Every Ballon d'Or Scandal, Checked

Ballon d'Or history, checked against the record. Hours before the 70th Ballon d'Or in London on 26 October 2026, the award's own website named three different winners. It isn't even the strangest day in its history.

On the night, Harry Kane won, with Mbappé second and Yamal third, and Alexia Putellas won her third women's Ballon d'Or (ESPN, 27 October 2026). So the three articles were the podium after all.

Which story surprised you?

In this video
0:00 Three winners in one afternoon
0:49 Why it exists
1:47 Only Europeans
2:55 The only goalkeeper
3:44 Pelé and Maradona
4:50 A ball for Mandela
5:42 The first African winner
6:42 One point
7:35 FIFA's six years
8:31 The deadline that moved
9:24 The year with no winner
10:10 The editor and Ronaldo
10:54 Messi's eight
11:30 The club that stayed home
12:22 Seventy years

Where the stories come from
- RSSSF: the 1996 vote and its ballot note: https://www.rsssf.org/miscellaneous/europa-poy96.html
- the42, 20 Nov 2013: FIFA extends the voting deadline: https://www.the42.ie/article.php?id=1183575
- Delpher (Dutch national library): the Dutch papers quoted in the video: https://www.delpher.nl

Pictures and credits
- Главархив Москвы, CC BY 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lev_Yashin_1962.jpg
- Michael Beckwith, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blackpool_Town_Hall_(7167342950).jpg
- It's No Game, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:London_Skyline_(49526462888).jpg
- Главархив Москвы, CC BY 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Luzhniki_Stadium_September_1960.jpg
- Валерий Дед, CC BY 3.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dortmund_Signal_Iduna_Park_1.jpg
- Dirk Vorderstraße, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Karl-Heinz_Rummenigge_(10560949973).jpg
- Paul Blank, CC BY 2.5: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wesley_Sneijder.jpg
- Paul Blank, CC BY 2.5: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wesley_Sneijder_12.jpg
- Gordon Flood from Trim, Ireland, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arsene_Wenger_2009.jpg
- Schölla Schwarz, CC BY 3.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Limmat_mit_Grossm%C3%BCnster_-_panoramio.jpg
- Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Est%C3%A1dio_da_Luz_-_Lisboa2.jpg
- Radek Kucharski, CC BY 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Golden_sky_over_Paris.jpg
- Celsoazevedo, CC BY 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:London_Palladium_May_2025.jpg
- Burgermac from Pornichet, France, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2007_news_kiosk_Paris_1406808950.jpg
- Maradona_as_Coach_2010.jpg: babasteve
derivative work: Vssun (talk), CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Diego_Maradona_2010.jpg
- https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnseb/, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giuseppe_Meazza_(San_Siro)_stadium,_exterior_view.jpg
- Валерий Дед, CC BY 3.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dortmund_Signal_Iduna_Park_6.jpg
- Oh-Barcelona.com from Barcelona, Spain, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Camp_Nou_aerial_(cropped).jpg
- m.caimary, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Messi_FC_BARCELONA_-_ARSENAL_8_MAR_2011.jpg
- Amit Bronstein, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cristiano_Ronaldo_2013.jpg
- Dirk Vorderstraße, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Franck_Ribery_(10560725555).jpg
- Valentin Groß, CC BY 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:UliH.jpg
- Thomas Rodenbücher, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lewandowski_2014.jpg
- Flocci Nivis, CC BY 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20201229_Allianz_Arena_03.jpg
- Chris Deahr, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ronaldo_vs._FC_Schalke_04_(16854146922).jpg
- xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Th%C3%A9%C3%A2tre_du_Ch%C3%A2telet,_Paris_29_May_2017.jpg
- Hayden Schiff, CC BY 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CINvMIA_2023-08-23_-_Lionel_Messi,_Tata_Martino_(PXL_20230824_010525464).jpg
- Cléria De Souza, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Etihad_Stadium.jpg
- Daniel from Glasgow, United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Estadio_Santiago_Bernabeu_(53988637723).jpg
- Daniel from Glasgow, United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Estadio_Santiago_Bernabeu_(53987507417).jpg
- Stock footage: Pexels
- Archive photos and engravings: Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

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