FIFA who? Mbappé, the 'Dictator', runs football now

Every World Cup gives the internet a new obsession. This year, it is not a goal or a celebration. It's the idea that Kylian Mbappé secretly runs football. Nobody actually believes it, of course. That's what makes it funny.

Somewhere along the way, football fans decided Mbappé had stopped being a player and started becoming the sport's supreme leader. Since then, every ordinary thing he does has been treated as proof that he's in charge of absolutely everything; he even has a song of himself now, which has garnered millions of views.

Mbappé standing next to the French president? The internet decided the president was reporting for duty. Mbappé watching his teammates train? Clearly, he was carrying out annual performance reviews. Mbappé asking a referee to hand over his captain's armband after leaving the pitch? Fans immediately concluded that even the referees work for him now.

The joke has become so big that Mbappé does not even need to appear in the video anymore.

A coach gets sacked? "Mbappé made the call." A player leaves a club? "Mbappé approved the transfer." Your favourite footballer spends 10 minutes on the bench? According to social media, he probably forgot to salute the dictator!

The comments are even funnier than the memes themselves. Under almost every post, you will find someone warning, "Delete this before Mbappé sees it." Another claims he controls football from a secret office. Someone else insists the fixture list is personally signed off by him every Monday morning.

The best memes always grow because everyone adds their own little jokes. The "Dictator Mbappé" saga has reached that point. Fans no longer need a reason. If Mbappé sneezes, someone will probably upload a fake news bulletin announcing that football has introduced compulsory sneezing.

It helps that Mbappé rarely reacts. The internet loves a joke that never gets old, and this one has somehow survived transfers, trophies, and two World Cups.

Football fans have argued for decades over who the greatest player is. The internet has quietly settled a different debate altogether.