Ballon d’Or website sparks confusion as Kane, Mbappé and Yamal all named as winners

The Ballon d’Or website has sparked confusion before tonight’s ceremony after Ben Jacobs shared screenshots of separate articles naming Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal as the winner.

The journalist posted the three pages on X at 5.35pm GMT on Monday, October 26. He subsequently reported that all three links had been removed.

Ballon d’Or website has published Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal have won.😅

— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) October 26, 2026

The conflicting pages have prompted jokes and speculation from fans, but they do not establish the identity of the winner.

What appeared on the Ballon d’Or website?

Jacobs’ original post contains three screenshots, each presenting a different leading player as the award recipient. The Kane screenshot shows a celebratory article about his goalscoring season, rather than a prediction piece.

Jacobs then said in a follow-up post that the links had been taken down, having recently been accessible. His screenshots preserve what he reported seeing, although the removed pages cannot now be treated as a live results announcement.

The three winner articles shared by Ben Jacobs

All three screenshots are shown below without the artwork’s blur. Tap a screenshot to view it in full.

Fans react to the three different winner articles

The replies to Jacobs’ post range from amusement to confusion, with some supporters treating the differing headlines as an invitation to speculate.

Who let the intern cook

— @synncube111 October 26, 2026

Imagine it was Olise in the end of the day

— @virdzsH October 26, 2026

Others questioned how three different winner articles could appear at once:

View @Iewdawg’s reaction on X

Has the Ballon d’Or winner been leaked?

The material shared does not establish that. With separate articles naming three different players, selecting one page as proof of the result would require evidence that the screenshots do not provide.

Preparing articles for several possible outcomes is a familiar editorial practice. That offers a plausible explanation for multiple winner stories, but it is an inference here: the screenshots alone cannot tell us why the pages became accessible or who authorised their publication.

The organisers’ reason for publishing the pages remains unclear.

When is the 2026 Ballon d’Or ceremony?

UEFA’s official ceremony guide lists the event for 8pm GMT on Monday, October 26, at the London Palladium. Thierry Henry and Kate Scott are scheduled to host.

This is the award’s 70th anniversary edition and its first ceremony in London. UEFA says the choice of host city pays tribute to inaugural winner Sir Stanley Matthews.

The official Ballon d’Or rankings page says the 2026 positions will be added as they are revealed during the ceremony. That is the results announcement to distinguish from the conflicting article screenshots circulating beforehand.