a sturdy professional affair during the day, while the evenings were laid-back. "At home, I became the dad again and there was no more coach or briefing," Wilfried told Le Parisien.

The father-son duo maintained a scrupulous working relationship, so intense that the people around them only picked up on their kin connection a year and a half later. "He never called me dad and since I worked at the stadium from 10 am to 11 pm, it was my wife who would bring him and then bring him back," Wilfried disclosed.

In a conversation with former England player and Inter Miami CF co-owner David Beckham (via beIN Sports), the elite soccer players agreed that there was no substitute for putting the hours in. "The only answer you have is to work. Hard work is the only way to success for me," Kylian Mbappé said. "Hard work in our stadium today," he captioned an Instagram post in 2018. That he has razor-sharp focus is a no-brainer. So buried is the soccer star in his job, that he missed a number of press conferences during the 2022 World Cup, even when he was named the Man of the Match.

"I know that there were a lot of questions about why I did not speak. Already, for all the journalists who are there, it was nothing personal against the journalists, nothing against people," Mbappé eventually let out, per RMC Sport. "It was just that I always have this need to focus on my competition and when I want to focus on something I need to do it 100% and not waste energy on anything else."

Mbappé agreed to be fined by FIFA, a punishment that is not so uncommon in the world of sports. Tennis sportswoman Naomi Osaka was also fined in a similar fashion back in 2021.

Growing up, Kylian Mbappé was inspired by the best players in the game: Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, both of whom share a respectful relationship, and Brazil's Neymar da Silva Santos Jr. Speaking to beIN Sports, Mbappé disclosed that the single goal that blew him away the most was by Ronaldo. "The goal of Ronaldo against Gigi (Buffon)," he said. "I had the chance to play with Gigi and he talked to me about it and the feeling he had when it happened." The word idol, a crown emoji, and a goat emoji feature in the caption of a post by Mbappé on Instagram, accompanied by a picture of himself and Ronaldo.

Now that he's established himself as a force in the world of soccer, he is in the same space as his role models. When Lionel Messi joined Paris Saint-Germain in 2021, he became Mbappé's teammate. On working alongside Messi, Mbappé told BT Sport, "It's easy to play with Lionel Messi." The pair's face off at the World Cup landed Messi his first trophy, which led him to break an Instagram record.

Only a few years prior to Messi's Paris Saint-Germain debut, Mbappé and Neymar Jr. had joined the team. Asked whether he still had an admiration for the trio, Mbappé shared with beIN Sports, "For sure. When you have the chance to play at the top, you need to take inspiration from the best."

According to Forbes, Kylian Mbappé is the world's most bankable soccer player in 2022. The publication projected that the Paris Saint-Germain forward would make an annual $128 million in gross sales, rendering him the youngest player to do so. Mbappé's soaring income is in part due to his parents' meticulous management style, conducted with the aid of a legal firm.

Despite being one of the highest-paid athletes in the world, Mbappé spent a good chunk of his early years as a paid professional living frugally. "For three years we did not touch the money. We had the syndrome of the poor," his mother Fayza Lamari said in an interview with Le Parisien. Now that he is a first-class earner, Mbappé's penny-pinching habits haven't wavered. "His relationship to money is special. For example, he never has a credit card or money on him," Lamari told Le Parisien.

Mbappé is likely to spend on a good pair of sneakers if his shopping experience with Complex is taken into account. His style is, to a degree, influenced by the Parisian suburb he hails from. "Where I come from, we often say that the suburbs have an influence on Paris, and Paris influences the world," Mbappé revealed in his chat.

When he is not displaying his prowess In the field, Kylian Mbappé has a ritual he abides by, as he disclosed in The Wall Street Journal. "I cannot take my shower without music," he admitted. "I cannot. If not, I stay in my bed." 

Mbappé also gave away that he is most likely to have a French singer named Chocolat on his playlist. Music seems to have a huge impact on the soccer player's life. If he were to have a meal with anyone, dead or alive, "We Are the World" singer Michael Jackson comes to mind.

Mbappé is not all about work, according to his conversation with ESPN. A night out goes a long way. "Sometimes I go to pop clubs and sometimes I go to electronic ones, depending on where I am at the time," he informed the media outlet. Still musically speaking, as far as the Drake-Kanye debate goes, Mbappé is with the Champagne Papi. "Obviously Drake...I listen to more Drake," he shared.