Harry Kane was topped winner of the boys’s Ballon d’Or on Monday evening, however a couple of hours earlier that affirmation appeared to have been introduced prematurely.
At 17:15 GMT, an article from the award’s official web site titled ‘Harry Kane wins the 2026 Ballon d’Or’ started to flow into on-line.
The widespread sharing of the article brought about confusion on-line, with some questioning whether or not France Soccer – the organisers of the award – had fallen brief on the closing hurdle of conserving the winner, who was voted for by journalists on the finish of September, below wraps.
That was till additional digging on the Ballon d’Or web site revealed that a few of the different favourites to win the award – together with Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal, Actual Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe – additionally had related items penned and revealed about them.
When requested in regards to the articles by BBC Sport, a Ballon d’Or spokesperson stated: “Some profiles of nominees ready by BallonDor.com have been inadvertently revealed on-line.
“These articles had been ready for all nominees and will on no account be thought of as a sign of the ultimate outcomes or rankings.”
By 17:40, the articles about Kane and Mbappe had been faraway from the web site.
Comparable articles have been additionally written about London Metropolis Lionesses star Alexia Putellas and Barcelona’s Ewa Pajor. Putellas went on to be formally confirmed because the winner of the ladies’s Ballon d’Or.
That untimely announcement could have sparked some pleasure in Kane that this may very well be his 12 months, however he solely needed to wait a little bit longer to seek out out for positive.
