11 of the greatest Black Country footballers as Jude Bellingham lights up Euro 2024
Jude Bellingham sparkled again on the big stage - as he dragged England to a 1-0 win in their Euro 2024 opener against Serbia.
The Real Madrid star, whose career began back in Stourbridge, netted a fine header and was England's star man as they got off the mark in Germany.
The 20-year-old is already regarded as one of the best players on the planet - and is arguably the best player of a long list of top stars to come from the Black Country.
Here is a look at a few other Black Country-born players who went on to achieve success at the top level:
Duncan Edwards
Even in the modern era, if you mention the name Duncan Edwards to a football fan then they will know who he was.
The Dudley born star was and still is widely regarded as one of the best talents to ever be produced in this country.
Picked up by Manchester United after playing for England schoolboys, he went on to play 150 times for United and make 18 appearances for England.
However, the world would never fully see his talent after he was one of the victim's of the tragic Munich air disaster in 1958.
Jesse Pennington
A purely one-club man, the left back played his whole career in Albion colours.
He turned out 455 times for the Baggies - and his talents earned him England honours.
Pennington would play 25 times for his country and at the time of his final cap he was the oldest outfield player to have represented England.
Steve Bloomer
Bloomer was quite frankly a goal-scoring machine at club and international levels.
The forward played for the majority of his career at Derby County, with a spell Middlesbrough in between.
In total, he racked up 352 goals in 599 games - but on the international stage he was even more impressive.
Between 1895 and 1907, he scored 28 goals in 23 internationals.
