Now he plays midfield for Real Madrid and wears No. 5 — the number Zidane wore for the same team two decades ago.
“I have said in many interviews how much I admire Zinedine Zidane,” Bellingham said in 2023, according to The Associated Press. “I am not trying to be the same as him. I am just trying to be Jude, but it is definitely a bit of a homage to how great he was.”
At the 2024 Euros, Bellingham emerged as a true star. In the round of 16 against Slovakia, he scored a brilliant 95th-minute equalizer to save England — and allow Kane to win the game in extra time. In the quarterfinals, he helped beat Switzerland on penalties. Then he set up England’s only goal in the final before the English ultimately lost to Spain 2-1.
England enters the World Cup still looking for its first major trophy since 1966. If Bellingham ends that streak, its fans will be wearing his shirt for years to come.
Erling Haaland, Norway
In his day job playing for Manchester City of the English Premier League, Haaland almost never plays the role of underdog.
Backed by the Gulf state of Abu Dhabi, City has vast resources to sign the world’s best players, and it has won the Premier League, the world’s top domestic league, four of the last five years. Haaland, a 6-foot-5 striker who pulls his blond hair into a signature tight ponytail, has been central to that success, having scored more than 100 goals in four seasons.
In Norway’s first World Cup appearance since 1998, he will try to continue his scoring binges while instead trying to take down the powerhouses. As by far the most accomplished Norwegian player, Haaland acknowledged last fall that helping Norway qualify was “a lot on my shoulders.”
“I’ve been feeling the pressure ever since I came to the national team in 2019,” he said in November. “Honestly, I felt more pressure then than now, because I wasn’t that good to handle the pressure. Now I’m better. I think I’m an expert.”
