RUMOR
Three players, three winner announcements, zero confirmed winners. RTÉ Sport reports that the official Ballon d’Or website published separate articles naming Harry Kane, Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappé as the 2026 men’s winner ahead of the 70th ceremony in London. Organisers confirmed the pages were prepared in advance for every nominee, went live by mistake and reveal nothing about the podium.
What we know
The facts are calmer than the timeline. RTÉ Sport reports that the official Ballon d’Or website published three separate articles, each crowning a different player as the 2026 men’s winner. All three have since been taken down.
The organisers then issued a statement, reported by RTÉ Sport. They said portraits of some nominees prepared by Ballondor.com were “inadvertently published online.” They added that the articles had been prepared in advance for all nominees in case of a win and “do not reveal the podium, which remains unknown to everyone at this time.”
Sports Illustrated reports that the three articles were removed and that the explanation was added to the ceremony’s official live blog.
Think of a referee walking out with both a yellow and a red card in his pocket. Carrying both tells you nothing about which one comes out. Pre-writing a story for every outcome is standard practice, so the piece is ready the second the envelope opens. Yahoo Sports made the same point, noting that articles existed for all three players, which means this was not a real leak of the result.
The setting raises the stakes. ESPN and CBS Sports report that the 70th edition is being held at the London Palladium, the first time the ceremony has left France. It honours Stanley Matthews, the first winner in 1956.
What we don’t know yet
Who won. That is the honest answer to the only question anyone cares about tonight. The organisers say the podium is unknown to everyone, and no result has been announced in the sources checked.
Multiple reports say the pages were live for roughly 30 minutes to an hour before being taken down. Legit.ng reported that one article stayed up for more than 30 minutes after organisers were alerted at 5:23pm, and Khelnow reported they were published about 90 minutes before the event. Heavy says about half an hour. OneFootball puts their appearance roughly 1.5 hours before the ceremony, while Goal says roughly 2.5 hours before. Accounts of the exact timing differ.
The organisers called the publication inadvertent and explained that the articles had been pre-written for every nominee in the event of a win, but they have not detailed how the pages came to go live.
What is rumored
Daily Mail reporter Nathan Salt reported that organisers were shocked and launched an investigation into how the articles were published. Handle that with care. It comes from a single reporter, relayed second-hand by aggregator OneFootball via Yahoo Sports, and the organisers have not confirmed any investigation in the sources we checked.
Goal.com, citing unnamed “several international media outlets,” suggested the leaked articles might reveal the top three of the men’s vote, with talk of “chaos” and “panic” among organisers. That is speculation, and it runs straight into the organisers’ statement that the podium was not revealed. Goal itself notes that voting closed on 28 September, so a final order does exist somewhere. That is a different thing from the website having published it.
What it means
Flag up, goal chalked off. The claim that the website “declared” Kane, Mbappé and Yamal winners is debunked by the organisers’ own statement, and Yahoo Sports reached the same conclusion.
Can one of the three still lift the trophy? Absolutely. Yahoo Sports reported that Kane was seen as the favourite, with Mbappé and Yamal his main rivals, though NBC Connecticut said there was no clear consensus. Neither view is an official result, and three pre-written pages prove only that the web team had done its homework on those names.
The real damage is to the build-up, not the ballot. A night built to celebrate 70 years and a historic first outside France spent part of its countdown explaining a publishing slip. On the evidence available, it is an embarrassing error, not a fix.
There is plenty more on the card, too. Yahoo Sports notes the Kopa Trophy, Yashin Trophy, and the club and coach awards are also presented at the ceremony. For the big one, the rule is simple: wait for the envelope, not the URL.
