Arlington, June 18 (IANS) England midfielder set a new milestone by starting and scoring in the 4-2 victory against Croatia in England’s FIFA World Cup 2026 opening match as he became the youngest European player to play in four major international tournaments.

The 22-year-old midfielder surpassed Germany’s Jamal Musiala as the youngest men’s player to feature at four tournaments (World Cup and EUROs) and had set a new record earlier in the 2026 World Cup when he played in their group game against Curacao earlier in the same week.

Bellingham made his tournament bow as a teenager at UEFA EURO 2020 in the summer of 2021 before featuring at the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar and then UEFA EURO 2024 in Germany.

Another England player to feature in the list is Michael Owen, who played at the 1998 and 2002 World Cups as well as EURO 2000 and EURO 2024.

Bellingham is the third-youngest player in England’s history, having made his debut for the Three Lions aged 17 years and 136 days. Only Theo Walcott and Wayne Rooney were younger when they made their maiden England appearances.

After a brilliant brace from Harry Kane, second-half goals from Bellingham and Marcus Rashford made the difference as England won an exciting opening Group L contest against Croatia.

Bellingham expressed his pride at representing England at yet another tournament and he could reach 50 caps for his country in the Three Lions’ next Group L match-up against Ghana on Wednesday (IST).

“It’s my responsibility to my team and my country to give everything I have when I cross the line and when I wear that badge on the front, that No.10 on the back, I want to give everything I have, with and without the ball, to the team.

“It’s been a long season for me, I’ve probably missed more camps than I would have liked, more training that I would have liked but I like to think I’ve always got something in me where I know when it comes to this time, I’ll step up for my team,” he said.

Youngest European players to play in four major tournaments

Jude Bellingham (England): 22y 353d

Jamal Musiala (Germany): 23y 108d

Pedri (Spain): 23y 202d

Jérémy Doku (Belgium): 24y 19d

Michael Owen (England): 24y 182d

Lukas Podolski (Germany): 25y 9d

–IANS

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