Sports
Ballon d'Or website publishes erroneous winner articles for Kane, Yamal and Mbappé
October 26, 2026 at 07:30 PM · Updated 1h ago
Coverage
4 reports · 2 in Arabic, 2 in English · over 3 hours
KOKooora
بيان رسمي من الكرة الذهبية بعد الخطأ الفادح
(opens the publisher’s site)
ESESPN
Ballon d'Or site names Kane, Yamal and Mbappé as winners in blunder - ESPN
(opens the publisher’s site)
YKYalla Kora
3 فائزين وتحقيقات مستمرة.. فوضى عارمة قبل دقائق من حفل الكرة الذهبية
(opens the publisher’s site)
BNBBC News
Ballon d'Or blunder causes confusion - Harry Kane, Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappe articles published
(opens the publisher’s site)The official Ballon d'Or website published articles declaring Harry Kane, Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappé winners of the 2026 men's award hours before Monday's ceremony in London.
- The official website published three separate articles naming Bayern Munich's Kane, Barcelona's Yamal and Real Madrid's Mbappé as the 2026 men's winner.
- The posts appeared about two and a half hours before the ceremony at the London Palladium, prompting speculation the result had been revealed early.
- All three articles were removed from the site, but only after screenshots had circulated widely on social media.
- Organisers opened an investigation into the erroneous publication ahead of the formal announcement on Monday evening.
- The organizing committee said the erroneous articles were prewritten introductions for each candidate mistakenly posted online, stressing they do not reveal the final ranking.