Jude Bellingham set an absurd record in Football Manager 2023

Football Manager 2023 is out, which means only one thing: we are ready to alter the course of soccer history once again. We ran an FM23 simulation for 20 years to see how Sports Interactive’s new release sees the beautiful game in two decades’ time. The results were intriguing across the board.

We saw nations make history at the World Cup and clubs carve their path in the Champions League and Europa League. At the end of the day, national teams and club squads are composed of individuals, whose heroics bring about team success. There are few individuals in our 20 seasons of Football Manager 2023 that contributed to success as much as Jude Bellingham.

There’s plenty the English midfielder achieved at club level too, but we’re obliged to mention his international career first because that’s where his star truly shined.

Records are meant to be broken, but the one Jude Bellingham set for England in Football Manager 2023 looks like one of those numbers that will stand for a long, long time. In the span of 21 years, from 2020 until 2041, Bellingham amassed a staggering 213 international caps for England.

This number already sounds impressive, but perspective elevates it to the absurd. In real life, the player with the most caps for England is Peter Shilton, with 125. He was a goalkeeper. The outfield player who is closest to that number is Wayne Rooney, with 120. Jude Bellingham ends his career in FM23 with nearly 100 more caps than that.

We say he ends his career but that’s still an event in the future, even in 2042. The now 39-year-old midfielder is still a regular at Arsenal, with whom he won the league the season prior. He hasn’t been called up to the England squad in over a year, though, so it’s highly unlikely that he raises the sky-high bar even higher.

Bellingham’s outstanding record for England is reciprocated by his club career numbers. His 213 international appearances simply add to the already inconceivable 742 club league appearances. Taking other club competitions into account means Jude Bellingham may as well have played in over 1500 football matches throughout his career, and he’s not even done.

All these appearances aren’t for naught either. In Football Manager 2023, Jude Bellingham is a two-time World Cup winner with England and a three-time Spanish champion with Real Madrid. He then moved back home to lead Arsenal to their first two league titles since the Invincibles, as well as their first-ever Champions League trophy in 2037.

We’re willing to bet that if Bellingham was offered that type of a career today, he’d take it in a heartbeat. That’s not even underrating his real-life potential. It’s just that FM23 Jude Bellingham will retire with one of the best careers of all time.