France Football's triple Ballon d'Or blunder with Yamal, Mbappé and Kane

France Football accidentally published three separate articles naming Lamine Yamal, Kylian Mbappé and Harry Kane as 2026 Ballon d'Or winners before deleting them.

France Football created a stir on social media hours before announcing the 2026 Ballon d'Or winner by publishing three separate articles on its website, each naming a different player as the award recipient. The articles highlighted Lamine Yamal breaking the record as the youngest winner, Mbappé's consistency over recent years, and Kane's prolific goal-scoring season. All three posts were quickly removed from the publication's website. Yamal, Kane and Mbappé are the three leading contenders to succeed Ousmane Dembélé as world footballer of the year.