Harry Kane was crowned the 2026 men’s Ballon d’Or winner at the London Palladium on Monday, hours after the award’s own website accidentally published articles declaring him, and two rivals, the victor.
The Bayern Munich striker, 33, is the first English winner since Michael Owen in 2001. Sky Sports reported that he was honoured for a 73-goal season for club and country, and received the trophy from Brazil great Ronaldo.
He finished ahead of Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe and Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal, according to UEFA’s account of the ceremony. Rodri, Lionel Messi, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Ousmane Dembele completed the top seven.
The early leak
BBC Sport reported that an article headlined ‘Harry Kane wins the 2026 Ballon d’Or’ began circulating online at 17:15 on Monday. It came from the award’s official website.
Social media users wondered whether France Football, the magazine that organises the prize, had failed to keep the result secret. The winner was chosen by journalists’ votes at the end of September.
Closer inspection showed the site had also published similar pieces on other leading contenders, including Yamal and Mbappe. ESPN reported that all three were named as winners in separate articles, which were then taken down.
According to the BBC, the Kane and Mbappe pieces had gone by 17:40. Articles had also been written about women’s contenders Alexia Putellas and Ewa Pajor.
A Ballon d’Or spokesperson told BBC Sport that profiles of nominees prepared by BallonDor.com had been “inadvertently published online”. The statement added that the articles “should in no way be considered as an indication of the final results or rankings”.
The piece on Kane, as quoted by GB News, highlighted a record-breaking run of league and cup goals in 2025/26. It said he had won a domestic treble with Bayern and captained England to their best World Cup finish since 1966.
The pre-written copy turned out to be right for Kane alone. Putellas was confirmed as the women’s winner, the BBC reported, and it was her third Ballon d’Or.
Kane is the fifth Englishman to take the men’s award, after Stanley Matthews, Bobby Charlton, Kevin Keegan and Owen. Forbes noted that it was the first Ballon d’Or ceremony held in the UK, a nod to Matthews, who won the first award in 1956.
Kane is next in action with Bayern against Borussia Dortmund on Saturday 31 October.
Sources: ESPN, Sky Sports, UEFA, GB News, Forbes, BBC Sport
This story was compiled by the MDW Newsdesk with AI-assisted tools, using the reporting credited above.
