Elected champions of champions, Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi embody much more than footballers

They replaced the church in the middle of the village. For the first time in eleven years, a footballer, Lionel Messi, the same as at the time, is crowned champion of world champions by the editorial staff of The Team and, for the first time in twenty-four years, two footballers, Messi and Kylian Mbappé, are awarded the titles of world and French champions simultaneously. This is not anecdotal: to be awarded an award which, by nature, is most often oriented towards individual sports, even in World Cup years, testifies to the dimension of the two champions and what they have accomplished throughout 2022, even if it is above all what they achieved between November and December and the way in which they embodied it that will have marked the spirits.