France’s star footballer Kylian Mbappe arrived in Cameroon to an ecstatic welcome from fans Thursday for a visit that includes charity work with deaf children and a trip to his father’s village.
Many among the hundreds who greeted the 24-year-old forward were dressed in his Paris Saint-Germain team’s football jersey for the occasion.
They wildly shouted out his name as he emerged from the terminal at the airport in the capital Yaounde, according to an AFP journalist.
A group of about a hundred traditional dancers performed in his honour. Smiling widely, the footballer saluted from afar the crowd who were kept at a distance by police, before being whisked away in an SUV with tinted windows.
Mbappe, who is also captain of France’s national team, will stay during his visit lasting several days at a hotel complex belonging to the family of French former tennis champion Yannick Noah, who lives in Yaounde.
On Friday, he is due to visit a school for youngsters who are deaf and hard of hearing in the capital’s suburbs, according to his itinerary seen by AFP.
He is also set to take part in a basketball match, with expectations it will involve retired NBA player Joakim Noah, the son of Yannick. Later on, he takes part in a football match against the local team FC Vent d’Etoudi.
Saturday sees him head south to visit Djebale, his father Wilfried Mbappe’s village. His father left Cameroon at a young age for France where he became a football trainer.
