The Ballon d’Or ceremony tonight? Yeah, it is already a total circus. The official website just pulled off an all-time gaffe, dropping not one, not two, but *three* separate articles claiming Harry Kane, Lamine Yamal, and Kylian Mbappe had all won the world’s most prestigious individual award hours before the show even kicked off. Seriously, what in the world is going on over there in London?
The Ultimate Website Screw-Up
This colossal error by the organizers went live around 5:15 PM GMT, long before the London Palladium even started rolling out the red carpet. Three separate articles, each crowning a different superstar, hit the official ballondor.com website. Harry Kane, the Bayern Munich and England striker, was one. Barcelona’s teenage phenom Lamine Yamal was another. And Real Madrid’s superstar Kylian Mbappe was the third. These are all frontrunners, mind you, but to publish *all three* as winners? By 5:45 PM GMT, the articles were obviously scrubbed, but the damage was already done. The Ballon d’Or organizers later tried to smooth it over with a statement, saying, “Portraits of some Ballon d’Or nominees prepared by ballondor.com were inadvertently published online. These articles had been prepared in advance for all nominees in the event of a win. They do not, in any way, reveal the podium, which remains unknown to everyone at this time.” Yeah, right. “Inadvertently.” This is pure chaos.
Who Was *Supposed* To Win, According To The Leaks?
So, what did these accidentally published articles say about our “winners”? Each one basically made a compelling case for their guy. Harry Kane’s piece, headlined “Harry Kane wins 2026 Ballon d’Or: Here are his best and most meaningful strikes from a 61-goal season,” talked up his “prolific haul” and the records he set that “ensured Bayern won a domestic treble.” The guy has been on fire, scoring 89 goals for club and country in just 81 appearances since the start of last season. He was the heavy favorite going into tonight, no doubt.
Then there was Kylian Mbappe’s article, which celebrated his “consistency personified at the very highest level” after a “record-breaking World Cup and another welter of goals for Los Blancos.” No one can argue Mbappe isn’t a force of nature, especially after his World Cup performance.
But the real shocker for some might have been Lamine Yamal’s article, which proclaimed him the “new king of football.” The headline highlighted his “unprecedented record… that not even Lionel Messi managed to achieve.” Get this: at just 19 years of age, Yamal’s ‘win’ would have made him the youngest winner in the Ballon d’Or’s history, which goes back to 1956. To put that in perspective, Messi won his first at 22 years and 160 days old, and Ronaldo Nazário held the previous youngest record at 21 years and 92 days. Yamal’s article even ended with a dramatic flourish: “Now, this historic record belongs to the new king of football and the brand-new winner of the most prestigious trophy on the planet. It belongs to Lamine Yamal Nasraoui Ebana.” Imagine being a teenager and seeing that published about you, only for it to be a mistake!
What’s Next For This Embarrassing Night?
The ceremony itself was already running behind, delayed by 30 minutes due to traffic. Now, with the website spilling the beans in three different directions, the real winner, set to be crowned around 9:45 PM GMT, is going to step into an absolute firestorm. Will the actual winner be one of the three who got ‘leaked’? Or will it be someone else entirely, making the gaffe even more ridiculous? Tonight is going to be talked about for a long, long time, and not just because of who takes home the trophy. The organizers have a lot of explaining to do.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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