Euro 2024: England star Jude Bellingham will 'definitely' win Ballon d'Or, says Serbia boss Dragan Stojkovic

Serbia head coach Dragan Stojkovic believes Jude Bellingham will “definitely” win the Ballon d’Or in his career ahead of their clash with England on Sunday.

The Real Madrid man is expected to star for his country at Euro 2024, having already won La Liga and the Champions League this season, scoring 23 goals in the process.

And with England boss Gareth Southgate revealing that the 20-year-old is one quarter of his new leadership group, the game’s greatest individual honour may hinge on how the Three Lions fare.

Speaking on the eve of Serbia’s first appearance since 2000 at the European Championship, the former skipper waxed lyrical about Bellingham, hinting at a targeted gameplan to nullify his threat.

“He is a great guy,” said Stojkovic. “He will definitely win the Ballon d'Or in the future.

“He plays impressively, although he is young, he is strong, he has quality, he showed all of that at Real Madrid. It's really amazing the performances he puts in every game. He's great for England, bad for us.

“But we will do everything possible to have control. You don't have to give him a lot of space, he is a very important player for the English team. We'll see on Sunday.”

And though Stojkovic reminded reporters that Gareth Southgate’s men are only one half of Sunday’s clash, the ex-Marseille midfielder was keen to stress his awareness of England’s qualities.

“I am here to talk about Serbia, not England. They are a team that tries to be the champion of Europe, but to achieve that they have to do it on the pitch.

“We know what system, what players, there are no surprises there. What is important is that our players have all the information on the team.

“We have it, but we do not forget about ourselves – it’s us who have to do our parts of the job.”

Southgate is also not expecting any surprises from Serbia, remarking that he does not anticipate Dusan Tadic and co. to sit back against the tournament favourites.

And a bullish Stojkovic agreed, seemingly preferring to rely on his side’s attacking talent, rather than let England dictate proceedings.

“I think the game is going to be very open,” he said. “Serbia will not just wait and watch England play.

“On the contrary, we will try to create as many problems for them. If we score first, the order is going to be score the second. It’s very simple. And whenever you score the second, you try to score another.”

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