World Cup 2022: England superstar Jude Bellingham has link to Leamington FC

England’s World Cup 2022 superstar Jude Bellingham has a link to Leamington FC.

The 19-year-old midfielder’s dad Mark played for Brakes between 2008 and 2010 and is one of the club’s most prolific goalscorers of all time.

And many of the Brakes supporters will remember the young Jude sitting on his dad's shoulders after games at Harbury Lane back in the 2008-09 season.

Jude, now 19, says that his father played a large part in his success as a professional footballer. “I used to watch him play all the time. It's where I started to get that love of the game,” he explained.

Often in those early days, Jude would have a kick about at half-time with young supporters.

On Leamington FC’s website there is a section which pays tribute to Mark’s efforts as a striker for the club.

It says: “Put simply, Mark Bellingham is probably the most prolific Brakes goalscorer of all time, certainly of the modern era.

"Signed from our big rivals at the time, Stourbridge, his strike partnership with fellow new boy Luke Corbett accounted for 70 of the 114 league goals scored by Leamington as they won a fifth promotion in nine seasons.

“'Bello' netted six hat tricks during that memorable season, including two in the final two games, and he continued his astonishing ratio as Leamington lined up in the Southern League Premier Division in 2009/10 for the first time in 24 years, and he finished his time at the New Windmill Ground with nearly a goal a game.

"[He was ] a real non-league goalscoring legend who certainly left his mark on Leamington.”

Jude himself, who was born in Stourbridge, has credited his father as one of his first footballing heroes..

The teenager sensation is having a fantastic world cup and will line up with his Three Lions teammates against France in the quarter finals of the tournament on Saturday night.