Jude Bellingham praised for unprecedented interview after being made FIFA's 'Superior Player of the Match'

Jude Bellingham says that he did not deserve to be named as Player of the Match after he was presented with the award following England's 0-0 World Cup draw with Ghana.

The Three Lions were aiming to maintain their 100 per cent record at the World Cup, having beaten Croatia 4-2 in their opening match of Group L.

But, while their clash against Croatia was much more of an open contest, they came up against a Ghana side in Boston who were resolute defensively.

It was the Black Stars who had one of the best chances of the match in the closing stages, with striker Prince Adu running through on goal only to take a heavy touch that allowed Ezri Konsa to get back and make the tackle.

Ghana full-backs, Marvin Senaya and Gideon Mensah, put in excellent performances, and England only found the target with three of their 19 shots on goal.

Nico O'Reilly headed the ball against the crossbar on 89 minutes, with Harry Kane blazing a half volley over the bar on the rebound in what was England's best chance to score.

Bellingham, meanwhile, was substituted on 73 minutes but did enough to earn FIFA's 'Superior Player of the Match' award.

However, during his post-match interview with BBC Sport, he immediately dismissed it.

"Yeah, I didn't deserve it, to be honest," he said. "It probably should have gone to one of their lads [Ghana], they defended so well.

"We had a couple of moments, it was hard to get in the game. I'm grateful for whoever voted, but yeah, it probably should have gone to one of their lads who defended so well. So fair play to them.

"Like always, second game fever isn't it, with England? Win the first one, do well, and then draw the second one. But it's okay. I think they played for a draw as it would have seen them go through, and fair play to them, they did a great job."

Bellingham involved in FT row with Ghana coach

As he left the field at full-time, Bellingham had a verbal altercation with Ghana assistant John Paintsil.

The Real Madrid midfielder appeared to exchange strong words with Paintsil, who spent six years in English football with West Ham, Fulham and Leicester City during his playing career.

Bellingham also had an exchange with Ghana head coach Carlos Queiroz after the referee blew his whistle for half-time in Boston.

After that altercation, Morgan Rogers approached Bellingham to put his arm around his England team-mate, with Three Lions assistant coach Anthony Barry also attempting to cool tensions.

Heated scenes at half-time between Jude Bellingham and some of the Ghana coaching staff pic.twitter.com/l1aU4DlLnO

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) June 23, 2026

"My intention was to tell him to cool down, with that tackle that he did," Queiroz told ITV's Gabriel Clarke. "It could be a yellow card, or second yellow card, clear, because he went with the foot again on our player.

"I was worried because exactly that player was a not 100 per cent doubt. So we had a bad reaction with some bad names, and that was why that story started."