Jack Charlton was sitting with mud on his knees and a beer in his hand when he learnt he was going to be playing with his brother for England. Don Revie told him; Leeds United had just beaten Manchester United in an FA Cup semi-final at the City Ground and Big Jack was so thrilled he blundered out of the Leeds dressing room and into the opposition one to tell Bobby.

“Kidda, you’ll never believe this but I’ve been selected to play against the Scots with you at Wembley,” Jack announced. Angry Manchester United players glared at the intruder. “I’m … very pleased for you,” muttered Bobby in a funereal voice.

That was 1965 and Jobe Bellingham received his good news a different way. It was via a video call with Thomas Tuchel and, said England’s manager: “He couldn’t stop smiling, he has the same beautiful smile as Jude.”

Since taking over, Tuchel has banged on about creating a “brotherhood” and has now taken the task literally — naming an England featuring siblings for the first time since 2007. As he said, “it’s a beautiful story,” the journey of both Bellinghams from a scrap of grass in the West Midlands village of Hagley to the magic of a floodlit Wembley, where on Thursday there is a good chance — for the first time in their careers — they will get to play in the same team together.

Jude Bellingham, 23, has described doing so as “the biggest dream of my life” and said of Jobe, 21, “his happiness means more to me than my own”. That gives an idea of how close the brothers are and Tuchel hopes the relationship will help Jobe settle into the senior squad quickly.

He needs him. Jobe’s call-up was at the expense of Kobbie Mainoo and he is there not because of who his big bro is, but because he has impressed as England Under-21 captain and when playing for Borussia Dortmund. Those credentials would have him in the reckoning if his name were Jobe Smith, and an outstanding performance in last weekend’s Der Klassiker versus Bayern Munich sealed the younger Bellingham’s inclusion.

“Jobe has a very good chance of being in the [match-day] squad actually against Croatia [on Thursday] because Myles [Lewis-Skelly] is suspended and hopefully he makes the most of it,” Tuchel said.

The Charlton brothers both ended up playing every minute of England’s victorious 1966 World Cup campaign, after which they were paraded through their home village of Ashington — renamed “Charltonville” for the day — in an open-top Rolls Royce. Gary and Phil Neville, the last brothers to play for England together, had a more chequered journey, as parts of the “Golden Generation” who could never achieve for the Three Lions what they achieved at club level.

The last time both Nevilles were in the same England team was in a 1-0 defeat by Spain in February 2007, when Joey Barton made his one and only England appearance. The profiles of international midfielders are somewhat more refined now, and Tuchel said of Jobe: “He’s maybe more of an eight than a classic six. Less of a ten. He arrives also in the box but for us will play more of a deeper role.

“Very good on the ball. Big body, big legs … very physical. Overall, a good package and he played in the under-21s like he deserves the next step.”

Maybe it helps Jobe that his club manager, Niko Kovac, understands what it is like to have a brother who is also a top player. He played with his sibling Robert for Croatia and has overseen Jobe’s development well, shielding him from an unfairly critical German media who expected too much straight away when Jobe joined Dortmund from Birmingham aged 19 in 2025.

That expectation, of course, was caused by memories of Jude’s precocious exploits after making the same move as a 17-year-old, and Tuchel wants Jobe to be judged in his own right — though he had to laugh at himself after, at one point, referring to his new call-up as “Jube”.

“I think he has to live with [his brother’s shadow], that everyone will compare them. They look similar, even in their movements but are very different players. They are also different characters, at least that’s what I heard,” Tuchel said. “And, yeah, he goes to the same club as Jude so of course there will always be comparisons. But it is a huge achievement that both of them are in camp.”

Kovac used Jobe as one of two No8s in a 4-3-3 against Bayern but usually plays 3-4-2-1, deploying Jobe either as one of the No6s or No10s. All of his England Under-21 appearances for Lee Carsley have been as a single or double pivot (in a 4-3-3) and he was in Carsley’s squad in March 2025 when he sidled up at St George’s Park to make his initial impression on Tuchel.

“In my first camp [as England manager], he came over and watched his brother train. We chatted and we said, “Ah, it would be nice if one day you are with him [Jude].” He was very kind and polite,” Tuchel recalled.

From that point, Jude was in Tuchel’s ear. “We spoke about his brother. I was aware it was always his dream … and Jude was always like, ‘Watch him watch him, he’s good, he can make it,’ and I would say, ‘Yeah we are watching him.’

“We see him of course with the under-21s and there is such positive feedback, so I think this is also the signal we want to give — that if you are good in the 21s, this is the next step.

“We had it with Elliot Anderson, with Alex Scott, with Jarell Quansah and it counts: if you play good for England in the under-19s, under-20s, under-21s especially, then it means something,” Tuchel said.

The development plan remains for Jobe and fellow new call-up Josh King to be part of Carsley’s squad at the European Under-21 championship next summer, “and both players know that”, Tuchel said. “Both players know their role and then from their role they are allowed to make the most of it.”

He has never coached brothers [Tuchel had Sven Bender in his Dortmund side but not sibling Lars] and was unaware the Bellinghams have never played together at any level. “From what I saw, Jude was always the big brother you imagine, taking care of his younger brother and making sure everything is all right. That helps Jobe now in camp and I think it will be beautiful for Jude to have his brother close.”

The almost lovestruck way Tuchel speaks about Jude these days contrasts with what seemed an uneasy relationship earlier in his reign. “It was a bit of an up and down [relationship] of course,” Tuchel admitted, “but we are in a good place. I love to be his coach, he’s a top player, a very influential player and I think it goes both ways. If Jude was not feeling comfortable, he would not perform on that level.

“I hope we have finished with the down,” he said before adding with a smile: “You never know as a coach.”

The inclusion of the exciting and flexible King is also deserved — though a call-up for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall would have been merited too. Especially given the uncertainty Tuchel expressed about other attacking midfield options, re-professing his “love” for Phil Foden but regretting Foden’s lack of consistency, and revealing he was close to omitting Eberechi Eze because of Eze’s lack of Arsenal minutes.

Morgan Gibbs-White must “fight” to justify his inclusion too and what of Cole Palmer, left out again? Was that a message about where Palmer’s England career currently stands?

“Someone more intelligent once said to me: ‘You cannot not communicate.’ You cannot not send a message,” Tuchel said. “So, a nomination is always a message, yes.”

Mainoo is partly a victim of his club’s problems. “Man United fell off a cliff a little bit performance-wise, so he suffers from that,” said Tuchel, who revealed that towards the end of the World Cup he stood up in front of his squad and apologised to Mainoo for not giving him more minutes at the tournament.

The striker situation? Barring injury, Harry Kane will break England’s appearance record v Croatia but beyond their Ballon d’Or winner, the Three Lions’ cupboard looks very bare. “Stop looking,” Tuchel joked. Will Lankshear’s exploits for Middlesbrough in the Championship have not been lost on him but “it would not be fair if we put him in now and said, ‘We have found the next Harry Kane.’ ”

He is happy with Dominic Calvert-Lewin, for now, “and Harry loves to play with him once we chase a result”.

Tuchel was told of another No9, who scored seven goals on his England debut last weekend — Mark Bellingham, when playing for his country’s over-50s team v Ireland. Jobe and Jude’s beginnings in football were kicking a ball with their dad, a prolific non-League footballer, and when Jobe moved to Germany, Mark — also the boys’ agent — went to Dortmund to live with him.

Their mother, Denise, went to Spain to provide stability for Jude when he moved to Real Madrid. This latest England squad is quite a tribute to parents faced with the challenge of doing their best for two talented brothers. Now that challenge is Tuchel’s, but a happy one.