What is Bellingham's 'Wolf' celebration about?

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Euro 2024: Bellingham explains England goal celebration against Serbia

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When Jude Bellingham scored England's opening goal of Euro 2024 on Sunday, he celebrated by dropping to one knee along with team-mate Trent Alexander-Arnold before both covered their faces with their hands.

Real Madrid midfielder Bellingham, 20, headed in Bukayo Saka's deflected cross against Serbia, leading to his and Liverpool full-back Alexander-Arnold's peculiar celebration.

"When we play Wolf, one of the staff [England team photographer Eddie Keogh] always holds his face when he doesn’t have a clue what’s going on," Bellingham explained to BBC Sport after England's 1-0 victory.

"So that was a little group celebration for the Wolf crew."

But what is Wolf?

What is Wolf and how do you play it?

Wolf, or Werewolf, as it is also known, is a card game that requires at least seven players who will take on roles such as 'villagers' and 'werewolves'.

The basic premise of the game is for the werewolves to try and eat the villagers without getting caught, and for the villagers to try to survive - while catching the werewolves in the act.

Wolf takes place over a series of rounds and each round has two phases - day and night. The game starts during the night phase, with the player who is selected to be moderator asking the werewolves to choose a victim.

There is also a 'doctor', who is allowed to save one person, and a 'seer', who gets to make a guess as to who they think the werewolf is.

During the day phase, players discuss who they think the werewolf is (deception is the name of the game, remember), and then a vote is taken. The player with the most votes is then killed and the night phase begins again.

This sounds a lot like The Traitors?

Image source, Studio Lambert/BBC/PA

Well, you would be absolutely right.

The Traitors, which has been a ratings hit for the BBC since it was first aired in 2022, is a loose adaptation of Wolf, but instead of villagers and werewolves, the 22 players in this game are 'faithfuls' and 'traitors'.

And unlike Werewolf, where the allocation of roles is done by the random dealing of cards, the traitors are hand-picked in the opening episode.

Oh, and there's also the small matter of £120,000 to be won in the TV version.

You can watch the first two series of The Traitors on BBC iPlayer.