‘Panicked blunder’: Official Ballon d'Or website leaks Kane, Mbappé, Yamal as winners hours before gala

London: Organisers of the Ballon d'Or ceremony mistakenly published multiple articles announcing different "winners" of the men's award on its official website on Monday, hours prior to the event.

One published report read, in part, "Harry Kane wins 2026 Ballon d'Or" — while matching articles similarly declared Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappé as the winners.

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It emerged that organiser France Football had drafted numerous announcements in advance to ensure immediate coverage once the result was declared, but the pieces were inadvertently uploaded online well ahead of the gala held at The London Palladium.

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"Some profiles of nominees prepared by BallonDor.com were inadvertently published online," the organiser stated in an official comment provided to the BBC.

"These articles had been prepared for all nominees and should in no way be considered as an indication of the final results or rankings."

AFP