Ballon d'Or 2026: did the winner's name leak by mistake on the official site? Organisers explain

Articles about Kane, Yamal and Mbappé as Ballon d'Or winners were accidentally published on the official site; organisers confirmed they were pre-written contingency pieces for multiple candidates.

Multiple articles appeared on the official Ballon d'Or website naming Harry Kane, Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappé as winners of the 2026 award. Though not directly visible on the homepage, the pieces were discoverable via their URLs and sparked speculation on social media about a leaked result.

The organisers later clarified that the articles were pre-written contingency pieces prepared in advance for various frontrunners in the race, a standard practice to enable rapid publication once the winner is announced. Similar articles existed for other candidates. The ceremony will crown the successor to Ousmane Dembélé.