A field guide to Jude and Jobe Bellingham's two roads to Dortmund

The same start, two years apart

Both came through Birmingham City's academy. Both reached the first team at 16. Jude debuted against Portsmouth in the EFL Cup on 6 August 2019, aged 16 years and 38 days, the youngest player in the club's history. Jobe followed on 8 January 2022 in an FA Cup tie against Plymouth Argyle, aged 16 years and 107 days, according to his Wikipedia entry.

Their father, Mark Bellingham, was a West Midlands Police officer and a non-league striker credited with more than 700 goals, per Wikipedia. Two sons, and neither became a striker. There's a family joke in there somewhere.

Jude's straight line

Jude's route barely bends. After one first-team season at Birmingham, Dortmund signed him in the summer of 2020 for a fee Sky Sports put at £25m guaranteed upfront, and Birmingham retired his No. 22 on the way out. Three years later, on 7 June 2023, Real Madrid agreed to buy him for an initial €103 million, ESPN reported.

Jobe's detour through Sunderland

Jobe did not get a straight line, and I'd argue he got something more useful. On 14 June 2023 Sunderland signed him from Birmingham for £3 million, with a year still left on his contract, OneFootball reported. Sunderland's sporting director, Kristjaan Speakman, already knew both brothers from his own years at Birmingham. Small world, football.

Over two seasons he made 90 appearances and scored 11 goals, and he started the Championship play-off final win over Sheffield United in May 2025 that took Sunderland up to the Premier League, according to Bundesliga.com. A teenager. In a promotion final. That is a lot of growing up in 24 months.

The eight June days when both brothers moved

Here is the coincidence worth stopping for. Real Madrid agreed Jude's deal on 7 June 2023. Jobe signed for Sunderland on 14 June. Jude was presented in Madrid on 15 June, per Fox News. Two brothers, two new clubs, eight days. We have no idea what the family group chat looked like that week, and I won't pretend to. But it must have been busy.

Where the two roads meet

On 10 June 2025, Dortmund signed Jobe on a five-year deal, aged 19. He joined the squad for the FIFA Club World Cup in the United States, wearing No. 77 there, and said he was delighted to be fighting for titles with his new club, Bundesliga.com reported. Dortmund's managing director Lars Ricken praised his maturity for his age. That made him the second Bellingham at the club, five years after the first.

If you are tempted to keep a family scorecard, don't. The better story is a police officer who scored hundreds of goals on non-league pitches and raised two sons who each left home at 17 and made it work, by different roads. Jude went straight. Jobe went north first. Both arrived.