{
  "id": 16666366,
  "title": "Kane prematurely announced as Ballon d’Or winner – but he wasn’t only one",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/26/kane-prematurely-announced-as-ballon-dor-winner-but-he-wasnt-only-one-16666366",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-26T21:11:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "MyJoyOnline Ghana",
    "slug": "myjoyonline-ghana",
    "url": "https://www.myjoyonline.com/kane-prematurely-announced-as-ballon-dor-winner-but-he-wasnt-only-one/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A momentary surge of excitement arose among Harry Kane supporters on Monday, following the circulation of an article on the Ballon d'Or website claiming the English footballer had won the prestigious award. This news spread quickly online, causing confusion as the actual announcement was still hours away at the highly anticipated event held at London's Palladium Theatre. The rapid sharing of the article led some to speculate whether the award's organisers, France Football, had made a critical mistake by revealing the winner prematurely, despite the votes cast by journalists in late September.\n\nHowever, further investigation of the Ballon d'Or website soon revealed that similar articles had been published for other top contenders, such as Barcelona's Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappe. A spokesperson for the award organization addressed the issue, clarifying that the published profiles of nominees were \"inadvertently\" made available online and should not be interpreted as predictions of the final results or rankings. These articles about Kane, Mbappe, and other nominees, including London City Lionesses star Alexia Putellas and Barcelona's Ewa Pajor, regarding the women's award, were swiftly removed from the website just before 17:40 BST.\n\nIf Harry Kane is to fulfill his ambition and become the first Englishman to win the Ballon d'Or since 2001, he must now patiently await the official announcement to determine if his dreams will finally come true.",
  "summary": "For a moment, it seemed as though Harry Kane's dreams of winning the Ballon d'Or had come true.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Yahoo Sports",
        "title": "Hainer confirms Bayern delegation will travel to London for Ballon d'Or ceremony",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/25/hainer-confirms-bayern-delegation-will-travel-to-london-for-ballon",
        "published": "2026-10-25T11:47:00.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "BBC Sport Football",
        "title": "Weir would swap Ballon d'Or nominations for World Cup",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/25/weir-would-swap-ballon-dor-nominations-for-world-cup",
        "published": "2026-10-25T19:34:15.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}