Ultimate Football Heroes Podcast

Issy and George share an exclusive chapter from the Ultimate Football Heroes audiobook on Jude Bellingham. One of the five best players of the 2026 World Cup.
First, the numbers. Bellingham scored seven goals and got an assist across 616 minutes at the tournament, the most an English player has ever managed at a major finals. Gary Lineker and Harry Kane both stopped at six. Alan Shearer got five at the Euros. Even the Lionesses' record-setters, Ellen White in 2019 and Beth Mead at Euro 2022, topped out at six. Jude got seven.
Then comes the chapter itself: "Hagley's Next Football Hero." Long before the Bernabeu and the World Cup, there was a five-year-old boy on a muddy touchline in the West Midlands, watching his dad. Mark Bellingham was a policeman Monday to Saturday and a goal machine on Sundays, a sharp-shooting non-league striker who banged in 47 goals in 47 games for Leamington, firing the club into the Southern League Premier Division for the first time in 24 years. This is the story of how young Jude went from a boy who would rather pick the ball up and throw it, to a boy who had well and truly caught the football bug.
Want the rest of the story? The full audiobook, Ultimate Football Heroes: Bellingham, is out now on all major platforms, including Audible and Spotify. And you can still buy the book the old-fashioned way, from all good bookshops.
The Ultimate Football Heroes books are the bestselling football biography series for kids, over 50 titles covering everyone from Messi and Ronaldo to Aitana Bonmati and Lauren James. Find them wherever you buy books.
Got something to say? Send us a voice note or an email at ufh@stripped.media. Name, age, who you support, joke if you've got one.
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That's a wrap on the World Cup! Spain are world champions after beating Argentina in the final, which means Lionel Messi's last World Cup ends just short. England didn't quite make it, losing a nervy semi-final to Argentina, but Issy and George celebrate a bronze medal and England's best World Cup in 60 years after a bonkers 6-4 win over France in the third-place play-off. They crown Kylian Mbappe's Golden Boot, salute Cape Verde's 40-year-old goalkeeper as the story of the tournament, and finally finish their Ultimate World Cup XI - Barcelona's young star Pau Cubarsi takes the last spot, with Bukayo Saka on the bench for "UFH United". The prediction game finished dead level, so the whole series comes down to rock, paper, scissors. Thank you for every prediction and voice note all summer long. Who's in YOUR Ultimate XI? Send it to ufh@stripped.media (ask a grown-up first!).
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England are into the World Cup semi-finals! Issy and George look back at the win over Norway, hear how a festival gave Issy a new lucky superstition, and level the prediction game at 4-4 with two games left. The Golden Boot race has gone bonkers: Mbappe and Messi both on eight goals, Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham one good night from an England record. Then things get cheeky: the Ultimate World Cup XI switches to three at the back so Youri Tielemans AND Lionel Messi can squeeze into midfield... days before England face Messi's Argentina for a place in the final. Plus both hosts back France against Spain, just with different scores, so the prediction game could still swing. There's an Ultimate Football Heroes audiobook up for grabs: send your score prediction to ufh@stripped.media (ask a grown-up first!).
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England are into the World Cup 2026 quarter-finals, Haaland knocks out Brazil, and the Golden Boot race has never been closer!

Issy and George relive an all-time classic against Mexico and look ahead to Saturday's quarter-final against Norway. In this episode:

- England 3-2 Mexico: one of the best games we have ever seen
- Norway knock out Brazil: how do you stop Erling Haaland?
- Golden Boot: Mbappe, Messi and Haaland all on seven goals (a World Cup first)
- Cape Verde, heroes of the World Cup
- Build the Ultimate Team: Haaland AND Kane join our XI (that's 8 of 11!)
- Predictions: France v Morocco in the quarter-final

Send us your predictions and voice notes: ufh@stripped.media
Find the Ultimate Football Heroes books: https://heroesfootball.com/books/podcast/
New episode every Tuesday.

Hosted by Issy and George. Produced by Bonnier Books and Stripped Media.
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Declan Rice and Kylian Mbappe join our Ultimate World Cup Team, Messi makes history, and it's prediction time!

Issy and George are back for World Cup 2026, building the best XI in the world one pick at a time. In this episode:

- Build the Ultimate Team: Issy picks Declan Rice in midfield, George takes Kylian Mbappe on the wing (that's 6 of 11!)
- Messi makes history: Leo turns 39 and becomes the all-time World Cup top scorer
- England 0-0 Ghana, and Scotland fall 3-0 to Brazil
- Predictions: both hosts call Croatia v Ghana

Send us your predictions and voice notes: ufh@stripped.media
Find the Ultimate Football Heroes books: https://heroesfootball.com/books/podcast/
New episode every Tuesday.

Hosted by Issy and George. Produced by Bonnier Books and Stripped Media.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices