Monthly archives: September, 2026

Icons and Jude: Inside Bellingham’s First Exclusive Signing

Jude Bellingham Icons
September 23, 2026
Announcements

Ahead of the FIFA World Cup™, Jude Bellingham signed a new memorabilia partnership with Icons.com. Days later, he began the tournament of his life, scoring seven goals and winning the Bronze Boot. The pieces he signed for us in Madrid, at the first signing session of his career, are available now on Icons.com and nowhere else.

Icons and Jude

Announced in June, ahead of the tournament, the partnership makes Icons.com the exclusive home of official hand-signed Jude Bellingham memorabilia. It puts him alongside Lionel Messi at the heart of Icons: two generations of the game, both signing exclusively with us.

“I’m pleased to partner exclusively with Icons.com ahead of such a huge moment in my career. Connecting with fans around the world is incredibly important to me, and this partnership gives supporters the chance to own authentic pieces that celebrate some special memories.”
Jude Bellingham

“Jude is one of the defining footballers of his generation. We’re thrilled to welcome him to the Icons family and look forward to bringing fans exclusive products during the FIFA World Cup 2026 and beyond.”
Dan Jamieson, CEO of Icons.com

The first signing

By the time the deal was announced, Jude had already sat down with us. On 22 May 2026, at a private signing session in Madrid, he held the first signing session of his career. With the World Cup on the horizon, England came first: 2026 home and away shirts and official FIFA World Cup™ adidas Predator boots. He also signed UEFA Champions League footballs and Real Madrid home shirts from 2023-24 and 2024-25, his first two seasons at the club.

Proof in every piece

Every item is hand-signed by Jude Bellingham and TripleLock™ authenticated, our authentication system developed with Crane Authentication, the world leader in brand protection. Each piece comes with a certificate of authenticity from Icons.com carrying a photo of the moment it was signed, stamped with the date and location, plus our lifetime guarantee.

A tamper-proof hologram on the item matches the one on its certificate, and an encrypted NFC tag lets you tap your phone to see its full authentication record. Three independent checks, linking the piece, the certificate, and the record for life.

Browse the Jude Bellingham signed collection.

From Birmingham to the Bernabéu

Bellingham made his Birmingham City debut at 16, and the club retired his number 22 shirt when he left for Borussia Dortmund in 2020. Three seasons in Germany ended with the Bundesliga Player of the Season award, and in June 2023 Real Madrid brought him to Spain.

He won La Liga and the UEFA Champions League in his first season at the club, and was named La Liga Player of the Season. The Ballon d’Or’s Kopa Trophy followed in 2023. For England, his stoppage-time overhead kick against Slovakia at UEFA EURO 2024 is already one of the great Three Lions moments.

At 23, he is the player Real Madrid and England build around, and a modern Icon of the game still writing his story.

A summer to remember

Bellingham scored in the group stage wins over Croatia and Panama, then twice against Mexico and twice more against Norway, becoming the first player to score twice in consecutive World Cup knockout matches since Diego Maradona in 1986.

The semi-final brought England face to face with Lionel Messi’s Argentina, who came from behind to win 2-1 in Atlanta. Bellingham added his seventh goal in the third-place win over France, as England finished third, their best World Cup for 60 years.

He left North America with the Bronze Boot and a place in the FIFA Dream XI, and along the way became the youngest England men’s player to win 50 caps. Seven goals, more than any Three Lions player has ever scored at a major tournament.

As the Home of Messi-signed memorabilia and Jude’s exclusive signing partner, we’ve brought our two partners together in one piece: the Messi and Bellingham official FIFA World Cup™ dual frame.

The collection

Signed at the Madrid session, highlights include:

Explore more from England and Real Madrid, or the full Jude Bellingham signed collection.

Official. Authentic. Exclusive.


Gracias, Capitán: Messi Retires from International Football

September 2, 2026
Announcements

There will never be another chapter like it. After more than two decades in the famous number 10 shirt, Lionel Messi has announced his retirement from international football — closing the greatest individual story the international game has ever seen.

It began with a teenager so slight the shirt seemed to wear him, and it ends with the most decorated player in Argentina’s history: a FIFA World Cup™ winner, a multiple Copa América champion, his country’s record goalscorer and its most-capped player. Between those two points lie twenty years of moments the sport will never forget, and a few heartbreaks that made the triumphs mean more.

The Long Road to Qatar

What made Messi’s international career so beloved was that it wasn’t easy. There was the agony of the 2014 final in the Maracanã, defeats on penalties in successive Copa América finals, and even a brief retirement in 2016, reversed because Argentina simply refused to imagine the shirt without him.

Then came the golden years. The 2021 Copa América, his first senior international trophy, was won in Brazil of all places, followed by the night that completed football: 18 December 2022, Lusail, the World Cup final for the ages. Messi lifting the trophy in Qatar wasn’t just Argentina’s third star; it felt like the game itself settling a debt.

He gave it one final summer in 2026, captaining the holders all the way to the final on American soil at the age of 39. It wasn’t to be; a brilliant Spain side saw to that, but the ovation that followed him around stadiums in the United States, Canada and Mexico all tournament long said everything. The world knew it was watching him in the albiceleste for the last time.

Our Twenty Years with Leo

At Icons, this moment lands differently. We have worked with Leo since he was 17 years old, before the Ballon d’Ors, before the trophies, when he had only just broken into the FC Barcelona first team. He is not simply an incredible player; he is the longest partnership in our history, and the heart of everything Icons has become.

Across two decades and several signing sessions every year, we have watched that famous hand sign thousands of shirts, balls, boots and photographs. In 2014, together, we launched the first officially licensed memorabilia range ever created for an individual player, Official Lionel Messi Signed Memorabilia, and we have been his exclusive signed memorabilia partner throughout the era that took him from prodigy to world champion.

Some of those signatures now sit in collections on every continent. Every one of them tells the same story: an authentic connection to the greatest of all time, made in person, pen on fabric, the closest a fan can get to the moments he gave us.

The Shirts That Say Argentina


Leo will keep playing club football, and we will keep working alongside him as we always have. But the Argentina chapter is now complete, and the signed shirts, World Cup pieces and framed displays created across our partnership have become something new today: artefacts of a finished masterpiece.

From signed Argentina 2022 World Cup shirts to dual-signed displays alongside the next generation, the Official Lionel Messi Signed Collection is where that story lives on.

Gracias, Capitán. It has been the honour of our lifetime to sign alongside you.