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Demand for Messi, Mbappe Football Gear Spikes after World Cup 

Football - FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 - Final - Argentina v France - Lusail Stadium, Lusail, Qatar - December 18, 2022 France's Kylian Mbappe celebrates scoring their second goal. (Reuters)
Football - FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 - Final - Argentina v France - Lusail Stadium, Lusail, Qatar - December 18, 2022 France's Kylian Mbappe celebrates scoring their second goal. (Reuters)
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Demand for Messi, Mbappe Football Gear Spikes after World Cup 

Football - FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 - Final - Argentina v France - Lusail Stadium, Lusail, Qatar - December 18, 2022 France's Kylian Mbappe celebrates scoring their second goal. (Reuters)
Football - FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 - Final - Argentina v France - Lusail Stadium, Lusail, Qatar - December 18, 2022 France's Kylian Mbappe celebrates scoring their second goal. (Reuters)

In the wake of Sunday's World Cup final football fans around the world have rushed to buy merchandise, with demand for Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe soccer club jerseys more than tripling, sports merchandise retailer Fanatics Inc told Reuters. 

Argentina beat France 4-2 on penalties after a dramatic 3-3 draw, with Messi scoring twice and France's Kylian Mbappe netting three times. It was Argentina's first World Cup win since Diego Maradona hoisted the trophy 36 years ago. 

Global sales of football gear were up more than 700% for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar versus the 2018 World Cup in Russia across the Fanatics network of online stores. 

Fans flocked to buy Nike-brand Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) football club jerseys, with sales in particular for Messi and Mbappe jerseys on the official PSG online store surging by more than 200% on Sunday. 

Messi, Argentina's 35-year-old team captain, said the final would be his last match in the World Cup, though he intends to play a few more games for the national side. 

Mbappe also shone with three goals in the game, becoming only the second hat-trick scorer in a World Cup final after England's Geoff Hurst in 1966. 

Fanatics, which operates the official online Paris Saint-Germain store, said 40% of all PSG sales on the day came from the United States. 

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‘Worse than I Thought’: Hamilton Endures Difficult Ferrari Debut

Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 16, 2025 Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton in action during warm up. (Reuters)
Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 16, 2025 Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton in action during warm up. (Reuters)
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‘Worse than I Thought’: Hamilton Endures Difficult Ferrari Debut

Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 16, 2025 Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton in action during warm up. (Reuters)
Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 16, 2025 Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton in action during warm up. (Reuters)

Lewis Hamilton said Sunday he found his new Ferrari "really, really hard to drive" in the wet as the seven-time world champion endured a difficult start to his career at the Scuderia.

The 40-year-old is hoping for a new lease of life after his bombshell switch from Mercedes, but it has been a steep learning curve since he joined the Italian team in January.

It culminated in a disappointing 10th in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, where he was well off the pace of McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes and behind teammate Charles Leclerc in a rain-hit race, punctuated by safety cars.

"It was very tricky and went a lot worse than I thought it would go. The car was really, really hard to drive today," he said after a race that was marred by a series of crashes in the treacherous conditions.

"For me, I'm just grateful I kept it out of the wall because that's where it wanted to go most of the time."

Hamilton was in the Ferrari not only for his first Grand Prix, but also for the first time in wet conditions.

Clearly still getting used to how his new team works, he was heard on the radio at one time telling his race engineer they had "missed a big opportunity" to capitalize strategically after he led briefly during a series of pit stops under the safety car.

A delayed switch back to intermediate rain tires dropped him back down the field, but the Briton said afterwards there had been "a lot" to take from his debut.

"Just getting acclimatized with the new power unit in the wet conditions," he said.

"The settings it requires are different, and a different way of driving and a different set-up on the steering wheel.

"I hung out as long as I could, got in the lead at one point. Just the guidance with how much more rain was coming, was missing there, so I think we missed out."