Thierry Henry's Ballon d'Or exchange with Lamine Yamal divides opinion
Thierry Henry asked Lamine Yamal whether the Kopa Trophy was the award he really wanted to win at the Ballon d'Or ceremony in London on Monday, a moment that prompted mixed reaction on social media. The exchange occurred during the live event at the London Palladium.
Lamine Yamal, 19, collected the Kopa Trophy as the best young player for the third consecutive year and used his acceptance remarks to say team-mate Pau Cubars deserved the honour. Henry, who co-hosted the ceremony with broadcaster Kate Scott, posed the question from the stage as the awards night continued.
The question drew audible laughter in the auditorium and quickly became a talking point on X. Yamal initially laughed and then explained he wanted to win every trophy but believed Cubars deserved this particular award, and he made a point of acknowledging the defender’s performances for Barcelona during his speech.
Some viewers criticised Henry for putting the teenager in an uncomfortable position, with comments describing the intervention as disrespectful and accusing the former France striker of embarrassing Yamal. Other observers defended Henry as joking and said the interaction was being taken too seriously.
Henry also faced pushback after correcting Scott’s pronunciation of the Socrates Award, with some viewers interpreting his response as unnecessarily sharp. The two on-stage moments prompted discussion about the former Arsenal striker’s approach as a presenter.
The ceremony also delivered the main individual honours: Harry Kane won the men’s Ballon d’Or after a prolific season with Bayern Munich, becoming the first Englishman to receive the award since Michael Owen in 2001. Kane scored 61 goals in 51 appearances for Bayern across all competitions as the club won the domestic league and cup double; he finished ahead of Kylian Mbappe, with Yamal third.
In the women’s awards, Alexia Putellas won the Ballon d’Or for the third time after helping Barcelona secure a treble before moving to London City Lionesses, and Barcelona’s Vicky Lopez retained the women’s Kopa Trophy. Spain coach Luis de la Fuente was named men’s coach of the year and Barcelona’s Pere Romeu won the women’s coaching award.
Additional honours included Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon taking the men’s Yashin Trophy and Barcelona’s Cata Coll winning the women’s goalkeeper award. Paris Saint-Germain were named men’s club of the year, Barcelona took the women’s club honour, Kane won the men’s Gerd Mller Trophy for the best striker and Mexico’s Charlyn Corral received the women’s equivalent.
Arsenal and England winger Bukayo Saka won the Socrates Award for his humanitarian work through his Big Shoe charity. The accolade was one of the awards presented during the Ballon d’Or ceremony.
