Issues of many African Football Associations taking bribes to allow the younger ones to play football for them have been many. Kylian Mbappe’s story is probably the biggest one as the French superstar has revealed how the Cameroonian FA (FECAFOOT) demanded money from his father before allowing him to wear Cameroon’s jersey.
“I am not a Cameroonian. I am a French man. At the beginning of my career, when I was still in the shadows, my father contacted FECAFOOT to give me a chance to play with the Cameroon national team. They demanded a huge sum of money from us for me to be able to play for the team.
“My father who was disgusted by their attitude then turned to France, this France that has given me a chance to show the world what I am capable of.
“Today I have become the most expensive player in the world.”
Cameroon now calls me and attributes me to a nationality which is not mine. I am French and I will remain French,” said Kylian Mbappe.
The 25-year-old PSG star was born in Paris to a Cameroonian father and an Algerian mother but doesn’t feel Cameroonian as the central African nation did not welcome him when he needed the land of his father.
Kylian Mbappe has won the UEFA U19 Championship, FIFA World Cup and UEFA Nations League since he started playing for France in 2017.