Ballon d'Or website announces three different winners hours before the ceremony

Three drafts on the official website

Hours before the 2026 Ballon d'Or ceremony, the award's official website published three articles, each naming its own winner among men. This was reported by the Anadolu agency. The winners named in the different articles were Bayern striker Harry Kane, Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappé, and 19-year-old Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal. All three articles were subsequently removed from the organizers' website.

What the articles said

The article headlined 'Harry Kane wins the 2026 Ballon d'Or' emphasized the England captain's scoring record in the 2025/26 season. The piece about Yamal claimed he had become the youngest winner in the award's 70-year history, while the third text praised Mbappé's consistency at the highest level. The publications appeared roughly two and a half hours before the start of the ceremony at the London Palladium theatre, fueling speculation that the organizers had accidentally posted several pre-prepared versions. None of the articles established who had actually won the award, which was to be presented that same evening.