Ballon d'Or website glitch reveals premature winner articles for Kane, Yamal, and Mbappe
The Ballon d'Or ceremony was thrown into chaos Monday after its official website prematurely published articles declaring Harry Kane, Lamine Yamal, and Kylian Mbappe as winners before the event began. The posts were quickly deleted. The erroneous articles appeared around 5:15pm GMT, hours before the ceremony at the London Palladium. Organizers issued a statement calling the posts pre-prepared portraits for all nominees, insisting the podium remains unknown. Kane was the favorite after scoring 89 goals in 81 appearances. The deleted articles detailed each player's case, with Yamal's piece claiming he became the youngest winner at 19, surpassing Ronaldo Nazário's record. The ceremony, originally scheduled for 8pm GMT, was delayed 30 minutes due to traffic, with the winner expected around 9:45pm GMT.