Craig Bellamy

Craig Bellamy
Bellamy attending a Cardiff City match in 2014
Personal information
Full name Craig Douglas Bellamy
Date of birth (1979-07-13) 13 July 1979 (age 45)
Place of birth Cardiff, Wales
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
Wales (head coach)
Youth career
1988–1990 Bristol Rovers
1990–1996 Norwich City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1996–2000 Norwich City 84 (32)
2000–2001 Coventry City 34 (6)
2001–2005 Newcastle United 93 (28)
2005Celtic (loan) 12 (7)
2005–2006 Blackburn Rovers 27 (13)
2006–2007 Liverpool 27 (7)
2007–2009 West Ham United 24 (7)
2009–2011 Manchester City 40 (12)
2010–2011Cardiff City (loan) 35 (11)
2011–2012 Liverpool 27 (6)
2012–2014 Cardiff City 55 (6)
Total 458 (135)
International career
1995–1997 Wales U18 9 (6)
1997–1998 Wales U21 8 (1)
1998–2013 Wales 78 (19)
2012 Great Britain Olympic 5 (1)
Managerial career
2021 Anderlecht (assistant)
2022–2024 Burnley (assistant)
2024– Wales
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Craig Douglas Bellamy (born 13 July 1979) is a Welsh football coach and former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is the current head coach of the Wales national team.[2]

Born in Cardiff, Bellamy made his professional debut with Norwich City in 1996. He signed for Premier League side Coventry City in 2000, breaking the club's record transfer fee, but suffered relegation in his only season. He joined Newcastle United the following year where he helped the club achieve two top-four finishes during a four year spell. Bellamy fell out with manager Graeme Souness in 2005 and spent the latter part of the 2004–05 season on loan at Celtic, where he won the Scottish Cup. Bellamy returned to the Premier League later that year, playing one season with both Blackburn Rovers, where he was named the club's player of the year, and Liverpool, helping the club reach the 2007 UEFA Champions League final. In 2007 he signed for West Ham United but injury disrupted his time there and in 2009 he joined Manchester City. For the 2010–11 season, Bellamy dropped a division to the Championship to represent his boyhood club Cardiff City on a season-long loan. Bellamy returned to Liverpool the following season, winning the 2011–12 League Cup and reaching the FA Cup final, before rejoining Cardiff City permanently in 2012. He later led them to the Premier League and played one more season with the club, setting a new record by scoring for his seventh different club in the division, before retiring from playing in 2014.

Having represented Wales at several youth levels, in 1998 at the age of 18, Bellamy made his senior debut for Wales against Jamaica. Over the next fifteen years, Bellamy gained 78 caps for his country and scored 19 goals. He was the captain of the side from 2007 to 2011, when he stepped down from the role due to recurring injuries. Bellamy retired from international football following the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign. He was also a member of the Great Britain Olympic team at the 2012 Olympics in London, appearing five times and scoring once.

Bellamy has been involved in numerous high-profile incidents during his career with teammates, managers and members of the public and was described by Bobby Robson as "a great player wrapped round an unusual and volatile character". Outside football, he has been a patron of several charities and started his own organisation, The Craig Bellamy Foundation, in Sierra Leone to provide schooling and football coaching to disadvantaged children.

  1. ^ "Player profile – Craig Bellamy". Cardiff City F.C. Archived from the original on 25 February 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  2. ^ "x.com". X (formerly Twitter). Retrieved 30 May 2024.