Why has the Ballon d'Or 2026 ceremony been delayed?

The ceremony at the London Palladium was due to get underway at 8pm

The Ballon d'Or ceremony has been delayed, continuing what has been a chaotic build-up for event organisers.

In the hours leading up to the ceremony at the London Palladium, the official Ballon d'Or website seemingly leaked the results of the award.

An article went up declaring Harry Kane as the winner, laying out his stats from last season and the breakdown of his performances. However, similar articles for Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappe were also published, announcing them as the victors as well.

All three were quickly deleted. It is unclear whether all three were released at the same time, or the actual winner was announced by mistake and the other two were then pushed out to cover for that.

The ceremony was due to get underway at 8pm GMT but that has now been pushed back by 30 minutes. It is now expected that the action will begin at 8:30pm in central London, with the delay caused by traffic in the area.

This is the first time in the Ballon d'Or's 70-year history that the ceremony has been hosted in London. Organisers moved it away from Paris to mark the 70-year anniversary of Stanley Matthews winning the first ever Ballon d'Or. Kane remains the favourite to pick up the award, and become the first English winners since Michael Owen in 2001.

Mbappe and Yamal are the chief threats to Kane.

Mbappe was the top scorer at the World Cup and in the Champions League, while Yamal won the World Cup with Spain and lifted the La Liga title as well.