Kylian Mbappe has visited his fatherland in Cameroon for the first time according to multiple reports. His trip got underway on Thursday in the late afternoon when he flew into Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, from Nsimalen airport.
The Association for the Fight against Hearing Loss in Cameroon (ALDAC), whose offices he supported and entirely restored, was the first place he set foot in Cameroon.
According to the itinerary provided to Anadolu by his visit’s organizers, Mbappe will visit the Yaounde campus of the Foundation for the Education and Promotion of People with Hearing Impairments (FEPPDA) on Friday morning before playing basketball against Joakim Noah, a former NBA player and the son of Yannick Noah, a former French tennis champion with Cameroonian ancestry who now resides in Cameroon.
On the same day, a meeting is scheduled with Joseph Dion Ngute, Cameroon’s Prime Minister. His visit will end on Saturday with a trip to Djebale, a tourist island where his father was born, near Douala, the economic capital.
Speaking to CRTV Sport, the sports arm of Cameroon’s national television station, Mbappe described a “great” first day and said he was “pleasantly surprised” by the welcome he had received.
“People like me a lot here,” he said, explaining that his arrival is “above all a personal pleasure.”
“I’m already very involved in the social milieu in France, but it was important to come back here and do it in the country of my origins so that people feel real and not just a guy you see on TV and in photos,” said the French striker.
A football match between Mbappe and FC Vent d’Etoudi of Cameroon’s second tier is scheduled. Before going to Djebale, the community where his father, Wilfried Mbappe, grew up before relocating to France to seek a career as a football coach, Mbappe will spend Saturday visiting Douala, the nation’s commercial hub.
The present club’s contract with Mbappe expires next year, and despite his recent announcement that he would not be extending it, the player has stated his desire to play for the team one more season. In order to keep him from becoming a free agent after his contract expires, the club is probably going to think about moving him during the current transfer window.
