Harry Kane was celebrated as the winner of the men’s Ballon d’Or on Monday night, following an apparent premature announcement on the award’s official website earlier that afternoon.
Accidental Publication Causes Confusion
An article bearing the headline “Harry Kane wins the 2026 Ballon d’Or” began spreading across the internet at 17:15 GMT. The widespread circulation of the piece created confusion among observers, with many questioning whether France Football, the organisers of the prestigious accolade, had failed to keep the final result a secret. Journalists had cast their votes to determine the winner at the end of September.
However, further investigation into the Ballon d’Or website uncovered that equivalent articles had been created and published for several other leading contenders, such as Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe and Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal.
Addressing the incident when contacted by BBC Sport, a Ballon d’Or spokesperson explained, “Some profiles of nominees prepared by BallonDor.com were inadvertently published online. These articles had been prepared for all nominees and should in no way be considered as an indication of the final results or rankings.”
Removal of Draft Articles
By 17:40 GMT, the premature publications concerning Kane and Mbappe had been taken down from the digital platform. Similar pre-written pieces had also been generated for players including Barcelona’s Ewa Pajor and London City Lionesses star Alexia Putellas, the latter of whom was subsequently confirmed as the official winner of the women’s Ballon d’Or.
Although the accidental online post may have provided an early hint of success for Kane, he ultimately had to wait only a brief time longer for official confirmation of his victory.
