Meet Kylian Mbappé, the boy from the burbs who made soccer history for Les Bleus

Kylian Mbappé helped France clinch their second World Cup title yesterday, scoring the fourth goal for “Les Bleus” in their 4-2 win over Croatia in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium.

It was one of four goals the young star scored in the 2018 World Cup for France. Mbappé also led France to their early victory over Peru, 1-0, and scored twice against Argentina in the quarter-finals. The forward went on to win the Fifa Young Player Award for his performances during the tournament.

Some soccer fans are just getting to know the 19-year-old, but Mbappé has had an impressive career since he was a baby.

Growing up in the northern Parisian suburb of Bondy, Mbappé practically lived at the local soccer club, where professionals asserted he was a star from day one.

“He was here as a baby when his father was a player and a coach,” AS Bondy president Atmane Airouche says. “He was always here and learning about football, even as a toddler.”

Mbappé’s soccer-coach dad Wilfried, originally from Cameroon, started working with young Kylian when he was just a tot. Mbappé's mother, Algerian-born Fayza Lamari, was also an impressive athlete, playing Division 1 handball in Bondy in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Mbappé’s own generation is no exception to the sporty family tradition. His adopted elder brother, Jirès Kembo-Ekoko plays professionally for Turkish team Bursaspor, and his little brother Ethan, 12, is a member of the under-12 team at Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).

A teenage dream