Thierry Henry slammed for 'rude' comment to Kate Scott during Ballon d'Or ceremony

Thierry Henry has faced criticism for his comments towards fellow presenter Kate Scott and Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal during the Ballon d’Or ceremony on Monday night.

Former Arsenal and France striker Henry was co-presenting the 2026 Ballon d’Or awards show held at the Palladium Theatre in London alongside Scott.

But Henry set an awkward tone early on during the two-hour long ceremony as he teased Yamal about not winning the Ballon d’Or, before he pulled up Scott on her pronunciation of Brazil legend Socrates, whose name is used for the award to recognise the best humanitarian work carried out by a footballer.

‘We’ll also give out the Socrates Award which was,’ Scott said.

Henry then cut her off and said: ‘What do you mean Socrates? We don’t have any philosophers here, it’s ‘Soc-ra-tes’.

Scott repeated Henry’s pronunciation and replied: ‘Excuse my pronunciation, everybody. Trust Thierry to get it right.’

Henry continued to speak over her as he said: ‘Yes, Doctor Socrates, we’re not going to debate here.’

However, Scottish author, Andrew Downie, a Brazilian football expert who wrote the book ‘Doctor Socrates: Footballer, Philosopher, Legend’, has criticised Henry for his interaction with Scott.