Why has the Ballon d'Or 2026 ceremony been delayed?

The Ballon d'Or ceremony in London was delayed 30 minutes due to traffic; the official website briefly leaked results naming Kane, Yamal and Mbappe as winners before deleting them.

The Ballon d'Or ceremony at the London Palladium was pushed back from 8pm to 8:30pm GMT due to traffic in the area. The delay came after a chaotic build-up in which the official Ballon d'Or website published articles declaring Harry Kane, Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappe as the award winner, before quickly deleting all three. It remains unclear whether all three were released simultaneously or if the actual winner was announced by mistake with the others published to cover it up.

This marks the first time in the award's 70-year history that the ceremony has been held in London, moved from Paris to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Stanley Matthews winning the inaugural Ballon d'Or. Kane is the favourite to become the first English winner since Michael Owen in 2001, with Mbappe and Yamal as the main challengers.