Harry Kane was ultimately named the men's winner, the first Englishman to take the award since Michael Owen in 2001.
The official Ballon d'Or website published three articles naming Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane, Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappé and Barcelona and Spain winger Lamine Yamal as the winner of the 2026 men's award. They went up hours before Monday's ceremony at the London Palladium. ESPN said they appeared around two and a half hours before the ceremony was due to begin, and each was written as though its subject had already won.
An article headlined "Harry Kane wins the 2026 Ballon d'Or" began circulating online at 17:15 GMT, BBC Sport reported.
The Mbappé piece was headlined "Kylian Mbappé wins the 2026 Ballon d'Or thanks to his consistency at the highest levels", Goal reported. ESPN said another article declared Yamal the youngest winner in the award's 70-year history.
BBC Sport said the Kane and Mbappé articles had been removed by 17:40. Legit.ng reported that the Yamal article was still visible more than 30 minutes after organisers were told of the mistake. ESPN said all three were taken down, but not before screenshots circulated.
A Ballon d'Or spokesperson said: "Some profiles of nominees prepared by BallonDor.com were inadvertently published online." The spokesperson added: "These articles had been prepared for all nominees and should in no way be considered as an indication of the final results or rankings."
France Football, which organises the award, said the posts did not reveal the result:
"They DO NOT, in any way, reveal the podium, which remains unknown to everyone at this time."
Harry Kane was ultimately named men's winner, BBC Sport reported, and the three names did turn out to be the real podium: Mbappé finished second and Yamal third, according to Sky Sports. London City Lionesses star Alexia Putellas was confirmed as the women's winner.
Before the ceremony, ESPN said Mbappé was seeking his first Ballon d'Or, and 19-year-old Yamal would have become the youngest winner in the award's history had he won. The organisers have launched an investigation into how the pre-written content was published ahead of schedule, Legit.ng reported.
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