Ballon d'Or website blunder causes confusion

The Ballon d'Or website accidentally published articles declaring Kane, Mbappe, Yamal and others as winners hours before the ceremony.

The official Ballon d'Or website published premature articles on Monday afternoon claiming Harry Kane had won the 2026 award, more than four hours before the ceremony was scheduled to take place at London's Palladium Theatre. The articles were quickly discovered to be part of a wider blunder: similar pieces had also been published about other contenders including Kylian Mbappe, Lamine Yamal, Lionel Messi, Alexia Putellas and Ewa Pajor. The articles about Kane and Mbappe were removed from the website within 25 minutes of publication. It remains unclear whether the pieces were published in error or as part of a damage-control exercise by France Football, the award's organisers. The actual winner of the men's award was set to be announced at the London ceremony on Monday evening.