Kate Scott and Thierry Henry reunite to host 2026 Ballon d'Or at the London Palladium

Kate Scott and Thierry Henry will take centre stage at the London Palladium on Monday evening to co-host the 2026 Ballon d’Or ceremony, football’s most prestigious individual honour. Harry Kane and Lamine Yamal are among the frontrunners to claim the prize.

The pairing is no accident. Scott joined CBS Sports as its lead Champions League presenter in 2020, with Henry following as a pundit the year after. Alongside Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards, the quartet built a reputation as one of the most watchable broadcast teams in the sport — and their dynamic has been anything but scripted.

One moment from May 2023 illustrated that perfectly. Henry’s response was immediate: a look of mock horror before he turned and began walking off camera. Carragher and Richards collapsed to their knees in laughter.

“I’m so sorry, the teleprompter had just kind of risen up a bit and I apologise,” Scott said, visibly flustered. “I’m about to get fired. Pete, I am so sorry.” Carragher, still on the floor, managed to ask: “Are there any jobs going on FOX?”

The gaffe did not cost Scott her role, and the group’s on-screen bond only strengthened. Henry has been candid about why the chemistry works. “The main thing is that it is us. It is really us,” he told The Athletic last year. “People think I am putting on a face, but that is how I am. That is me. The most important thing is that we are friends. Nobody is acting.”

That authenticity has now earned Scott and Henry the platform to present one of sport’s most watched annual ceremonies. For a duo whose working relationship began with a Champions League studio gig, hosting the Ballon d’Or at one of London’s most iconic venues marks a significant step up.