Three 16 year-old girls with zero previous interest in football are passionately discussing the England v Norway game. Although it’s not the finer points of England’s defence strategy that is occupying their minds, but the finer points of Jude Bellingham. Everything about the 23 year-old Afro-Irish-Jamaican wunderkid is fine, of course – or “mighty fine” in the parlance of teenage girls. As all three of them reliably inform me, Jude is their future boyfriend. Join the queue, ladies: it’s getting longer by the day.
Boy or girl, young or old, gay, straight or anything in between, you’ve likely fallen for Jude Bellingham, the internet’s unfeasibly talented, good-looking, good-humoured, kind-hearted new boyfriend. Maybe it was the goals. Maybe it was the abs. Maybe it was the way he seems in touch with his emotions. Whatever the reason, Bellingham seems to have appeared in people’s lives just when they needed him, a god in godless times. Like all the most memorable players – Pele, Maradona, Messi – Bellingham transcends the game, drawing in those who’ve never followed it as well as captivating those who do.
In these divisive times, he’s one of the few things everyone can agree upon. Jude is good: so good that players and managers are lining up to praise him, including Carlo Ancelotti (who called him “a gift to football”), David Beckham (who’s praised his maturity) and Rio Ferdinand (who’s predicted he could become a Ballon d’Or winner). There’s currently a campaign to rename London’s Jubilee Line the Judeilee Line; even The Beatles are on board, their social media account sharing a photo of him with the word “HEY”, a nod to their iconic song that fans sing in support of him after every match.
While his talent is indisputable, it’s his personality that has industry insiders opining that Bellingham is on course to be football’s next billionaire. “Bellingham’s biggest commercial asset is something that’s almost impossible to put a price on: people genuinely like him,” says Johnny Davis, style and luxury director of Esquire. “He’s become one of those rare sportsmen the public has decided is one of the good guys. He’s obviously an extraordinary footballer, but he’s also come across as grounded, thoughtful and mature beyond his years. His career has looked to be driven by football rather than fame, and people have responded to that. Brands can buy goals and trophies, but they can’t buy goodwill.”
Attending the Louis Vuitton Menswear show at Paris Fashion Week in 2023, with Marcus Rashford (left) and Jaylen Brown (right) (Photo: Pierre Mouton/Getty Images)Which is precisely why so many are so willing to open their chequebooks. Forbes places him as the 8th highest-earning player in the World Cup with an estimated paycheck of $44 million (£32 million), and while he trails leader Cristiano Ronaldo’s $300 million, it’s still a sizeable amount for a 23 year-old (at 41, Ronaldo has been brand-building for twice as long). Forbes also estimates that $15 million of Bellingham’s fortune comes from off-field, a healthy figure that’s only set to rise sharply after this week’s semi-final, whether England win or not. He’s built a broad endorsement portfolio that cleverly spans sportswear, gaming, sports nutrition, food and fashion, his longest-running and most prominent sponsorship being with Adidas, for whom he’s a flagship ambassador. As well as wearing their boots, he also has his own apparel collection, JB, an accolade that speaks to his fashion influence.
While his deals with McDonald’s and Lucozade are lucrative, his advisors have been shrewd in seeking out high fashion deals that have that all-important cachet. Bellingham is an ambassador for Louis Vuitton, the LVMH-owned luxury brand that’s never a slouch in signing the hottest talents in film and sport (his stablemates include Zendaya, Emma Stone, Alysa Liu and Carlos Alcaraz), but his 2024 deal with SKIMS was an equally clever move. It won’t have been as well-paid a gig as Vuitton, but to land an ad campaign with the Kim Kardashian-owned brand is to become a pop-cultural talking point, with all the virality that brings.
Inevitably, comparisons have been made with David Beckham, who courted the fashion world with equal savvy. Bellingham may not have a Spice Girl/fashion designer wife, but his partner of two years, American influencer Ashlyn Castro, 28, has a sizeable 650,000 Instagram following that suggests the two of them could, like the Beckhams, become quite the team.
“Beckham was adept at merging fashion and sport, but I think Bellingham is bigger than Beckham,” says Mark Borkowski. “He is a generational talent – not just in sport, but in comms. Sometimes I have to blink and shake my head when I remember how young he is. It wasn’t that long ago that England was blighted with a different sort of personality – the Gazzas, Fowlers and Rooneys and their drinking culture. Think of that infamous moment when Robbie Fowler pretended to be snorting a line of cocaine when he scored a goal on the 18-yard line, after there had been tabloid speculation about him. Bellingham is emblematic of how much football has changed.”
Bellingham with his girlfriend and influencer Ashlyn Castro in Madrid in April (Photo: Alberto Gardin/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)Borkowski credits this to the husbandry at the clubs, and an increased focus on training players in communication skills, as well focusing on their mental health in a bid to help them deal with fame. “It’s culminated in this extraordinary guy who’s playing at one of the biggest clubs in the world, and is dealing brilliantly with the pressure.”
While Bellingham is a natural wit in front of the camera (“have another shot and text your bosses to say you’re not coming in tomorrow,” he said in a post-match interview after England’s historic 3-2 win over Mexico, having scored two of the goals), it’s his compassion that has really endeared him to fans. After being roundly ignored by other England players after their win over DR Congo, Venezuelan journalist Manu Gutierrez, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, looked in despair about the likelihood of ever getting an interview. Then, Bellingham stopped to talk to him, leaning down to his level and speaking in fluent Spanish.
Captured on video, the clip instantly went viral. “It was a remarkable bit of footage that shows the depth of Bellingham’s understanding of what it is to take on the mantle of that talent,” notes Borkowski. “It’s how you conduct yourself off the field that increasingly matters, and he is a beacon for the way that modern sports people need to behave.”
While his club can take some credit for his behaviour, most of the credit must go to his parents, Mark and Denise, who are believed to have separated last year after 20 years of marriage. “Before being great parents, they’re great people,” he has said. “When you have people like that, you don’t have to be told how to behave, you pick that up from them.” He’s particularly close to his mum, who moved to Germany with him in 2020 when he played for Borussia Dortmund, and then to Spain, when he was sold to Real Madrid in 2023. His parents also helped shape his clean living lifestyle. Like all the most compelling players in 2026, Bellingham looks after himself, assiduously investing in his health and wellness in a way that bodes well for his longevity.
Which is why, whatever happens next, he has a long career ahead. In a recent interview with James Corden, he revealed an ambition to act: “I’d love to be James Bond,” he said. Davis believes that his most interesting deals are still to come. “Twenty years ago, athletes were chosen because they represented performance and winning. Today, brands are just as interested in character, curiosity and the person behind the sport. That’s why someone like Lewis Hamilton makes sense [as a brand ambassador] for Lululemon. Bellingham has the same opportunity to move beyond traditional sports endorsements into luxury, travel, technology or finance.”
Borkowski agrees. “Strategically, he should pursue the very high end. He’s a fashion icon, so I’d be looking at the sort of deals that tennis players and golfers do. He’s very serious minded, but with a clever tabloid underbelly. The next 18 months are going to be crucial to forge his next stage. As well as going for high-end global brands, he should think about what his charitable exploits are going to be. What is he going to get behind? Is he going to create a foundation?”
Probably. Perhaps he’ll also broker world peace. But before that, Bellingham has to take on Argentina. We’re all rooting for him. And then we’re all buying whatever he’s selling. As for being the next Beckham, I don’t think he wants to be. In some ways, the comparison diminishes him. As a man of dual heritage, his role is more important than Beckham’s could ever be. The media doesn’t often spotlight Black men as heroes. Jude is a role model for every Black and brown-skinned boy who ever searched for one.
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