On September 19 (CEST), the Ballon d'Or officially released a long article about Mbappé, detailing his growth path from childhood to becoming a professional player and then to becoming the hottest star today, exploring what has made Mbappé who he is.

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Even at a young age, Mbappé showed the potential to become a football legend. What meticulously planned actions did the nine-time Ballon d'Or nominee take to reach the pinnacle? And once at the top, how does he maintain focus and control?

With 42 club goals and a record-breaking World Cup performance, he earned his ninth consecutive nomination for the 2026 Ballon d'Or.

Highly Anticipated

People have had high hopes for Mbappé since he was very young, and he has indeed delivered brilliant results.

This summer, the forward became the first player in half a century to score double-digit goals in the World Cup, topping the all-time scoring list for the French national team.

In club football, he has been named Ligue 1 Player of the Year five times and won the league's Golden Boot six times. During his time with Real Madrid, he played 105 games, scoring 89 goals, including 3 Champions League hat-tricks.

Since 2017, he has consistently ranked among the top ten in the Ballon d'Or voting each year.

There is no doubt that this football-obsessed teenager, who grew up in the northern suburbs of Paris, has lived up to the immense talent everyone saw in him. This talent led Real Madrid to invite him to visit their training base at the age of 11, and Chelsea followed suit three years later.

It is reported that when Arsène Wenger first saw Mbappé at the Clairefontaine National Football Centre, he said four words to those around him: "Pelé reborn."

Shaping Himself

The young boy's talent was so outstanding that his childhood friends and coaches all believed he was destined for a professional football career. With such exceptional talent, how could he not succeed?

But football, and life itself, is never that simple. Many highly anticipated young talents fall by the wayside or hit a ceiling in their development early on.

The Mbappé family realized early on that talent alone would not be enough for Kylian to succeed, which is highly commendable.

He needed strong self-confidence to withstand the immense external pressure, and at the same time, he had to remain humble to cope with the impending fame.

He was born with an inner drive, but this drive needed proper guidance; strong mental fortitude was also indispensable to deal with the setbacks that would inevitably arise on the path to superstardom.

Essentially, he was deliberately shaping himself, preparing for the life that awaited him. Mbappé once spoke about this growth process: "My mother always told me that before becoming a great player, I had to be a good person."

A Suitable Environment for Growth

The primary factor in shaping one's character is often also the factor least within individual control.

In this regard, Mbappé was fortunate: his childhood environment provided him with the conditions to hone his burgeoning skills and cultivate the mindset of a top athlete.

His small apartment faced the pitch of AS Bondy, a suburban Paris team where his father, Wilfried, was the coach. From the kitchen window, one could overlook the entire pitch.

Mbappé's football career began at Bondy, playing in the club's youth academy from a young age. Even before that, he would always linger on the pitch.

As a child, he would arrive punctually to watch players train, silently listening to his father loudly giving tactical instructions from the sidelines, absorbing everything.

He later recalled: "I learned everything there."

The Power of Role Models

The choice of idols is never arbitrary. Idols influence and inspire us, and whether consciously or unconsciously, we actively learn from their qualities.

Mbappé's childhood idols were Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane, two football giants who influenced him in different ways.

There is a famous photo: six-year-old Mbappé sitting on his bed, surrounded by Ronaldo posters on the walls. At that age, what naturally attracted him most was the player's groundbreaking goal-scoring ability and his skill in dribbling past opponents.

But what also moved the young boy about the Portuguese star was his dedication to self-improvement and his relentless inner drive.

Years later, Bernardo Silva, Mbappé's teammate at Monaco (also a Ballon d'Or nominee), praised Mbappé's professionalism, describing it as almost an "obsession."

As for Zidane, an iconic figure in France who transcends sports, Mbappé was drawn to his unique personal style, especially his courage to take risks and express himself on the pitch.

At age 11, Mbappé went to a local barber and asked for a "Zidane haircut." The barber was quite confused because Zidane's hair was very short, and the young boy also had short hair at the time.

What Mbappé actually wanted was Zidane's baldness. He wanted to have a bald spot, just like his idol.

Strong Mentality

Some describe Mbappé as a driven individual fueled by ambition. This quality has greatly benefited him, making him unwilling to compromise or settle, always steadfastly moving towards the pinnacle.

It also helps him maintain high focus. In 2017, still young, he said: "I've had a career plan since I can remember. I know what I want to do and where I want to go, and nothing can distract me."

Some also say he has immense self-esteem. While this trait can have negative connotations in many fields, when 83,000 spectators at the Bernabéu stadium are cheering loudly, expecting a spectacular performance, strong self-belief is essential.

This confidence is both the foundation that keeps him grounded and the driving force that propels him to the top.

Mbappé once said that he builds this indispensable self-identity through psychological suggestion: "Every time I step onto the field, I tell myself I am the strongest... Because that way, you don't limit yourself."

It was the same when he trained at Bondy. He insisted that his father arrange for the strongest defender on the team to play against him. Some nights, he didn't actually want to do it, but he still forced himself to make the request.

Through these repeated trials, he built a strong inner self, allowing him to calmly face all subsequent challenges.

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