October 28 – Harry Kane and Alexia Putellas won the Ballon d’Or on Monday night. Almost everything else at the first ceremony held in London in the award’s 70-year history went wrong.
The trouble started before anyone had arrived. Hours before the event, the official Ballon d’Or website published an article proclaiming Kane the winner. Then people found more. There were winning entries for Kylian Mbappé, Putellas and several other favourites, all sitting on the spot waiting to go.
A spokesman said they had been “unintentionally published online”. “These articles were prepared for all nominees and should in no way be considered as an indication of final results or rankings,” they said. Kane’s, as it happened, was right.
Then came the traffic. Organizers had chosen the London Palladium, a short walk from Oxford Street, on the same day that the shopping street was closed to cars. With the crowd also jamming the entrance, guests arrived late and the ceremony started 45 minutes late.
Inside, he grew stronger. For nearly two-and-a-half hours, hosts Kate Scott and Thierry Henry had to stop proceedings several times as audience members shouted the players’ names across the room. There were boos during the commercial breaks.
Outside, it got worse. Hundreds of fans gathered behind a metal fence hoping to see the stars arrive. BBC Sport saw the barriers being climbed, broken and pulled down, with several people ejected by security after passing through. Footage on social media appeared to show fans clashing with security and police. The Metropolitan Police has been approached for comment.
Even the press conferences caused controversy. Reporters questioned Putellas freely, but only the men were chosen to ask Kane a question, with several reporters seemingly passed over. The Ballon d’Or team has apologized.
Kane had the night of his career. For the organisers, it was a night London will remember for different reasons.
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