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Speculation over the 2026 Ballon d’Or winner intensified on Monday after the award’s official website briefly published conflicting articles declaring three separate players as the victor, only to remove them shortly afterwards.
The premature posts, which appeared about two and a half hours before the scheduled ceremony at the London Palladium, named Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane, Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe, and Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal as the recipients of the men’s award.
According to reports, one article highlighted Kane’s goalscoring feats for the 2025-26 season, while another claimed Yamal, 19, had made history as the youngest-ever winner.
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A third piece focused on Mbappe’s sustained excellence.
The incident indicates that organisers had drafted advance announcements for multiple candidates.
Despite the brief publication of these pre-written profiles, the actual winner was not confirmed by the error.
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However, as of the time of filing this report, Barcelona and Spain forward Lamine Yamal won the men’s Young Talent of the Year award for the third consecutive year.
Pere Romeu was named Women’s Coach of the Year, while Vicky Lopez was awarded the 2026 Women’s Young Talent of the Year, making it back-to-back wins for 2025 and 2026.
