The Ballon d’Or marked its 70th anniversary by being held in London for the first time at the iconic London Palladium. While Harry Kane celebrated a homecoming victory on Monday night, the rest of the event was plagued by disruptions, website blunders, and security clashes.
Traffic, Delays and a Rowdy Audience
Organisers scheduled the major event near Oxford Street on the same day the famous shopping area was made traffic-free. Combined with large crowds at the entrance, significant numbers of guests experienced delays that forced a 45-minute pushback to the start time.
BBC Sport reported that a rowdy audience sat through a nearly two-and-a-half-hour ceremony. Hosts Kate Scott and Thierry Henry had to pause proceedings several times while people shouted player names, and commercial breaks featured multiple instances of booing.
Following victories for Kane and Alexia Putellas in the main categories, journalists questioned Putellas, but only men were selected to ask Kane questions, with several female journalists appearing to be ignored. The Ballon d’Or team subsequently issued an apology.
Clashes with Police
Hundreds of people gathered outside the venue to catch a glimpse of football stars on the red carpet behind a security perimeter of metal fencing and barricades. BBC Sport witnessed barriers being scaled, broken, and ripped down, with security evicting individuals who made their way through.
Footage on social media captured tense atmospheres and fans clashing with security and police. A Metropolitan Police spokesperson told BBC Sport that officers assisted after concerns arose regarding crowd behavior and potential breaches of the peace.
A statement from the Metropolitan Police confirmed that a Section 35 dispersal order was authorised at 19:49 GMT on Monday and remained in place until 04:00 on Tuesday, 27 October. Officers cleared the crowd as individuals threw scaffolding clips and bricks toward police, though no officers sustained injuries.
Later in the evening, officers managed a small group of individuals who had climbed a neighboring building. The police reported two arrests, one for breaching the dispersal order and another for affray and violent disorder.
Website Blunder
Confusion started hours before the ceremony when the official Ballon d’Or website published an article declaring Kane as the men’s award winner. Further investigation showed similar articles existed for other favorites, including Kylian Mbappe and Putellas.
A Ballon d’Or spokesperson told BBC Sport that these articles were inadvertently published online. The spokesperson stated that the articles had been prepared for all nominees and should not be considered an indication of final results or rankings.
Additionally, official Ballon d’Or social media accounts mixed up the names of two women’s nominees by congratulating “Alexia Bonmati” on her victory before deleting the post.
