Real Madrid and England football star Jude Bellingham has taken a minority shareholding in The Hundred franchise Birmingham Phoenix.
Bellingham will take 1.2% of the equity – half of this amount has been sold by Warwickshire County Cricket Club and the other half by affiliates of Knighthead Capital Management (Knighthead). As a consequence Warwickshire County Cricket Club maintains majority control with 50.4% and Knighthead holding 48.4%
Bellingham grew up in Stourbridge, just outside of Birmingham, England, and holds the City and wider West Midlands region close to his heart, keeping the values he developed in those early years at the forefront of everything he does.
His investment in the Birmingham Phoenix will see him take a keen interest in community engagement and CSR projects within Birmingham and the surrounding areas, with increasing participation in cricket, a sport he enjoyed growing up, and bringing people from different backgrounds together through the power of sport a key strategic goal of the partnership.
Jude Bellingham said: “I love Birmingham. I’m very grateful for what the whole city of Birmingham has done for me. I love cricket as well so when I got the opportunity to get involved I didn’t really think twice about it, so I’m so happy to be on board.
“I’m so grateful to Birmingham, the Stourbridge area and the West Midlands as a whole. I got the best upbringing into football, into life through Birmingham City. I feel like I owe the city something. Right now it’s difficult with how busy I am with football, but if there’s a way in which I can help then I want to and this feels like a good way.
“I think it’s so important to get our kids in the city out there playing sports. I think it’s crucial and the opportunity of me being a part of Birmingham Phoenix is to try and help people realise there’s different avenues. Some people will enjoy football, some people enjoy cricket.
“I want to let kids know, let adults know that there’s opportunities to go and enjoy sports. I was fortunate growing up I had the option of playing cricket and playing football, but some kids don’t have that opportunity. It’s important that if I can get involved in something like this to shine a light on an opportunity for kids, then even better.
“I think the things that you learn from playing cricket, playing football, playing team sports are with you for life. To be able to interact with people, understand people from different backgrounds and also realise you can have a good time with anyone, I think that’s the beauty of sport. It brings people together, especially now more than ever.”
Stuart Cain, Chief Executive of Birmingham Phoenix, said: “Jude loved cricket as a youngster and has wanted to be involved since The Hundred first went to market to secure investors. He understands high performance sport, but more importantly as someone who grew up in the West Midlands and played the sport in his local streets, he understands the importance of sport and how it can play a positive role in young people’s lives. So, we look forward to working with him on a number of community initiatives moving forward.”
Kyle Kneisly, Partner at Knighthead, said: “Knighthead is committed to bringing communities together through sport and driving growth for the region through our investments in football, cricket and netball. Working with Jude is another important step in building a vibrant sporting scene that everyone in the West Midlands can get behind.
“Jude is a fantastic role model who embodies everything brilliant about the spirit of Birmingham and the West Midlands, having grown up and made his breakthrough in sports here. There is no doubt that his involvement with the Hundred will help spark interest in cricket from people who have never engaged with the sport, creating new generations of fans for the game.”
Bellingham, a La Liga and Champions League winner with Real Madrid, burst onto the professional football scene as a 16-year-old with Birmingham City and the impact he made in just 44 appearances with his hometown club saw him earn a move to German giants Borussia Dortmund.
The 22-year-old spent three years in Germany, winning the DFB-Pokal, before making the move to the Spanish capital to join Real Madrid in 2023. He won the La Liga and Champions League double in his first season with Los Blancos and has been a mainstay in the England national team which reached the EUROs final in both 2020 and 2024.
The 2026 season of The Hundred will be the start of a new era for the competition, with private investment entering the game and matchdays promising to be bigger and better than ever. England star Jacob Bethell will captain the men’s side, with Australian legend Ellyse Perry leading the women’s team.
Tickets for the four home matchdays are on sale now, so please click here to buy yours and avoid disappointment. Keep up to date with the Birmingham Phoenix by following us on Instagram and TikTok.
© Cricket World 2026
