Chinese sports website Dongqiudi removed Kylian Mbappé's name from its official 2026 Ballon d'Or ranking and replaced it with a phrase meaning "the person does not exist". GOAL said the move came amid a backlash in China over remarks linked to Mao Zedong.
The ranking change
GOAL said Dongqiudi deleted Mbappé's name permanently from its official ranking for the 2026 Ballon d'Or and replaced it with a harsh Chinese phrase. GOAL said the ranking published in China on Tuesday showed Harry Kane in first place and Lamine Yamal in third place, while second place carried the phrase "chá wú cǐ rén", which GOAL translated as "no such person exists" or "the person does not exist".
GOAL said Mbappé finished second in the official Ballon d'Or ranking behind Harry Kane and ahead of Lamine Yamal. GOAL said Dongqiudi attached a black-and-white image of Mbappé to the post and refused to translate his remarks.
What GOAL said sparked the dispute
GOAL said the roots of the crisis go back to an interview Mbappé gave on the digital programme The Bridge, presented by Aurélien Tchouaméni. GOAL said Mbappé recalled a composite image in which his face was superimposed onto the face of a Chinese leader he described as a "dictator", and said he found the image funny and used to share it a lot with his friends.
GOAL said Mbappé did not mention Mao Zedong by name in the interview, but the Chinese public linked his words to an image showing his face superimposed onto the face of Mao Zedong.
Further developments cited by GOAL
GOAL, citing Spain's "Sport", reported that the Kylian Mbappé crisis in China is escalating rapidly from social media controversy into a diplomatic and sporting crisis. GOAL reported that CCTV halted the broadcast of Spanish league matches entirely, according to local media reports, against the backdrop of the same crisis.