At the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the 23-year-old Real Madrid midfielder became the first player in his position to score six goals in a single World Cup tournament. No midfielder, across the entire history of the competition, had done it before him. He did it in eight appearances for England.

He scored a brace in the round of 16 against Mexico, then again in the quarter-finals against Norway, another two-goal performance when the margin for error had effectively disappeared.

His previous World Cup experience included a single goal at the 2022 tournament in Qatar, scored against Iran. The jump from one goal across an entire World Cup to six in the next edition is the kind of statistical leap that usually belongs to a different player entirely.

Bellingham was born on 29 June 2003, which means he turned 23 just days before the 2026 tournament reached its later stages.

The six goals moved Bellingham to third on England’s all-time World Cup goalscoring list, sitting behind Harry Kane, who leads with 14, and Gary Lineker, who scored 10.

He also set the record as the youngest European player to participate in four major tournaments.

For England, the national team has historically leaned on a single focal striker to carry the goalscoring burden at tournaments. Kane has been that player for the better part of a decade. Having a central midfielder capable of contributing at this volume gives England a different kind of attacking flexibility.