Kylian Mbappé

Kylian Mbappé - Quick Facts

Profile Overview of Kylian Mbappé

Kylian Mbappé Lottin (born 20 December 1998) is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for La Liga club Real Madrid and captains the France national team. Widely regarded as one of the best players in the world and one of the greatest French players of all time, he is known for his pace, dribbling, and finishing. Mbappé has scored over 400 goals in his senior career, ranking as the all-time top goalscorer for Paris Saint-Germain (256), the France national team (66), and the FIFA World Cup (22).

This profile of Kylian Mbappé covers Early Life and Family Background, Early Career and Breakthrough, Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid.

Born in Paris and raised in Bondy, Mbappé began his senior career in 2015 with Monaco, where he won the 2016–17 Ligue 1 title, the club's first league title in 17 years. In 2017, at age 18, he signed for Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) on an eventual permanent transfer worth €180 million, making him the second-most-expensive player in the world. He won 15 trophies with PSG, including six Ligue 1 titles and four Coupes de France, and helped them reach the Champions League final in 2020. He also finished as the league's top goalscorer a record six times, and won Ligue 1 Player of the Year a record five times. In 2024, Mbappé joined Real Madrid on a free transfer. In his debut season, he scored in the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Intercontinental Cup as Madrid won both titles. He won the European Golden Shoe in 2025. He was the top scorer in La Liga in 2025 and 2026, and in the Champions League in 2026.

Mbappé made his senior debut for France in 2017. At the 2018 FIFA World Cup, he became the second teenager, after Pelé, to score in a World Cup final and win the World Cup, being honoured as the World Cup Best Young Player and French Player of the Year. He helped France win the UEFA Nations League in 2021, ranking as top scorer in the finals. At the 2022 World Cup, Mbappé led France to a second consecutive final, in which he scored a hat-trick. He set the record for most goals scored in World Cup finals (4), and won the tournament's Golden Boot and Silver Ball. At the 2026 World Cup, Mbappé won the Golden Boot as his 10 goals made him the third-highest scorer in a single World Cup, tied with Gerd Müller. Mbappé also became the first player to win multiple World Cup Golden Boots.

Whoscored.com rated Mbappé as Europe's best-performing player between 2021 and 2022. Mbappé finished as runner-up for The Best FIFA Men's Player in 2022 and finished third in voting for the 2023 Ballon d'Or. He has been the UEFA Champions League top scorer in a season twice and was awarded IFFHS World's Best Top Goal Scorer twice. He has been named in the FIFPRO World 11 six times and the IFFHS Men's World Team five times. He was awarded the Golden Boy in 2017 and the Kopa Trophy in 2018. During the 2021–22 season, he became the first player to finish as both the Ligue 1 top scorer and the top assist provider. Mbappé was named one of Time's 100 most influential people in the world in 2023 and was listed by Forbes as one of the world's ten highest-paid athletes in 2023 and 2024.

Early Life and Family Background of Kylian Mbappé

Kylian Mbappé Lottin was born on 20 December 1998 in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, and was raised in Bondy, Seine-Saint-Denis, in the city's northeastern suburbs. His father, Wilfrid Mbappé, is a football coach who is originally from the Cameroonian island of Djébalè. His mother and agent, Fayza Lamari, is of Algerian Kabyle origin and is a former handball player. Mbappé has a younger brother, Ethan, who plays football for Lille. Their older adopted brother, Jirès Kembo Ekoko, is a former professional footballer.

As a child, Mbappé went to a private Catholic school in Bondy, where he was considered academically gifted but unruly. At 15, he began taking Spanish lessons, and eventually became fluent in the language. As a youth, Mbappé's favourite team was Real Madrid, and he also supported AC Milan. His football idols included Zinedine Zidane, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi, Ronaldo Nazario, Eden Hazard and Thierry Henry. In May 2024, days before his transfer to Real Madrid was announced, Mbappé said that he still follows AC Milan, and would like to play for them in the future.

Early Career and Breakthrough of Kylian Mbappé

When Mbappé started his career with AS Bondy at the age of six, he had several coaches, including his father. Eventually, Mbappé moved to the Clairefontaine football academy. His impressive performances led to numerous clubs attempting to sign him, including Real Madrid, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Bayern Munich. At the age of 11, Real Madrid invited him to train with their under-12 teams. Mbappé was tracked by Caen for three years, but their relegation from Ligue 1 in 2012 and subsequent failure to win promotion meant they could not afford to sign him. At age 14, Mbappé travelled to London on an invitation from Chelsea, where he played a match for their youth team against Charlton Athletic.

Monaco

In July 2013, at the age of 14, Mbappé joined the youth academy of Monaco. The club managed to secure a three-year contract with him despite efforts by Real Madrid to sign him.

In October 2015, Mbappé was brought in by Leonardo Jardim to be a mainstay in Monaco's reserve team. But his level of skill and maturity prompted his promotion to the main squad after three weeks. He made his first-team debut on 2 December, in a 1–1 draw against Caen in Ligue 1. The 16-year-old Mbappé became Monaco's youngest-ever first-team player, breaking the previous record set by Thierry Henry in 1994. On 20 February 2016, Mbappé scored his first goal for the first team, becoming the youngest first-team goalscorer in Monaco's history. On 6 March, he signed his first professional contract, which kept him with Monaco until June 2019. In an interview with CNN, Monaco's vice-president Vadim Vasilyev said he knew early on that Mbappé was a "phenomenon".

Mbappé scored the first hat-trick of his first-team career on 14 December 2016, in a 7–0 home win over Rennes in the Coupe de la Ligue round of 16. The following February, Mbappé scored his first Ligue 1 hat-trick in a 5–0 win over Metz. On 5 March, he reached ten goals in Ligue 1, becoming the youngest player in thirty years to reach the mark.

Source: adapted from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kylian_Mbapp%C3%A9), text available under CC BY-SA 4.0.