For many, Michael Jordan is considered the greatest sportsman of all time – including by Jude Bellingham himself.
The American athlete transcended basketball to become a global icon and a Hollywood star while still winning NBA championships for the Chicago Bulls.
MJ also became the greatest trainers salesman in history, with Air Jordan shoes breaking through the $5billion (£4.4bn) mark for the first time last year – 20 years after he retired.
Enter Jude Bellingham, a young black icon, also from humble beginnings, who has taken the world of his chosen sport by storm.
And while he is yet to achieve a fraction of Michael Jordan’s successes and hero status, Jude has made his mark on the world stage at the age of 20 – a year earlier than his idol Jordan, whose rookie year in the NBA was when he turned 21.
Brand and culture expert Nick Ede predicts that Jude Bellingham could be the sporting world’s next Michael Jordan.
Adidas are reported to be considering releasing a logo for Jude, using his signature goal celebration – just like Nike’s iconic Air Jordan ‘Jumpman’ emblem. Bellingham’s decision to trademark his name and secure his image rights have already helped him bank £2.5million, MailOnline can reveal.
He was at the heart of Adidas’ new Euro 2024 advert – backed by The Beatles’ hit ‘Hey Jude’ sung by Sir Paul McCartney and also starring David Beckham as well as Frank Lampard.
Jude Bellingham is expected to be the subject of Adidas’ new signature logo with the sportswear giant likely to make the Real Madrid star’s iconic celebration the main graphic, just like the famous Air Jordan dunk (left)
Jude is the star of Adidas’ Euro 2024 advert
Jude is also the ‘face and body’ of Skims, the underwear brand co-founded by Kim Kardashian, and is being courted by fashion houses such as Louis Vuitton (right in LV in Paris this year)
Jude Bellingham’s trademark celebration after scoring against Serbia on Sunday night
Jude is also the ‘face and body’ of Skims, the underwear brand co-founded by Kim Kardashian, and fashion houses Gucci and Louis Vuitton have been fighting over him and his brother Jobe.
On this trajectory he would far eclipse the achievements of David Beckham on and off the pitch – and his earnings.
Becks is worth an estimated £372million ($450m), but Jude could eclipse that extraordinary figure.
Mr Ede said: ‘It couldn’t have got off to a better start with Jude Bellingham announced internationally as the face and body of Kim Kardashian’s hit underwear brand Skims and then to get the Three Lions off to a flying start in the Euros. ‘He’s got a massive 33 million social media followers on Instagram, supermodel stature and a model girlfriend – all eyes are on him on and of the pitch.
‘Jude’s a marketing dream and the fans love him. He’s only 20 and literally has the world at his feet and is well on his way to becoming the new Beckham. with brands clambering to work with him and sign him up the future is golden him.
‘He’s determined to make a mark for his country. With his international appeal cemented cleverly by Skims and an endorsement from Kim to over 300 million people, he’s got all the right skills and fans to become the next Michael Jordan’.
Jude Bellingham earns around £11.4million a year at Real Madrid, which is around £220,000-a-week.
And MailOnline can reveal that the cash is also rolling in at home via two companies managed by his family in the UK.
He has registered his name through his image rights company Bello & Bello Limited which he controls with his mother Denise, 54. His father Mark, 46, a retired police sergeant, is a director of the company. There is also a second company, Belloball, also run by Mr Bellingham.
Bello & Bello Limited currently holds cash of £1.3million and assets worth around £600,000. Belloball has cash reserves of £719,000, meaning together they are in the black to the tune of more than £2.6million.
When they were both set up in 2019, they were only worth £1 each.
Jude’s mother Denise, who the England star calls his ‘Queen’, shares his flat in the Spanish capital’s exclusive La Finca where she cooks meals, makes his bed and often drives him to training. Mrs Bellingham, a HR professional who manages her son’s financial affairs so he can focus on football, is seen by many as the driving force behind his career.
Mark Bellingham, a former West Midlands Police Officer and former footballer nicknamed the ‘non league Pele‘, has been based in the UK supporting the youngest Bellingham, Jobe, 18, who plays for Sunderland in the Championship.
Jude Bellingham has been open about the importance of his mother to his career. In fact she live with him and often drives him to work. Pictured: Jude, left, with mother Denise, father Mark, and younger brother, Jobe Bellingham, on holiday in July 2021
Jude was all smiles as he spoke to his brother Jobe (centre) with this mother Denise (far right)
Denise has travelled with Jude as his career has taken him from Birmingham to Germany and on to Spain. Pictured: Jude taking a selfie with his mother, Denise
Pictured: Jude’s mother Denise, father Mark and brother Jobe arrived at Wembley five hours early for the Champions League Final, having some crisps and a burger like any other fan
Pictured: Brothers Jude and Jobe attended together a Louis Vutton event in Paris last June
Mark, a football obsessive, can often be seen gesticulating after England games as they talk tactics.
Jude and his father Mark laughed uproariously together as they talked over the game. Jobe, who plays for Sunderland but is being tipped for a Premier League move, also grinned while looking at his phone. His mother Denise, sat quietly smiling to her megastar son’s left.
On Sunday the family clearly revelled in the atmosphere as the boy from Stourbridge, who just five years ago was playing in the youth leagues.
It was the culmination of year’s of hard work, not just from Jude – whose rise in the world of the football has come so quickly it’s scarcely believable.
Mr and Mrs Bellingham gave up their evenings and weekends shuttling Jude and his younger brother Jobe to training for years, and as their careers have taken off – the younger Bellingham plays for Sunderland – have divided their lives for their boys.
Denise has followed her son around Europe – first to Germany when he was signed by Borussia Dortmund, whose hearts he helped break in the final on Saturday, and then to Madrid after joining one of the biggest clubs in the world.
Bellingham – pictured with Mark as a baby – had scouts marvelling at his ball-carrying technique
Bellingham (L) might be lighting up LaLiga this season, but his dad (R) scored more than 700 goals in non-league
Mark Bellingham (centre) would have to dash off after night games to do his night shifts as a police officer
Pictured: Jude Bellingham with his mother during his youth spell at boyhood club Birmingham
Pictured: Jude Bellingham with his father Mark during the footballer’s childhood
England and Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham’s footballer brother Jobe has shared online a happy birthday message for their mother Denise in December
Jude and his mother remained on the Wembley pitch long after the final whistle after the Champions League Final this month
By comparison, her husband Mark, who was a sergeant at West Midlands Police and a prolific striker in non-league football, stayed in Birmingham as Jobe continued his education.
It was a joint decision, which has since left the married couple thousands of miles apart and needing to fly for hours just to be in the same time zone as each other.
While many young men would be keen to put some distance between themselves and their parents, Jude has been open about the ‘massive’ benefits having his mother close at hand has had on him.
At his Madrid unveiling he revealed: ‘The role my mum is playing is massive. It is probably the biggest role of anyone, more than my coaches and managers, to be honest.’
Denise, who works in human resources, manages her son’s financial affairs, allowing Jude to focus on football and helping him avoid the trappings that can ensnare young stars.
Acting as a moderating influence on her son as he continues to fly high with the biggest names in the sport, Denise is there to ‘keep everything neutral’, according to Jude.
‘Without my mum, sometimes I’d get too low with the lows or too high with the highs and I stay pretty humble because I’ve got her around.
‘It’s also great to have her there because she’s a great laugh as well. We get on so well and we’re always doing stuff together.’
Jude Bellingham posed with mum Denise after Real Madrid were crowned LaLiga champions in May
Denise and Mark Bellingham were pictured in the stands before the FIFA World Cup group match between England and USA in Qatar
Jude Bellingham is pictured in the stands with parents Denise and Mark after England’s win over Senegal in the World Cup round of 16 on December 4
Jude Bellingham’s career has gone from strength to strength in recent years, with his parents working diligently in the background to keep him grounded. Pictured: Jude with his family after signing for Real Madrid
More than 1,000 miles separate Jude’s club Real Madrid from Jobe’s Sunderland, but their parents are making an effort to keep between both
Following his move to Madrid a pair of photos showed just how far they had come.
In the first, a young Jude can be seen smiling with Denise leaning over him at St Andrew’s stadium, presumably after he started his journey at the Birmingham City academy where he got his big break in football.
In the second, Jude towered over his mother as the pair smile in the standards at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, hugging each other after Real Madrid sealed the La Liga title last month.
The physical divide between the family was put into focus last year, when Denise, 55, was seen strolling through Madrid alongside her son as he was mobbed by selfie and autograph hunters.
She waited patiently as her son, tipped to be the next England captain, smiled his way through the crowd, signing as many autographs as he could.
But around 48 hours later Mrs Bellingham had flown 1,000 miles north to celebrate her birthday with her husband and Jobe who posted a photo of her in Newcastle steak restaurant Gaucho holding a lunch menu.
Jobe wrote above: ‘Happy birthday Mom’ and inserted a face emoji with hearts as the eyes, a second heart emoji and one of a gold crown with precious stones.
The sacrifices the Bellinghams’ have made for their sons have not gone unnoticed by Jude and Jobe, with Jude expressing his gratitude after the Champions League final.
Speaking to TNT Sports, the star midfielder revealed that seeing his family in the stands had pushed him to the verge of tears.
‘I was alright until I was up in my mum’s and dad’s face… and my little brother who I’m trying to be a role model for,’ he said.
Bellingham made a beeline after receiving his medal and placed it around Denise’s neck
The 20-year-old posed for the cameras with his glistening winner’s medal in his mouth
‘The amount of nights where they [his parents] could be at home at 7pm but instead they’re doing trips at 11, 12 at night to take me to football.
‘I can’t have dreamed it much better than this. I just can’t believe it.’
The family emerged onto the pitch long after the final whistle in a touching reunion, when Denise was afforded the opportunity to take a photo with Jose Mourinho.
Poking fun at his mother, Jude joked with the manager that Denise had ‘fancied you for years’, another sign of the close-knit relationship the pair have.
Mourinho himself was impressed not just with Jude, but with his parents, telling TNT Sports: ‘Special player, special family. To see that family, the way they are there, they are not looking for cameras, they are not looking for the VIP seats, they are just there to support their kid in the most humble way.
‘For me, it’s really beautiful. Family, we play for them, especially in these moments, we play for them. To have mum, my kids, my father, my wife, at the finals, we play for them. We play for the people that love us and support us.’
It is a team effort – his father Mark encouraged Jude to take regular German language lessons when he was playing for Borussia Dortmund and also personally brokered the deal with Real Madrid.
Although Jude admitted he later grew to idolise the likes of Wayne Rooney, it was his dad’s exploits on the pitch in non-league that made him his first footballing hero.
Mark scored more than 700 goals in about 900 appearances, making him something of an English non-league Pelé.
He juggled stints at clubs including Leamington, Stourbridge and Sutton Coldfield Town with his day job with West Midlands Police.
Mark hung up his boots at the age of 41 in 2017 and is now believed to have retired from the police. He declines to discuss his sons’ achievements.
He is a Southend United supporter and Jude’s first football matches as a boy were with his father to see the Essex team.
Jude told The Guardian in 2020 how his mother took him to watch his father play.
He said then: ‘It’s where I started to get that love for football – I think you can see in the way I play that I’ve watched the game from a young age.
Jude Bellingham celebrated the sensational triumph with his family on the Wembley Stadium pitch
Jude Bellingham capped off a stunning season by lifting the Champions League trophy
‘That non-league style of toughness and being gritty when you need to be, I do think that comes from watching my dad play – even though he never tackled!’
Speaking about his father to the FA in an interview, Jude also said: ‘We talk about footballing heroes, and my dad was like my first.
‘When you go and watch him play every week in non-league, you know it’s not the Premier League or anything, but seeing the way that he played and the atmosphere, it made me fall in love with football so he was probably my first hero.
‘After the first few times of going, I’d start to pay a bit more attention to the games and stuff, the atmosphere and he’s scoring goals so you see him celebrating and stuff like that – you want that to be me.
‘Growing up, he’d always give me tips on what I could do and now it gets to a certain age and it sort of flips and that’s brilliant because we have that sort of relationship like father and son and then as I got older, like coach and player.’
His parents have acted as a grounding force for the midfield star while his early career has rocketed off to the heights of world football.
In 2020, Jude signed for Borussia Dortmund for £22.5million following a breakout season with Championship and boyhood side Birmingham City.
Already loved so much by the Birmingham club and the wider city, he had his shirt number 22 retired despite just playing 44 games for the club in a fledgling career.
But Birmingham’s love and admiration for him is understandable after standing out as one of England’s best players in last year’s World Cup.
Remarkably a bridge in Birmingham is even set to be named after the young star.
His performances after moving to Germany continued to catch the attention of the world’s top clubs, with Real Madrid coming calling last summer after three years in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Such was the Spanish club’s desire to get their man, that they stumped up £113million to bring him from Germany to Madrid.
The 20-year-old has scored 23 goals and assisted 11 in 42 appearances so far across all competitions, and is one of the favourites to win the next Ballon d’Or.