As France prepare for their quarter-final clash with England, attention is on Kylian Mbappé. The league’s top scorer avoids press conferences, and even one of the main sponsors of the World Cup has reason to be angry with him.
September in the field, so far is by far the leading figure in the current tournament in Qatar. With five hits, he is clearly the top scorer with an advantage over his pursuers. Off the pitch, however, Mbappé avoids attention and even refuses to attend press conferences.
He has already received the award for the best player of the match twice. Each winner of this award receives a trophy with the Budweiser Brewery logo. But according to L’Equipe, Mbappé does not want to be associated with the main sponsor.
One of the obligations associated with winning this trophy is an official photo. But every time the scorer of five tournament goals took a photo, he took it in such a way that the Budweiser logo wasn’t visible. At the same time, unlike other players, he did not take a photo in front of the advertising panel of this company, but in front of the panel with the logos of other sponsors of the championship.
This image is very interesting. Kylian Mbappe received his Budweiser POTM award without a Budweiser banner behind him and with the Budweiser logo removed from the award, like all Muslim players in this world cup 🤔 his mother is Muslim but dad is Christian. #Qatar2022 pic.twitter.com/BFeBNPAjo0
— muslim daily (@muslimdaily_) November 28, 2022
It therefore adheres to its long-standing principle of not participating in the promotion of alcohol, gambling or junk food.
As a global megastar, he realizes that he is a role model for young athletes all over the world and doesn’t want to damage his media image by being associated with a brand like Budweiser.
The question is why he doesn’t go to the post-game press conferences. According to French media, the star player is trying to avoid questions about his future in Paris.
While Mbappé faces fines from FIFA for missing press conferences after matches, the 23-year-old has the full backing of the French Football Federation. He will pay a fine if necessary.
Budweiser is experiencing the most difficult situation of all the sponsors in the league. A few days before the championship, host Qatar banned the sale of alcohol in stadiums, so cans of its beer remained on pallets in warehouses. According to Sportsmail, Budweiser is now asking FIFA for compensation of around 47 million dollars (about one billion crowns).
