Hours before the official start of the long-awaited 2026 Ballon d'Or ceremony in London, a serious gaffe has led to speculation over the winner.
The official website mistakenly published three separate articles announcing Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal as winners of football's most prestigious award.
The error was spotted by Daily Mail Sport at 5:23 p.m. (local time), which prompted a series of frantic phone calls and messages among shocked organizers.
An immediate investigation is underway. The articles announcing Kane and Mbappe as winners were quickly removed, but the article about Yamal remained active on the site for more than 30 minutes after the notification.
Photos of the posts appeared on social networks.
An official statement from the "Ballon d'Or" states that: “Portraits of some nominees for the "Ballon d'Or" were inadvertently published online. These articles were prepared in advance for all nominees in case of victory. They do NOT reveal in any way the winner, who remains unknown to everyone at this point."
Despite the explanation, the blunder raised serious questions and caused a huge stir on social networks.
The Daily Mail also informs that this mistake occurs before a ceremony that already promised to be one of the most intriguing in decades, without a clear dominant one since the end of the Messi-Ronaldo era.
In the end, the trophy went to Harry Kane.