Archive October 1, 2025

For the 2024-2020 campaign, Jude Bellingham has won England’s men’s player of the year.

Before beginning World Cup qualifying with new manager Thomas Tuchel, the 22-year-old midfielder scored once in eight games as England advanced to Nations League promotion under interim manager Lee Carsley.

In a vote by supporters, he came in second and third places, ahead of Declan Rice and Harry Kane.

Bellingham, a player from Real Madrid, is the second non-English player to receive the award while playing for Bayern Munich in 2006, joining the first ever player, Owen Hargreaves.

In addition to scoring once against Albania in March, Bellingham also assisted once in the Nations League against Greece in October 2024, twice in November, and once in the name of the Republic of Ireland in a penalty match.

He has since recovered from a shoulder injury that required surgery in July and prevented him from working until September.

Bellingham is anticipated to be able to play against England’s upcoming matches, which will take place on October 9 against Wales and on October 14 against Latvia (both 19:45 BST).

Bukayo Saka won the player of the year award two years prior to Cole Palmer last year, while Bukayo Saka did so twice.

Bellingham’s recognition as the country’s men’s player of the year once more demonstrates his significance to the Three Lions.

At only 22, he already has 44 international caps, and he has some standout moments, the most notable being the overhead kick against Slovakia in stoppage time last year.

In the eight games he played, he only had a five goal involvement in the previous season, which only increased that influence.

He has started every World Cup qualifier under the tutelage of Tuchel, but the England boss called Bellingham’s behavior “repulsive” in a live interview, which awkwardly struck him.

Tuchel has since apologized and rarely rests before praising Bellingham.

Bellingham’s best performance under Tuchel came against Serbia 5-0 last month, but after recovering from his shoulder injury, he should be back in the team for the games as Tuchel settles on his best XI.

Bellingham has won trophies at Real Madrid, has extensive experience at three major tournaments, and is a member of the England squad’s leadership team.

After suffering a knee injury in Sunday’s defeat by Arsenal, Newcastle United defender Tino Livramento will be out for between six and eight weeks.

The full-back will miss the World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Albania in October and England’s international matches against Latvia on October 9 and 14 respectively.

After landing awkwardly in his team’s 2-1 defeat at St James’ Park, Livramento was stretchered off the field.

Eddie Howe, head coach at Newcastle, described the 22-year-old’s previous anterior cruciate ligament injury as “really distressing” and called it “really distressing” to see him leave.

Newcastle are a little light at left-back, where Livramento has spent the bulk of his football career this year, despite the fact that it is understood that the injury is not as bad as initially thought.

According to Howe, “He’s such a big player for us in so many different ways: his versatility, his attitude, and his quality.”

It will be a huge blow if we miss that for any length of time.

Dan Burn, who previously played at left-back for the club, is a valuable asset for Newcastle.

Lewis Hall, who was exhausted during the Arsenal game, can also be contacted.

Howe has had to switch his side during this campaign while engaging in multiple front-fighting strategies.

However, Livramento’s constant presence is rather illuminating. No other player has started the campaign playing more minutes (646 total) for Newcastle.

Given how consistently Livramento’s performances have been, whether they are at left-back or right-back, it has reached a point where it is difficult to tell which side he is naturally.

Thomas Tuchel, England manager, has a lot of admiration for him.

Although Livramento had a chance to really stake his claim as the country’s starting quarterback in the final international competition, Livramento has already recovered from setbacks.

His right forearm has the phrase “beauty in the struggle,” which sums up his recovery from his first serious knee injury of his career.

Any of his players who want to play for Ireland should focus on their club performances, according to Ulster head coach Richie Murphy, which will open up opportunities for international success.

In four autumn internationals in November, Ireland takes on Australia, South Africa, Japan, and New Zealand.

In Simon Easterby’s initial Six Nations squad in February, only three Ulster players were named, compared to 23 Leinster and 5 Connacht.

That was a reflection of Ulster’s poor season, which saw them finish 14th in the United Rugby Championship.

It is “off the back of performances.” Our boys must wear that white shirt and perform exceptionally well, Murphy told BBC Sport NI regarding those who are aiming for Ireland selection in the autumn.

“Don’t be looking for anything else; that’s the message we’re sending to our group.” Make us play really well, and look at us.

You will receive acknowledgement right off the bat, and people will notice.

The vehicle must be an Ulster team in order to be admitted to a green jersey, and the more successful we are, the more numbers we can be in that squad.

Ulster defeated Dragons 42-21 in Belfast to begin their United Rugby Championship campaign after a disappointing first season.

Murphy, who claimed a 47-17 win over Ulster in May, knows his side can improve in Friday’s second game in Edinburgh, where scoring six tries was a “good return.”

“Any game requires six tries, and that’s a good return.” There are many other opportunities for improvement as we looked at it.

This is the approach we are trying to take this year. How can we improve and improve, despite our best efforts to win and score five points in our first game?

“We see things in our game that we weren’t overly happy with, but we’ll try to fix them in training and incorporate that into the game.”