Ballon d'Or website accidentally publishes Kane, Yamal and Mbappe as winners before ceremony

The Ballon d’Or organisation was plunged into embarrassment on Monday when its official website prematurely published three separate articles declaring Harry Kane, Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappe as winners of the 2026 award — hours before the ceremony began at the London Palladium. All three articles were swiftly taken down after the error was noticed.

Kane, the Bayern Munich and England striker and pre-ceremony favourite, had his piece headlined: “Harry Kane wins 2026 Ballon d’Or: Here are his best and most meaningful strikes from a 61-goal season.” The article referenced his “prolific haul” and credited him with records that “ensured Bayern won a domestic treble.” Kane has scored 89 goals for club and country in 81 appearances since the start of last season.

The article prepared for Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe cited “consistency personified at the very highest level” and pointed to a “record-breaking World Cup and another welter of goals for Los Blancos” as the basis for his supposed victory.

Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal received perhaps the most detailed pre-written treatment. His article described the 19-year-old as the “new king of football” and claimed he had become the youngest winner in the award’s history, which dates back to 1956. The piece noted that even Lionel Messi — the record holder for most Ballon d’Or wins — did not claim the trophy until he was 22 years and 160 days old in 2009, and that the previous youngest winner was Ronaldo Nazário at 21 years and 92 days. Yamal won the World Cup with Spain earlier this year.

The incident points to a standard publishing practice in which outlets and organisations prepare multiple outcome-specific articles in advance, only for the wrong version — or in this case, all versions — to go live prematurely. The Ballon d’Or organisation has not publicly commented on the error.

The ceremony was scheduled to get underway at 8pm GMT, with the winner expected to be announced at approximately 9:45pm GMT.