On his road to World Cup stardom, all eyes are on Kylian Mbappé, who lifted his third Best Player trophy in the four games he has played with the French side against Poland. He narrowly failed in the duel against Tunisia, of which he only played half an hour. Three times he subtly, but not accidentally, repeated a gesture: the player, who, among other things, does not want to associate his image with that of alcoholic beverages, picked up the trophy and posed with it, after turning it over so the trophy was not to see.Logo that houses at its base that of the American brewery Budweiser. This already has problems with Fifa, to which it pays 75 million euros for sponsorship money and which, because of the ban on drinking its beer in Qatari stadiums, is now examining the claim for more than half of this sum.
Football belongs to the footballers until the store makes them part of the showcase. And small and conspicuous rebellions sprout. Almost half a century ago, at the first World Cup in Germany, Johan Cruyff unilaterally modified the shirt he wore with the national team to remove the three stripes that identified the brand of the competition with which he had an endorsement deal. At the last European Championship, it was Cristiano Ronaldo who flipped a popular soft drink that accompanied his television shot at a press conference while urging them to drink water, a gesture that immediately caused the company’s share price to plummet, according to the Portuguese star.
Mbappé, who is approaching his 24th birthday and looks set to be at the forefront of football for the next decade, has an army of lawyers and pundits with whom he tightly controls his brand. Last September he refused to pose at a photo session organized by the French Football Federation to discuss the conditions under which his image would be handled. A first clash arose months ago as the player claims maximum control over the companies he is associated with. And you don’t want to be identified with alcohol, fast food, sugary drinks or gambling. When the French federation organized several events with companies in these sectors this year, it simply did not appear and demanded that the duties of football players be defined. From the picture Mbappé took with the best player trophy after the France-Australia game, the Frenchman may not have realized that there were some brands behind it that he didn’t want to be associated with, Budweiser himself but also Coca -Cola or Coca-Cola MC Donalds.
The French star is currently working with five sponsors: the video game company EA Sports, the watch manufacturer Hublot, the Japanese cosmetics company Bulk Homme and the organic food for children and babies Good Gout, a French company with which Mbappé assures that it collaborated on the idea of shares ”Inspiring Children to Live Healthier, Happier lives”. Also, the sports equipment he uses is Nike. When his agents were approached in the talks about the move to Real Madrid with the usual white club rule of receiving 50% of the benefits from the transfer of their image rights, they grimaced. He ended up signing a new deal with PSG which guarantees him to keep that control and income.
Now he’s concentrating on the World Cup. Where he raises trophies and barely expresses himself off the field. The nomination for Best Player at a Game comes with a number of media-with-rights commitments that Mbappé evaded after games against Australia and Denmark. After his show against Poland, he said: “I have nothing against anyone. I have to concentrate on the tournament and not spend energy on other things, but I found out that if I didn’t speak up, the federation had to pay a penalty,” he said before closing. “I’ll do the previous ones Pay sanctions It’s a personal choice that shouldn’t be paid for by anyone else.” allocated to the national team go to charity.
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