The French soccer team claimed a 4-2 victory against Croatia during yesterday’s World Cup final, but one of their “wonderkid” players is winning hearts for showing his true character off the field.
19-year-old Kylian Mbappe, who is a forward player for the team, made roughly $22,500 for each of the seven games that France played in the World Cup. On top of that, he was given a $350,000 bonus for winning the tournament, which totals up to half a million in earnings.
But instead of relishing his winnings, he is donating 100% of the money to charity.
The Premiers de Cordee charity helps disabled and hospitalized children into sports. Mbappe has been supporting the charity since June 2017.
“Kylian, he’s a great person,” Sebastien Ruffin, general manager of the charity, told Le Parisien.
“When his schedule allows it, he intervenes for us with pleasure,” he added. “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.”
OUR LOVE 🇫🇷🏆⭐⭐ https://t.co/fKz7iC6GNQ
— Premiers de Cordée (@PremiersdCordee) July 15, 2018
Mbappe also showed his true colors by paying respect to his predecessors. Upon becoming the second youngest soccer player to score in a World Cup final, Brazilian soccer legend Pelé posted to Twitter saying: “If Kylian keeps equalling my records like this I may have to dust my boots off again…”
Mbappe’s humble response? “The king will always be the king.
The king will always remain king 👑
— Kylian Mbappé (@KMbappe) July 16, 2018
This article originally appeared on Good News Network.