50 Fun Facts About Kylian Mbappe

In which Paris suburb was Mbappe raised?

Bondy, in the north-eastern suburbs of Paris, is where Mbappe joined the local club at six, with his father Wilfrid, a coach there, among the first people to train him.

Mbappe was born in December 1998, five months after France won their first World Cup by beating which team?

Brazil lost that final 3-0 just outside Paris on 12 July 1998. Mbappe was born on 20 December, so he was still only 19 when France won it again in 2018.

From which country does Mbappe's father Wilfrid originate?

Cameroon is his father Wilfrid's homeland: Wilfrid comes from Djebale, an island village near Douala, where its chief welcomed Kylian with traditional rites in July 2023.

Which sport did Mbappe's mother, Fayza Lamari, play professionally?

Handball was Fayza Lamari's game: she played until 2001 for a club that spent several seasons in France's top division, then moved to the negotiating table as the adviser behind her son's contracts.

Mbappe's arms-folded goal celebration was copied from which member of his family?

His brother Ethan, eight years younger, folded his arms in triumph after scoring against him at the FIFA video game; Kylian borrowed the pose and made it his trademark.

Which language did Mbappe start learning at 15 and later speak fluently?

Spanish classes began at 15, reportedly with a future move to Real Madrid in mind, and at 25 he gave his first press conference for the club in the language.

Which French national football academy did Mbappe attend from the age of 12?

Clairefontaine, the French federation's academy, was his base from 12; by 14 he is said to have turned down every other Ligue 1 club, and several of Europe's biggest, to sign for Monaco.

Which English club gave the young Mbappe a trial that included a youth match against Charlton?

Chelsea invited him to London as a schoolboy and put him in a junior game against Charlton, but the family weighed that offer against others across Europe and chose Monaco.

Which French football great hosted the teenage Mbappe during a trial week at Real Madrid in 2012?

Zinedine Zidane arranged the visit and offered the boy a lift in his car; the overawed Mbappe asked whether he should take his shoes off first, and still signed for Monaco.

Whose record as Monaco's youngest first-team player did Mbappe break in 2015?

Thierry Henry had held the record since 1994 and, within three months, lost his mark as Monaco's youngest scorer to Mbappe too; Arsene Wenger went on to liken the teenager to his old Arsenal striker.

Which Monaco manager gave the 16-year-old Mbappe his first-team debut in December 2015?

Leonardo Jardim sent him on as an 88th-minute substitute at 16, and by May 2017 the Portuguese coach's young side, with 26 goals from Mbappe, were champions of France.

Which Monaco striker did Mbappe credit as a key influence in his breakout season?

Radamel Falcao was 'like a teacher', Mbappe said: the Colombian left him space to express himself and passed on a calm in front of goal that the excitable teenager did not yet have.

Which German club did Mbappe's Monaco beat in the 2017 Champions League quarter-finals?

Borussia Dortmund lost the first leg 3-2 to two Mbappe goals, less than 24 hours after it was postponed because explosions had hit their team bus; he scored again in the return.

Which Italian club knocked Mbappe's Monaco out of the 2017 Champions League semi-finals?

Juventus went through 4-1 on aggregate, but Mbappe's goal in Turin was the first they had conceded in 689 minutes of that Champions League; Monaco still ended the season with a first French title in 17 years.

Mbappe's €180 million move to PSG made him the second most expensive player ever, behind which fellow 2017 signing?

Neymar had cost PSG a record €222 million weeks earlier, which is why Mbappe first arrived on a season's loan: the delay was reportedly meant to keep the club inside UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules.

Which PSG manager's speech at the Mbappe family home helped persuade him to sign in 2017?

Unai Emery gave Mbappe his word that he would play, PSG recruiter Luis Ferrer recalled, at a time when Real Madrid would not guarantee the 18-year-old a starting place.

Mbappe's PSG teammates gave him a nickname in 2017 taken from which cartoon heroes?

The Ninja Turtles: the dressing room called him Donatello from his first weeks in Paris because, Adrien Rabiot explained, he looks a bit like a turtle.

Mbappe was the first winner of which Ballon d'Or-night award for the world's best under-21 player?

Kopa Trophy: former Ballon d'Or winners cast the votes, and in 2018 they made Mbappe the runaway first winner on a night when the 19-year-old also came fourth for the main prize.

Against which club did Mbappe score four goals in 13 minutes in 2018?

Lyon trailed only 1-0 after an hour, with a man sent off on each side, before the 19-year-old struck four times, the youngest player in 45 years to score four in a Ligue 1 match.

Which Monaco striker matched Mbappe's 18 goals in the Covid-shortened 2019-20 Ligue 1 season?

Wissam Ben Yedder also had 18 when the season was stopped early, but he had played 26 matches to Mbappe's 20, so the top-scorer prize went to Mbappe on goals per game.

Which club beat Mbappe's PSG 1-0 in the 2020 Champions League final?

Bayern Munich won it with a 59th-minute header from Kingsley Coman, a French winger who had come through PSG's own youth academy.

Which player later overtook Mbappe as the youngest to 20 Champions League goals?

Erling Haaland took the record at 20 in March 2021, only three months after Mbappe had set it, and got there in just 14 matches, ten fewer than the previous fastest player.

On the final day of 2021-22, when he sealed Ligue 1's goals and assists double, what did Mbappe announce?

A new PSG contract: he turned down Real Madrid to re-sign on the day he finished as the first player to top Ligue 1's official tables for both goals (28) and assists (17).

In which competition did Mbappe score five against sixth-tier Pays de Cassel in 2023, a first for a PSG player?

Coupe de France: the round-of-32 tie was goalless for almost half an hour before Mbappe scored a first-half hat-trick and two more after the break in a 7-0 win.

Whose record of 200 goals did Mbappe break in 2023 to become PSG's all-time top scorer?

Edinson Cavani had needed 301 games for his 200 goals; Mbappe passed him in his 247th, aged 24, with a stoppage-time strike in a 4-2 win over Nantes.

With which striker did Mbappe tie as Champions League top scorer in 2023-24, his final PSG season?

Harry Kane also finished on eight goals, and both went out in the semi-finals: Kane to Real Madrid, the eventual winners and the club Mbappe joined weeks later.

Which club beat PSG to the 2021 Ligue 1 title, the only one Mbappe missed in seven seasons there?

Lille finished a single point ahead of PSG in 2020-21 even though Mbappe was the league's top scorer with 27 goals; he won the title in each of his other six seasons in Paris.

Posters of which Real Madrid star covered Mbappe's childhood bedroom walls?

Cristiano Ronaldo was his boyhood idol, and the two posed for a photo when a 14-year-old Mbappe visited Madrid's training ground; in 2024 he was unveiled at the Bernabeu as a Real Madrid player himself.

In which match did Mbappe score on his Real Madrid debut in August 2024?

The UEFA Super Cup: he scored the second goal in a 2-0 win over Atalanta in Warsaw, so his very first game for Madrid won him a title.

Which Chilean striker's record for goals in a debut Real Madrid season did Mbappe break in 2025?

Ivan Zamorano's 37 goals in 1992-93 had stood for 32 years; Mbappe reached 39 with a hat-trick against Barcelona in a Clasico that Madrid still lost.

Which striker scored 39 league goals in 2024-25 yet lost the European Golden Shoe to Mbappe's 31?

Viktor Gyokeres outscored him by eight for Sporting, but goals in Portugal's league earn 1.5 points against two in La Liga, so Mbappe's 31 won the Golden Shoe by 62 points to 58.5.

Whose departure from Real Madrid in 2025 freed up the number 10 shirt for Mbappe?

Luka Modric left for AC Milan after 13 years in Madrid, so Mbappe gave up the 9 he had worn for a season and took the number he already wore for France.

Against which Greek club did Mbappe score a Champions League hat-trick in 6 minutes 42 seconds in 2025?

Olympiacos were leading 1-0 when he scored three times in 6 minutes 42 seconds, at the time the second-fastest Champions League hat-trick, 30 seconds slower than Mohamed Salah's; he added a fourth after the break.

Against which team did Mbappe score his first World Cup goal in 2018?

Peru lost 1-0 to his tap-in from inside the six-yard box, a goal that put France into the last 16, knocked the Peruvians out and made the 19-year-old his country's youngest World Cup scorer.

Whom did France beat 4-2 in the 2018 World Cup final, with Mbappe scoring?

Croatia conceded France's fourth to his low shot from 25 yards, and the 19-year-old then gave his World Cup bonuses to a charity, saying other people needed the money more than he did.

Who was the only teenager before Mbappe to score in a World Cup final?

Pele, who scored twice in the 1958 final, tweeted 'Welcome to the club' after Mbappe's goal and joked that he might have to dust off his boots if the Frenchman kept equalling his records.

Against whom did Mbappe miss the decisive penalty at Euro 2020?

Switzerland came from 3-1 down to level in the last minute, then won the shoot-out when Yann Sommer saved from Mbappe, the only player on either side who failed to score.

Against whom did Mbappe score the winner in the 2021 Nations League final?

Spain protested that he was offside when the pass was played, but the goal stood because defender Eric Garcia had touched the ball on its way through, which under the laws played Mbappe onside.

Against which team did Mbappe score four in an 8-0 win, his first France hat-trick?

Kazakhstan were beaten 8-0 in Paris in November 2021, a win that sealed France's place at the 2022 World Cup; no France player had scored four in a match since Just Fontaine in 1958.

Who was the only man before Mbappe to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final?

Geoff Hurst's 1966 treble for England stood alone for 56 years; Mbappe matched it in 2022 with two goals in two minutes and a late penalty, yet France still lost the shoot-out to Argentina.

Whom did Mbappe beat by one goal to win the Golden Boot at the 2022 World Cup?

Lionel Messi finished on seven and went home with the Golden Ball and the World Cup itself; Mbappe's eight, completed by a hat-trick in the final, were the most at one tournament for 20 years.

Whose international retirement led to Mbappe becoming France captain in 2023?

Hugo Lloris retired after the 2022 final; Didier Deschamps gave the armband to Mbappe, then 24, rather than the more senior Antoine Griezmann, and the new captain scored twice in his first match.

Against which minnows did France win 14-0 in 2023, with Mbappe scoring a hat-trick?

Gibraltar scored an own goal after three minutes, had a man sent off in the 18th and conceded seven in each half; 14-0 was then a record win for France and for European Championship qualifying.

Whom did Mbappe overtake as France's all-time top scorer at the 2026 World Cup?

Olivier Giroud had retired from France duty in 2024 with 57 goals; Mbappe went past him with two against Senegal in the opening game, one match before winning his 100th cap.

Mbappe's ten goals at the 2026 World Cup were the most at one tournament since which West German striker in 1970?

Gerd Muller also scored ten in 1970. Mbappe's ten made him the first player to win the Golden Boot twice, yet France finished fourth after losing the bronze match 6-4 to England.

Which brand sponsored Mbappe from childhood and released his first signature boot in 2017?

Nike backed him for roughly two decades and built signature boots around him, but in 2026 the deal ended and he signed with the Swiss sportswear brand On.

Mbappe's production company Zebra Valley signed a multi-year content deal in 2022 with which sports league?

NBA: the league and Zebra Valley, the production company Mbappe had just founded, announced in June 2022 that they would make original basketball content together, with Mbappe posing beside commissioner Adam Silver.

Which Ligue 2 club did Mbappe's holding company buy an 80% stake in during 2024?

Caen had agreed to take him as a 13-year-old in 2012 but had to pull out after being relegated; twelve years later his investment firm bought 80% of the club from an American fund.

Which missing footballer's search did Mbappe donate $34,000 towards in 2019?

Emiliano Sala's plane had vanished over the English Channel a week earlier, and Mbappe's gift went to a crowdfunded private search; he later gave again to the hunt for the pilot, David Ibbotson.

Mbappe became godfather to two baby animals of which species at Beauval Zoo in 2021?

Giant pandas: at the naming ceremony for Beauval's two cubs he revealed their names alongside the godmother, Chinese Olympic diving champion Zhang Jiaqi, to draw attention to a threatened species.