Kylian Mbappé (24) is included in the very prestigious ranking of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2023 established by the American magazine Time. He is the only Frenchman.
One more recognition for Kylian Mbappé (24 years old). The PSG striker is among the 100 most influential people in the world in 2023, according to the latest ranking established by the American magazine Time. He is the only Frenchman to appear in this prestigious selection alongside another PSG player, Lionel Messi, crowned world champion with Argentina and whose commentary is written by tennis legend, Roger Federer.
Mbappé in the “innovators” category, Messi with the “Titans”
Along with Mbappé and Messi, four other athletes feature in this Top 100: American basketball player Brittney Griner, imprisoned for ten months in Russia against a backdrop of diplomatic crisis on the sidelines of the war in Ukraine, American skier Mikaela Shiffrin, new record holder for World Cup victories, Polish tennis player Iga Swiatek, world number one, and US soccer star Patrick Mahomes, winner of his second Super Bowl.
Mbappé is in the “innovators” category of Time (Messi is in that of the “Titans”) like Swiatek. His profile is written by the magazine’s renowned correspondent in Paris, Vivienne Walt. “The new French football captain is not the type to hide his emotions”, she writes, illustrating his weight in French society by the attention regularly given to him by Emmanuel Macron, the President of the Republic who had “awkwardly crouching next to him” after the 2022 World Cup final defeat.
“When Mbappé weighed a nine-figure transfer from Paris Saint-Germain to Real Madrid last year, Macron called him and begged him to stay for the good of France, recalls the journalist. Mbappé stayed at the PSG. Despite his incredible stardom, Mbappé has three personal truths from his mother that keep him on track: ‘Respect, humility, lucidity.’He has a realistic view of stardom, and even at 19 he knew it could be capricious. ‘We can be the best, and in four years, we forget you’, he said to me then. No chance, Kylian.”