For a moment, it seemed as though Harry Kane's dreams of winning the Ballon d'Or had come true. It was shortly after on Monday when an article from the award's official website titled "Harry Kane wins the 2026 Ballon d'Or" began to circulate online. It was more than four and a half hours before the winner of the game's most prestigious individual award was due to be announced at a star-studded event at London's Palladium Theatre.
The widespread sharing of the article caused confusion online, with some wondering whether France Football - the organisers of the award - had fallen short at the final hurdle of keeping the winner, who was voted for by journalists at the end of September, under wraps. That was until further digging on the Ballon d'Or website revealed that some of the other favourites to win the award - Barcelona's Lamine Yamal, Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe, and Lionel Messi of Inter Miami - had also had similar pieces penned and published about them. Just before , the articles about Kane and Mbappe had been removed from the website.
It is unclear whether the articles were published by mistake and whether their removal from the website was intentional or part of a damage-control exercise. Similar articles were also written about London City Lionesses star Alexia Putellas and Barcelona's Ewa Pajor, who are two of the favourites for the corresponding women's award, also taking place on Monday night. If Kane is to realise his dream and become the first Englishman to win the award since 2001, he will have to wait a little longer to find out.
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