Jude Victor William Bellingham (born 29 June 2003) is an English professional footballer who plays as a attacking midfielder for La Liga club Real Madrid and the England national team. Regarded as one of the best players in the world, he is known for his athleticism and ball-winning ability.
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, and played regularly during the 2019–20 season. He signed with Borussia Dortmund in July 2020, and in his first appearance became the club's youngest goal-scorer. 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. Later that year, he won the European Golden Boy and the Kopa Trophy.
Bellingham signed for Real Madrid in 2023 for €103 million. In his first season, he was the club's top league scorer, helping them to the league title and Champions League, and was voted La Liga Player of the Season. He was included in the FIFPRO World 11 for three consecutive years (2023, 2024, 2025), and finished third in voting for the Ballon d'Or and The Best FIFA Men's Player in 2024.
Bellingham represented England at the under-15, under-16, under-17, and under-21 levels. He made his first appearance for the senior team in November 2020, and was part of the squads for the UEFA European Championship in 2020 and 2024, as well as the FIFA World Cup in 2022 and 2026. At the 2026 World Cup, Bellingham helped England finish in third place as he scored seven goals, making him England's highest goalscorer in a single World Cup tournament.
Jude Victor William Bellingham was born on 29 June 2003 in Stourbridge, in the county of West Midlands in England. He is the eldest son of Denise and Mark Bellingham. He is of Afro-Jamaican descent through his mother and Irish descent through his father. His paternal grandfather, William Bellingham, served in the British Army in Berlin before becoming a teacher and the head of modern foreign languages at Southend High School for Boys, and was a strong influence on Jude's patriotism and values. Jude's father was a sergeant in the West Midlands Police until 2022, and was a prolific goalscorer in non-League football. Jude's younger brother, Jobe, is also a footballer. Jude was privately educated at Priory School in Edgbaston, Birmingham. He graduated from Loughborough College with a BTEC level 3 certificate in sport in 2021. He grew up idolising Zinedine Zidane.
Bellingham joined Birmingham City as an under-8 after playing for Stourbridge Juniors. He played for Birmingham's under-18 team at age 14, and made his debut for their under-23 team at age 15. In his first game for the U-23 team, he scored the only goal as Birmingham defeated Nottingham Forest 1–0 on 15 October 2018. By March 2019, Bellingham had scored three goals from ten development squad appearances. He was featured in FourFourTwo's list of the "50 most exciting teenagers in English football" and was drawing the interest of major European clubs. He was gradually introduced to the first-team environment, which included training with the team and accompanying them to an EFL Championship match in March 2019.
Bellingham took up a two-year scholarship with Birmingham City to begin in July 2019. He was part of the first-team training camp in Portugal, played and scored in pre-season friendlies, and was given squad number 22 for the 2019–20 season. On 6 August, when he started the EFL Cup first round visit to Portsmouth, Bellingham became the youngest first-team player in Birmingham City's history, at 16 years and 38 days. He played for 80 minutes in the 3–0 loss, and was the Birmingham Mail's man of the match. He made his first Football League appearance 19 days later, as a second-half substitute in a 3–0 loss to Swansea City, and made his home debut on 31 August against Stoke City. Replacing the injured Jefferson Montero after half an hour, Bellingham scored the winning goal as Birmingham defeated Stoke 2–1, becoming the club's youngest goalscorer. He started the next match against Charlton Athletic two weeks later, scoring the only goal in a 1–0 win.
Bellingham became a regular starter for Birmingham. He began on the left wing, was moved into central midfield to help him gain confidence, and then was used in a more "advanced" role once staff felt he could handle the responsibility. According to head coach Pep Clotet, Bellingham felt "comfortable" in the midfield, particularly when he was near the opposing team's penalty area. Bellingham was EFL Young Player of the Month for November 2019. Various major clubs showed interest in Bellingham in January 2020, and on deadline day Birmingham reportedly turned down a £20 million bid from Manchester United. When the season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bellingham had made 32 league appearances. He remained an integral part of the team once the season resumed behind closed doors. He finished the season with four goals from 44 appearances in all competitions. 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." At the EFL Awards, he was named both Championship Apprentice of the Year and EFL Young Player of the Season.
It was clear that Bellingham would leave Birmingham, and it was reported that he and his father had visited several major clubs, of which Manchester United and Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund were the favourites. Impressed by Dortmund's record of including young players as regulars in the first team, as evidenced by the likes of Jadon Sancho, Bellingham reportedly settled on the club as his destination of choice. He flew to Germany for a medical, and the transfer was confirmed on 20 July 2020. Bellingham was to join after Birmingham's last match of the season. The undisclosed fee was understood by Sky Sports to be an initial £25 million – making him the most expensive 17-year-old in history – plus "several million more" dependent on performance-related criteria.
2020–2021: Transfer and record-breaking achievements
Bellingham made his debut on 14 September 2020, starting the first match of the 2020–21 season against third-tier MSV Duisburg in the DFB-Pokal, aged 17 years, 77 days. After half an hour, he scored the second goal in a 5–0 win, becoming the club's youngest goalscorer in the DFB-Pokal, taking six days off Giovanni Reyna's record, as well as their youngest scorer in any competitive match, breaking Nuri Şahin's record by five days. Five days later, he marked his league debut with the assist for Reyna's opening goal in a 3–0 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach, and was named as Bundesliga Rookie of the Month for September. When Bellingham faced Lazio in the group stage on 20 October, aged 17 years and 113 days, he became the youngest Englishman to start a UEFA Champions League match, breaking the record previously set by Phil Foden.
In the first three months of the season, Bellingham was a regular in all competitions, with six starts and seven substitute appearances in the Bundesliga as well as four Champions League starts. He missed the first two matches of 2021 with a foot injury, but returned to action as an increasingly regular starter. He scored his first Bundesliga goal from Reyna's knock-down to equalise with VfB Stuttgart early in the second half of a 3–2 win on 10 April. His first Champions League goal came four days later against Manchester City in the quarter-final second leg, but Dortmund could not retain their away-goal advantage. Bellingham started in Dortmund's 4–1 victory over RB Leipzig in the 2021 DFB-Pokal final. He was booked in the first half and replaced by Thorgan Hazard at half-time with his team 3–0 ahead. He finished the season with 29 appearances and one goal in the Bundesliga, 46 appearances and four goals in all competitions, and was voted Newcomer of the Season by his fellow players. Bellingham was runner-up to Pedri of Barcelona in the 2021 Kopa Trophy, awarded to the world's best under-21 male player as voted by previous winners of the Ballon d'Or.