WHAT HAPPENED?
The England U21 international continues to follow in the illustrious footsteps of his Real Madrid ‘Galactico’ sibling. Both graduated out of Birmingham’s academy system, with Jude seeing his No.22 shirt retired when bidding farewell to St Andrew’s.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Both he and Jobe sported ‘Bellingham’ on their back when representing the Blues. Jude has stuck with that approach at Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid, while also representing England at senior level with distinction.
GettyDID YOU KNOW?
Jobe left his native West Midlands in 2023 when linking up with Sunderland. He has now completed his own transfer to Dortmund in a deal that could be worth £32 million ($43m). He switched to having ‘Jobe’ on his shirt at the Stadium of Light, and will continue that theme in Germany.
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WHAT BELLINGHAM SAID
He has told FIFA of how that printing call was made: “Well, if I'm being really honest, obviously, it started when I first signed for Sunderland. I, maybe, thought about it a few times. I thought: ‘Yeah, that would be quite cool’. But, only when people brought it up to me. I never thought about it like spontaneously on my own.
“Someone close to me would say: 'That would be cool if you did that'. And then, someone who's quite special to me – a coach that I had at Sunderland and at Birmingham when I was a kid – he said: 'Why don't you do that at Sunderland?'. And, just because I was young, I thought: ‘It would be cool to have my own name on the back of my shirt’. So, it was more that than anything (else).
“I wasn't really trying to have a deeper meaning behind it, but I suppose you can find that in that act. But yeah, I think it's quite unique and it's quite cool, and it's something that I enjoy having.”
Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT FOR JOBE?
Jobe Bellingham made his debut for Dortmund off the bench against Fluminense at the FIFA Club World Cup. He opened his goal account when making his first start for BVB in their dramatic 4-3 victory over Mamelodi Sundowns.