Jobe Bellingham could become the first of the Bellingham brothers to play alongside Jude for England, if he wins his first cap in the Nations League game against Croatia at Wembley. Jude, a veteran of 60 England appearances, would be on the pitch with him, and the pair would be the first brothers to play for England in 19 years.
It is six years since Jude Bellingham played his final game for Birmingham City, and three years since his younger brother Jobe wore the club’s shirt for the last time. Jude, 23, is establishing himself as one of the game’s great players at Real Madrid after a spell at Borussia Dortmund. Jobe, 21, is continuing his football education at his brother’s former club in Germany after two seasons with Sunderland. The Stourbridge-born midfielders have moved on with their careers, but their memories live on at St Andrew’s, such was the impact the boyhood Birmingham fans made in the Championship.
On match days, supporters stop to pose for photographs in front of Jude’s mural outside the ground, and fans still turn up to games wearing Bellingham shirts.
“They both had a real connection with fans,” said Craig Courtney from the Tilton Talk fan podcast. “Fans loved the fact they both cared.
“They wore their hearts on their sleeves and helped Birmingham when we were fighting relegation. Even now, Jude and Jobe remember where it all started for them.”
The brothers played 70 league and cup games between them for Birmingham after graduating from the academy. They have never appeared together in a senior match, however, as Jude, who joined the club aged eight, had left by the time Jobe broke into the first team in 2022.
A club in the doldrums
Birmingham supporters have had little to cheer about recently. It is 15 years since the club last played in the Premier League, and the 2011 League Cup winners recently dropped down to League One.
While fierce rivals Aston Villa were beating Bayern Munich and Bologna in the Champions League two years ago, Birmingham were losing at Shrewsbury and drawing with Northampton Town. After 15 games, however, Birmingham sit top of the Championship, and there are plans for a new 62,000-capacity stadium in time for 2030-31.
“As a club, we’ve been right down in the doldrums,” Courtney said. “Now we’re top of the table and having a new stadium built.
“There is an argument that none of this would have been possible without the fees received for Jude and Jobe.”
Jude’s decision and Jobe’s rise
Jude became the youngest player in Birmingham’s history when he made his debut aged 16 years and 38 days in 2019. Clubs across Europe were pursuing him when he signed his first professional contract in 2020, after turning 17. Both he and Birmingham knew the deal would never be fulfilled in full. His actions, however, ensured Birmingham would receive a significant transfer fee when he left, and soon afterwards he joined Dortmund for an initial fee of £20 million during the Covid-19 pandemic. When he joined Real Madrid in 2023, Birmingham received a reported sell-on fee of at least £10 million.
“We cannot possibly imagine, without Jude’s decision to sign a contract, where we would be as a club in a pandemic like this,” said Xuandong Ren, Birmingham’s chief executive at the time of Jude’s move to Dortmund. “He could easily have just looked after himself and not the club, but he chose the best possible way to look after the club.”
Jobe became the second-youngest player to represent Birmingham when he made his debut in January 2022, aged 16 years and 107 days. Former Birmingham striker Troy Deeney, who played in the game when Jobe made his debut, praised the younger brother’s character.
“This was a lad, regardless of who his brother was or what he was achieving, who would do anything to write his own success story,” Deeney said. “Everything he has achieved on the pitch, too, has come with an instant comparison to his older brother.
“He never got that one moment to enjoy something without someone, somewhere saying: ‘Yeah, but what about Jude?’ That only added to how strong he was mentally, and anyone who suggests he is where he is because of his last name is talking rubbish.”
Deeney added: “What impressed me more than anything he had done on the pitch was his attitude, a hell-bent determination to get to the top and the common sense to take all the right steps along the way.”
Jobe played 26 games before Sunderland paid £3 million for him in 2023. Birmingham received a reported £4 million sell-on fee when he moved to Dortmund two years later. Although significantly less than the fees generated by his brother, the money was welcome revenue.
Still part of the Birmingham family
Both brothers have returned to St Andrew’s since their transfers. Jobe captained the England Under-21s to a 2-0 win over the Republic of Ireland at his old ground last November. Before that match, Lee Carsley, the U21s boss who managed Jude when he was England interim manager in 2024, praised the brothers for their work ethic and their determination to be the best.
“I know how much they love the Blues still and how important the club is to them,” Carsley said.
Jude, who is tipped to become a future England captain, watched his former club in a pre-season friendly against Barcelona at St Andrew’s in July. He wore a Birmingham shirt while watching from the stands.
When Jude joined Dortmund in 2020, Birmingham retired the number 22 shirt he wore in 44 appearances for the club. “That was a gesture of thanks for what Jude had done,” Courtney said.
“It might be wishful thinking, but I really believe Jude has unfinished business at Birmingham. I can see a scenario before he retires where he gets an opportunity to wear the number 22 again.”
Should the brothers play together against Croatia, they will become the first siblings to appear for England since Gary and Phil Neville faced Spain in a friendly at Old Trafford in 2007. It would also be an immensely proud moment for their parents, Mark and Denise.
“We’ve played together for so long in the street and to play with my brother Jobe for England would be the biggest dream of my life,” Jude wrote on social media in 2024. “That would mean more than any of the trophies. Nothing would even get close to that… nothing.”
“It will be an incredibly proud moment for Birmingham City if that happens,” Courtney said.