Mbappe to donate WC earnings to children’s charity

Kylian Mbappe has opted to donate his earnings from France's triumphant 2018 Fifa World Cup campaign to charity, reports CNBC.com.

The 19-year-old French forward made roughly $22,300 each game this World Cup, plus a reported $350,000 bonus for winning the final, which adds up to over $500,000, and he'll be donating that sum to charity.

It might only be a fraction of his total salary — he gets paid $1.7m a month by his club team, Paris-Saint Germain — but half a million dollars could mean a lot to the Premiers de Cordees, an association that organizes sporting events for children with disabilities.

“Kylian, he’s a great person,” said Sebastien Ruffin, general manager of Premiers de Cordee. “When his schedule allows it, he intervenes for us with pleasure." 

"He has a very good [relationship] with children, he always finds the right [words] to encourage them. I sometimes even feel that [he] takes more pleasure to play with the kids than the kids themselves.”

Not too long ago, Mbappe was a boy himself, living in the poor Parisian suburb of Bondy and returning home after soccer practice to a bedroom adorned with posters of his idol, Cristiano Ronaldo. 

The 19-year-old star striker is giving back after becoming only the second teenager to score in a World Cup final.

Now he is a starting forward for the French national team and the youngest player since Pele to score a goal in the World Cup final.

Source: Reuters