Awards: Harry Kane wins the 2026 men’s Ballon d’Or

Harry Kane won the 2026 men’s Ballon d’Or on 26 October, beating Kylian Mbappé. China Media Group, which oversees China’s state broadcaster CCTV, suspended broadcasts of Spain’s football league, La Liga, and removed advertisements featuring Mbappé, DW said on 27 October.

Mbappé plays for France and Real Madrid, which competes in La Liga. The restrictions followed a circulated video in which he discussed a meme showing his face on the body of the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong and apparently referred to Mao as a Chinese dictator.

Three sponsors end their agreements

Beverage maker Dongpeng, dairy company Mengniu and cheesemaker Milkground announced on 27 October that they were ending their agreements with Mbappé, ESPN said. The companies did not specify what prompted their decisions. Each said it opposed “any words and actions that hurt national sentiment.”

Social media platform RedNote said it would remove related promotional material. That was not a new contract termination: RedNote said its content partnership with Mbappé had ended on 31 December 2024.

CCTV’s response and coverage restrictions

BBC Sport cited the state-owned Global Times newspaper as saying CCTV’s news apps would exclude content about Mbappé.

CCTV subsequently said it would consider Mbappé’s apology but would also judge his future actions.