Thierry Henry has been forced to explain his actions during the Ballon d’Or ceremony in a video posted to his Instagram account.
The former Arsenal and Barcelona legend co-hosted the 2026 award ceremony, held in London for the first time, which saw 33-year-old Bayern Munich and England star Harry Kane win the award for the first time.
I’d ask everyone to take a step back and stop creating unnecessary controversy,” Henry said. “Let’s leave the unnecessary drama behind.”
He attempted to clear up three different criticisms he has faced since the gala took place, explaining his actions on all three fronts.
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Thierry Henry explains awkward moment correcting Kate Scott
Early in the Ballon d’Or ceremony, host Kate Scott began to introduce the Socrates Award.
The Socrates Award, named for the former Brazil international of the same name, is given to “players who use their influence and resources to make a positive impact off the field. Every year, the award will identify the best actions in support of the community by committed champions.”
As Scott was introducing the award, Scott pronounced it “SOCK-rat-ees,” to which Henry interrupted and said “what do you mean ‘Socrates?’ There are no philosophers here. It’s ‘sock-RAT-is’.” Scott then conceded to the correction, both had a chuckle, and they moved on.
It was an extremely awkward moment. It stoked frustrations of many online, as Scott appeared genuinely caught off guard that Henry would stop her in that moment to what felt like mansplain the pronunciation of a cultural word to a woman who speaks fluently in four languages and is extremely well learned in the subject.
Henry addressed the situation in his video. “Kate was with me on the joke,” Henry explained. “And you can ask Kate, by the way, she did it on purpose to say Socrates, and I had to say Socrates. Again, if you didn’t like the joke, I understand, but please stop saying it was to disrespect Kate. I would never do that, and you can ask her, she was in on the joke with me.”
Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka won the Socrates Award for humanitarian and charity work.
Thierry Henry explains question to Lamine Yamal during Kopa Trophy
Henry addressed another moment that caught criticism online when he posited a question to Kopa Trophy winner Lamine Yamal.
Throughout the evening, Scott and Henry were asked to pose questions to the award winners on stage, looking to get their personality to come out and see what their emotions were on stage in the moment.
One of the first big awards presented was the Kopa Trophy, given to the best player in the world under the age of 21. Lamine Yamal won his third straight in this category, and came to the stage to accept his award. The Premier League legend posed the first question to Lamine, and decided to ask him “is this the one you really want?” Henry, of course, was referring to the Ballon d’Or, the night’s showpiece award, of which the young Spaniard was one of the favorites to win his first ever.
The question brought a genuine laugh not just from Lamine but from the room, a fun, light-hearted moment that addressed the elephant in the room. However, many online after the fact felt as if it was disrespectful to Lamine, belittling what should have been a special moment on its own. Henry explained his intentions, which seemed similar to his other explanation.
“First and foremost with Lamine Yamal, I wasn’t checking his ego at all,” Henry said. “I just thought that, as the third time he’s winning that trophy, I asked him if that’s the one that he really wanted. It brought out a laugh with a lot of people, we all know what he wanted, but he didn’t get it.
“I’m a big fan of Lamine Yamal, I wasn’t checking his ego whatsoever. If you didn’t like the joke I can understand, but please don’t do that. He’s one of the players I would pay to watch, I love him. So I was just asking if it’s the one that he really wasn’t because I know the bigger prize was coming after, and unfortunately he didn’t win it because he’s a hell of a player and I would pay to watch him.”
Thierry Henry explains Harry Kane comments at Ballon d’Or
During the ceremony, Henry made it quite clear that his preference was for fellow Frenchmen Kylian Mbappe or Michael Olise to win the Ballon d’Or.
Henry received criticism for this, especially when Harry Kane was announced as the winner.
“If you don’t watch our [Champions League] show on CBS [in the United States], Harry Kane the other day after the game Bayern Munich vs. Arsenal called me out for supporting Kylian Mbappe,” Henry said. “So I just told him the other day, all due, I’m French and I was always going to back up and support my fellow countryman. I just said to him, you are a worthy winner, you deserve it, you are the example of what I always call work ethic is a talent, working hard is a talent. You are a worthy winner, well done Harry Kane. And I’ve been calling him Sir Harry Kane since the World Cup.
“So please, people out there, relax. Relax. I love Harry Kane.”
