Jude Bellingham

Jude Victor William Bellingham (born 29 June 2003) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for La Liga club Real Madrid and the England national team. In 2023, he won both major awards for male footballers aged under 21: the Golden Boy, for nominees playing in Europe over the last calendar year,^[4] and the Kopa Trophy, for the world’s best over the previous season.^[5][6] Bellingham is considered to be one of the best players in the world.^[7][8]

Bellingham joined Birmingham City as an under-8, became the club’s youngest first-team player when he made his senior debut in August 2019, at the age of 16 years, 38 days, and played regularly during the 2019–20 season. He joined Borussia Dortmund in July 2020, and in his first appearance became their youngest goalscorer. Over three seasons with the club he made 132 appearances and won the 2020–21 DFB-Pokal; his performances in the 2022–23 season helped Dortmund finish as runners-up and earned him the Bundesliga Player of the Season award. In 2023, Bellingham signed for Real Madrid for a fee of €103 million.

Bellingham represented England at under-15, under-16, under-17 and under-21 levels. He made his first appearance for the senior team in November 2020, and represented the country at UEFA Euro 2020 and the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Jude Victor William Bellingham^[9] was born on 29 June 2003^[2] in Stourbridge, in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands,^[10] the eldest son of Denise and Mark Bellingham.^[11][12] His father Mark was, until 2022, a sergeant in the West Midlands Police, and a prolific goalscorer in non-League football.^[13][12][14] Bellingham’s younger brother, Jobe, is also a footballer.^[15] Bellingham attended Priory School in Edgbaston, Birmingham.^[16]

Bellingham joined Birmingham City as an under-8,^[10] after playing for Stourbridge.^[17] He played for their under-18 team at 14,^[15] and made his debut for their under-23 team at the age of 15, on 15 October 2018 away to Nottingham Forest‘s U23s. Entering the game after an hour, he scored the only goal in the 87th minute “sliding in to force the ball over the goal line after pressure by Kyle McFarlane on the keeper diverted the ball into his path.”^[18] By March 2019, he had three goals from ten development squad appearances,^[19] had featured in FourFourTwo‘s list of the “50 most exciting teenagers in English football”,^[20] and was mentioned as of interest to major European clubs.^[21][22] He was gradually introduced to the first-team environment while still a schoolboy: increasingly training with the seniors, he accompanied them on matchday to observe,^[15] and travelled as the “19th man” for a Championship match in March.

Bellingham took up a two-year scholarship with Birmingham City to begin in July 2019.^[23] He was part of the first-team training camp in Portugal,^[24] played and scored in pre-season friendlies,^[25] and was given squad number 22 for the 2019–20 season.^[26] On 6 August, when he started the EFL Cup first round visit to Portsmouth, Bellingham became Birmingham City’s youngest first-team player. At 16 years, 38 days, he lowered the record set by Trevor Francis in 1970 by 101 days.^[10] He played for 80 minutes in the 3–0 defeat, and was

the Birmingham Mail‘s man of the match.^[27] He made his first Football League appearance 19 days later, as a second-half substitute in a 3–0 defeat away to Swansea City,^[28] and his home debut on 31 August against Stoke City. Replacing the injured Jefferson Montero after half an hour, Bellingham scored the winner – albeit via a generous deflection – as Birmingham came back from 1–0 down to beat Stoke 2–1, and thus became their youngest goalscorer, aged 16 years and 63 days.^[29] He started the next match, away to Charlton Athletic two weeks later, and scored the only goal from Kerim Mrabti‘s cutback

He was linked with moves to numerous major clubs in January 2020;^[32] on deadline day, Birmingham were reported to have turned down a £20 million bid from Manchester United.^[33] Bellingham continued as a first-team regular, and by the time the season was suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic, he had made 32 league appearances. He remained an integral part of the team once the season resumed behind closed doors,^[28] and set up a late equaliser for Lukas Jutkiewicz against Charlton Athletic that made Birmingham’s league position less precarious with two matches still to play.^[34]

He finished the season with four goals from 44 appearances in all competitions, 41 in the league, as Birmingham avoided relegation despite losing the last match of the season.^[28][35] In appreciation of what Bellingham achieved in such a short time with the first team, the club announced that they would retire his number 22 shirt, “to remember one of our own and to inspire others.”^[36] At the EFL Awards, he was named both Championship Apprentice of the Year and EFL Young Player of the Season.

2021–2023: Bundesliga Player of the Season and League runner-up[edit]

On 4 December 2021, Bellingham played in Der Klassiker against Bayern Munich. He made the assists for both Dortmund goals,^[51] but Bayern won the match 3–2 via a 77th-minute penalty awarded after lengthy VAR involvement. Earlier in the fixture, two Dortmund penalty appeals were turned down by referee Felix Zwayer, who refused to review either.^[52][53] Interviewed live by Viaplay immediately after the match, Bellingham was critical of Zwayer’s decisions, and made reference to his part in the 2005 German football match-fixing scandal, saying: “You give a referee, that has match fixed before, the biggest game in Germany. What do you expect?”^[54] The German Football Association (DFB) wrote to Bellingham asking for his comments as a matter of urgency.^[54] He was later fined €40,000 by the DFB.^[55]

On 22 October 2022, in a match against Stuttgart, Bellingham contributed significantly with two notable goals – the first stemming from a rapid attack he both started and finished, and the fourth being a skilfully curved shot post half-time – actions that were instrumental in ensuring Borussia 

Dortmund’s place among the league’s top four.^[56] On 28 May 2023, Bayern Munich won the Bundesliga following the concession of two points by league leaders Borussia Dortmund in a 2–2 draw to Mainz 05 on the final day of the league.^[57] Bellingham, an unused substitute owing to a knee injury, was filmed pushing a camera away from his face as he left the field in tears.^[58] His performances earned him the Bundesliga Player of the Season award.^[59] Having finished as runner-up two years prior, Bellingham won the Kopa Trophy in 2023 in recognition of his performances over the 2022–23 season for Dortmund and for England in the 2022 FIFA World Cup. He became the first Englishman to receive the award, which was presented at the 2023 Ballon d’Or ceremony in October.^[5] He placed 18th in the Ballon d’Or voting.^[5]

Real Madrid[edit]

On 14 June 2023, Real Madrid announced the signing of Bellingham on a six-year contract.^[60][61] Borussia Dortmund would receive a base transfer fee of €103 million with potential to rise by 30% to approximately €133.9 million due to add-ons,^[62] from which a sell-on clause would earn Birmingham City around £6 million.^[63] He became the sixth Englishman to join Real Madrid in the professional era,^[A] and BBC Sport‘s Andy West thought the move made “perfect sense” for both club and player in context of Real’s “long-standing policy of recruiting the world’s best young players” and “proven willingness to give young players a chance to succeed at the highest level”.^[65]

On 12 August 2023, Bellingham marked his debut with a close-range half-volleyed goal from a corner kick in a 2–0 La Liga win away to Athletic Bilbao.^[66] Two goals and an assist for Vinícius Júnior in a 3–1 victory at Almería^[67] and the winner at Celta Vigo in the two remaining August matches made him the league’s top scorer and the first English recipient of the La Liga Player of the Month award.^[68] A 95th-minute winner against Getafe on 2 September in his first match at the newly renovated Santiago Bernabéu made Bellingham the third player after Cristiano Ronaldo in the 2009–10 season and Pepillo in 1959–60 to score in each of his first four competitive appearances for the club.^[69] 

Bellingham scored 10 goals in his first 10 matches for Madrid, equaling Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal tally after his first 10 games for the club in 2009.^[70][B] On 28 October, Bellingham scored a brace, including a stoppage-time winner, to secure Real Madrid a 2–1 away win against their rivals Barcelona, making him the first Real Madrid player to score in their La Liga and Champions League debuts for the club and in El Clásico.^[72] His first goal which was scored from 25 metres (82 ft)^[73] was his club’s 300th goal in El Clásico and in addition meant he became the first Englishman to score in that fixture since Michael Owen in 2005.^[74] Bellingham levelled several 

records with these goals.^[C][D][E] His coach Carlo Ancelotti commented: “He seems like a veteran, the goal to level it totally changed the game… Today he was stupendous and shocked everyone with his wonderful goal from the edge of the area.”^[71] Bellingham was named La Liga Player of the Month for October.^[77]