Shortly after 17:15 GMT on Monday, an article on the Ballon d'Or official website titled "Harry Kane wins the 2026 Ballon d'Or" began to circulate online. The winner was due to be announced more than four and a half hours later at an event at London's Palladium Theatre, and the widespread sharing of the article caused confusion online.
Article circulated before the announcement
France Football were described as the organisers of the award. The winner was voted for by journalists at the end of September.
Just before 17:40 BST, the articles about Kane and Mbappe had been removed from the website.
Similar pieces appeared for other contenders
BBC Sport reported that 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.
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.
BBC Sport said the reason was unclear
BBC Sport reported that it was unclear whether the initial article about Kane was published by mistake and whether the subsequent publication of the remaining articles was part of a damage-control exercise.