Bellamy was a mecurial player in his days on the pitch and was one of the top players in the Premier League for many years, winning the PFA Young Player of the Year Award in 2001/02.
The 45-year-old played for many clubs including Liverpool, Manchester City and Newcastle. He also represented Wales 78 times and scored 13 goals for his country, while he captained the side on several occasions.
Since his retirement from playing, Bellamy moved into coaching and had roles at Cardiff City and Anderlecht's under-21s, teaming up with his former City teammate Vincent Kompany.
He later worked as an assistant to Kompany at Anderlecht but stood down from that position in 2021, however he joined the Belgian boss at Burnley and helped the Clarets reach promotion to the Premier League.
After an instant return to the Championship for the Clarets, Bellamy left the club and was appointed as Wales boss following the departure of Rob Page.
Starting off at Norwich and Coventry
Bellamy initially started his career at Bristol Rovers where he was part of the youth team and he was spotted by a scout from Norwich City.
Bellamy signed for the Canaries after a successful trial period and prior to signing several teams looked at him including Leeds United who offered his parents £10,000 if he signed for them.
The Welshman signed his first professional deal when he turned 16, earning £250 per week, and then in March 1997 he made his professional debut when he was 17 as an injury time substitute in a 2-0 First Division defeat at Crystal Palace.
He made his first professional start in the following August, a League Cup clash against Barnet, while he scored his first goal in a 2-2 draw against Bury just three months later.
Bellamy initially started in midfield for Norwich, but he began to make a name for himself when new Norwich manager Bruce Rioch moved him to attack, scoring his first professional hat-trick against QPR at the start of the 1998/99 season.
Bellamy finished the season with 19 goals across all competitions after an impressive campaign, but he missed most of the 1999/00 season due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
Bellamy was subject to interest from Newcastle United but the Magpies stalled over the fee and Coventry swooped in with a club record bid of £6million and the forward reluctantly made the move.
He made his Premier League debut in a 3-1 defeat to Middlesbrough, but he scored his first top flight goal in the following match, a 2-1 win over Southampton.
He endured a poor start to his career with Coventry, however, scoring only three league goals—two of which were penalties—by the start of December as the club found itself in the relegation zone.
Coventry were relegated at the end of the 2000/01 season after the team finished 19th in the Premier League. Bellamy ended his only season at Coventry with eight goals from 39 appearances.
Big steps at Newcastle, Blackburn and Liverpool
Following Coventry's relegation, Newcastle returned with an offer of £6million which the Sky Blues accepted as they were looking to reduce the wage bill.
Bellamy combined with Sir Bobby Robson on Tyneside and made his debut in the Intertoto Cup match against Lokeren.
He immediately endeared himself home faithful after scoring his first goal in a 1-1 draw against fierce rivals Sunderland.
Under Robson, Bellamy linked well with Alan Shearer as they scored 41 Premier League goals between them and led Newcastle to a Champions League finish.
Despite missing the bulk of the last few months of the season with a tendon injury, Bellamy won the PFA Young Player of the Season Award after scoring 14 goals.
His second season was marred with injury and discipline problems, he was given a retrospective three-match ban after headbutting a Dynamo Kiev player in his Champions League
He later established himself in Toon folklore with a double including a last-minute winner at Feyonoord. But in the next Champions League match, Bellamy received the fastest red card in the competition's history when he was sent off for swinging an arm at an opposition defender five minutes into the game.
Bellamy finished the season with nine goals from 37 appearances as Newcastle finsihed third.
Prior to the 2003/04 season, Bellamy was advised he would need knee surgery but he postponed the operation to play for Wales in two Euro matches. He missed several Newcastle games to play for Wales and this angered Toon chief Freddy Shepherd.
He missed more than three months of the season but he returned in form and helped Newcastle finish fifth.
Things soured for Bellamy when new manager Graeme Souness arrived and the Welshman went on loan to Celtic in the second half of the season, winning the Scottish Cup.
Newcastle sold Bellamy to Blackburn where he was reunited with former Wales manager Mark Hughes.
Despite missing a large amount of the season with a thigh injury, Bellamy scored 17 goals for Rovers across all competitions as they qualified for the UEFA Cup.
However, Bellamy's time at Rovers was short-lived as Liverpool had a £6million bid for him accepted.
Bellamy made a goalscoring debut for Liverpool against Maccabi Haifa in the first leg of the Champions League third qualifying round on 9 August 2006, in a 2–1 victory.
His first months at the club were overshadowed by an impending court case over an alleged assault of two women in a Cardiff nightclub in February 2006. Then Bellamy was also involved in a fight with teammate John Arne Riise, where he used a golf club, which ultimately led to his departure.
West Ham, Man City and return to Liverpool
Bellamy signed for West Ham in 2007 for £7.5m, which was a club record deal at the time, but his time in East London was marred with arthiritis.
He initially required surgery for the problem and returned in October for just three games, but the injury continued to plague him and after a defeat to Wigan in February, he was ruled out for the rest of the season.
West Ham struggled for results at the start of the 2008/09 season and Bellamy was the subject of a bidding war between Tottenham and Man City in the January window.
Bellamy completed his move to Manchester City on a four-and-a-half-year deal for an undisclosed fee believed to be around £14 million, reuniting with his former Blackburn manager Mark Hughes.
Bellamy marked his debut for Manchester City on 28 January by scoring the winning goal in a 2–1 win against former club Newcastle, but Bellamy continued to clash with teammates and was unhappy about a 'clique' of Brazilian players, accusing them of lacking effort during a 2-0 defeat at Portsmouth.
He made just four more appearances that season due to injury and in the 2009/10 season he had increased competition including Emmanuel Adebayor and Carlos Tevez.
Things soured for Bellamy at City when Roberto Mancini joined and they regularly had disagreements, however he netted 11 times in 40 appearances that season.
In 2010/11, he spent the season on loan at his hometown team Cardiff City and scored 11 goals as they missed out on promotion after reaching the play-offs.
After returning to City, Bellamy cancelled the final year of his contract and returned to Liverpool.
Bellamy's returning debut for Liverpool came against Stoke City in a 1–0 defeat. He scored his first post-return goal for Liverpool against Brighton in the League Cup on 21 September, while his first league goal of his second spell came a month later against Norwich City in a 1–1 draw.
Featuring largely as a squad player, Bellamy made regular appearances as a substitute but enjoyed a prolonged run in the first team during the Christmas period after Luis Suarez was banned for racially abusing an opponent.
He was a key part of the side that won the League Cup, scoring a vital goal in the semi-final, but he did not take a penalty in the final as they beat his former side Cardiff in a shootout.
He was also a key part in the side that reached the FA Cup final, but they lost 2-1 to Chelsea.
Cardiff, Team GB and retirement
In the summer of 2012, Bellamy represented Team GB in the London 2012 Olympics but they failed to win a medal.
The Welshman then decided to return to Cardiff following the death of close friend Gary Speed and wanted to be closer to his family.
Bellamy helped his hometown club reach the Premier League for the first time, scoring four goals in 33 appearances under the stewardship of Malky Mackay.
Bellamy's first goal of the 2013/14 Premier League season on 1 February 2014 was his side's opener in a 2–1 victory over Norwich City.
The goal meant Bellamy became the first player to score for seven different clubs in the Premier League. He played 22 league games during the season but did not score another goal.
Following Cardiff's relegation to the Championship, Bellamy decided to end his playing career.
Becoming a coach at Cardiff, Anderlecht and Burnley
Bellamy started his coaching career where he ended his playing career, at his hometown club Cardiff City.
In 2016, he was appointed Cardiff's player development manager, overseeing all age groups at the club's youth academy and coaching the older age-group teams.
He stepped down from his coaching role at Cardiff in January 2019 to defend himself against a claim of bullying a youth-team player.
In June 2019, Bellamy signed a three-year contract to become the under-21 team coach for Belgian side Anderlecht following the appointment of his former City teammate Kompany as manager.
He later worked as an assistant to Kompany before stepping down from the role in September 2021 citing mental health issues.
In July 2022, he rejoined Vincent Kompany and was named a first team coach at Burnley.
Bellamy was appointed acting head coach at Burnley following Kompany's departure from the club to go to Bayern Munich in the summer of 2024.
Scott Parker was later appointed Burnley manager and offered Bellamy a post on his coaching staff, however he took the Wales job after Rob Page left the role earlier in the summer.
Bellamy managing Wales
Wales began their Nations League campaign under new boss Bellamy in early September with a positive performance in a 0-0 home to Euro 2024 quarter-finalists Turkey.
Wales’ failure to make the most of their opportunities against Turkey stretched their scoreless streak to four games – their worst run since 2012.
But they broke that cycle a few days later, with their first win under Bellamy - a 2-1 Nations League success over Montenegro on a rain-lashed night in Niksic.
Kieffer Moore and Harry Wilson gave Wales a dream start with a quickfire double inside three minutes. Moore’s opener was timed at 37 seconds – Wales’ fastest goal since 2003.
Bellamy's personal life
Bellamy has a net worth of $25 million (£19.5 million) and had three children with Clare Jansen, who he was married to between 2006 and 2012.
Bellamy was born at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, the second of three boys born to Douglas and Angela Bellamy.