FIFA 2026 World Cup: Will the American Dream Pay Off for the Kylian Mbappé Brand?

He still hasn’t won the Ballon d’Or, and the Champions League slipped through his fingers for the second year in a row, having been won last May by his former team, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). And yet, Kylian Mbappé, 27, is undeniably the star of the 2026 World Cup, which is set to thrill the entire world during a tournament to be held in the United States, Canada, and Mexico starting June 11.

Little information has emerged about the economic stakes surrounding Kylian Mbappé’s eponymous brand. Protected by a tight-knit circle where discretion is the key word, the way he builds his career, develops relationships with his business partners, and manages his public image can be summed up in a single word: unique. Here is our analysis.

As Philippe Auclair, journalist and author of the book “The Mbappé Project” (Quercus / Hachette UK), explains, all of the Real Madrid player’s sporting and financial interests are managed exclusively by his family, with the help of a handful of external advisors. In a highly unusual move for the world’s most popular sport, there is no FIFA agent within the Mbappé clan. This is an unprecedented system in a tightly controlled world, to the point where even the most sought-after soccer agents now have their own agents to represent them.

In addition to his mother Fayza and his father Wilfrid, two women and one man are among the Mbappé family’s closest advisors. There is Delphine Verheyden, a lawyer whose career path is quite unusual in the world of soccer. Known for having advised judoka Teddy Riner, biathlete Martin Fourcade, and Olympic champion Tony Estanguet, Kylian Mbappé is her first client from the world of soccer. She has been representing his interests since 2015, when the young prodigy was just 16 and had not yet turned professional. Since then, she has been spotted in the stands at some matches alongside Fayza, but she has given only very few interviews in which she mentions her illustrious client.

In December 2025, she was the one who forced PSG to back down in the €440 million wage dispute between the club and its former striker. In that case, the Parisian club, chaired by Nasser al-Khelaïfi, was ordered by the labor court to pay Mbappé nearly €61 million. A historic victory for the player, who had complained of unpaid wages, bonuses, and vacation pay upon the expiration of his contract.

In addition to his annual salary at Real Madrid, which amounts to 30 million euros per year, a Forbes ranking states that his sponsorship deals are said to earn him tens of millions of dollars off the field. Since joining the Madrid club in 2024, Kylian Mbappé has been considered one of the highest-paid athletes in the world, and he is currently the soccer player with the highest market value.

A legal battle nearly shattered the carefully crafted image of the Mbappés. A lawyer helped them navigate this rather sordid affair: Marie-Alix Canu-Bernard, who is no stranger to highly sensitive cases. The criminal defense attorney is the one who defended the young man in the alleged rape case in Sweden, which sparked a storm in France and around the world. Ms. Canu-Bernard is known for having defended, among others, Bernard Squarcini, the former head of French domestic intelligence, who later joined LVMH and subsequently found himself at the center of a political-legal saga involving both the Arnault family and MP François Ruffin. The Mbappés were able to rely on this lawyer’s talent to bring the case to a close.