{"id":147539,"date":"2025-05-31T19:13:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T19:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/147539\/"},"modified":"2025-05-31T19:13:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T19:13:11","slug":"ben-greenhalgh-won-a-tv-show-joined-mourinhos-inter-and-lost-his-champions-league-medal-on-a-golf-course","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/147539\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Greenhalgh won a TV show, joined Mourinho\u2019s Inter and lost his Champions League medal on a golf course"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Athletic has live coverage of PSG vs. Inter Milan<\/a> in the 2025 UEFA Champions League Final.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd next he\u2019s gonna meet the big boss, Jose Mourinho. I think it will finally sink in that he\u2019s an Inter Milan player when he\u2019s given that shirt,\u201d Jamie Redknapp, the former England midfielder and Sky presenter, says.<\/p>\n

Ben Greenhalgh laughs as he remembers what happens next. \u201cI nearly leave Mourinho hanging in a minute!\u201d<\/p>\n

We are watching a rerun of Football\u2019s Next Star, the television show that was broadcast on Sky One in 2010 with the prize of a six-month contract at Inter for the winner. More than 7,000 boys entered before being whittled down to the final 10, who stayed together in a villa overlooking Lake Como.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery week, it was a case of, \u2018We want to be here next week, and that\u2019s all we were fighting for\u2019,\u201d Greenhalgh says. \u201cI don\u2019t think we were ever fighting for who was going to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Essentially, it was football\u2019s version of the X Factor with Marco Monti, the technical director at Inter\u2019s academy, playing the role of Simon Cowell.<\/p>\n

Greenhalgh not only ended up winning the show and signing for Inter but, remarkably, also finished the season with a Champions League medal around his neck (he later lost it on a golf course, but that\u2019s another story).<\/p>\n

It was a surreal experience for a 17-year-old A-level student who had never been around professional football before.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, that could have been terrible!\u201d Greenhalgh says, cringing as we watch the moment when Mourinho, who was Inter\u2019s manager at the time, congratulates him and waits for the handshake that almost never comes.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Greenhalgh was too busy trying to take in the enormity of it all. A TV show that he had entered in the early stages \u201cas a laugh\u201d was now turning his life upside down, propelling him from the fringe of the first-team at non-League Welling United, who were playing in the sixth tier of English football at the time, to training alongside some of the greatest players in the world at Inter.<\/p>\n

Those close to Greenhalgh were every bit as excited as him. \u201cI\u2019m still with Grace!\u201d Greenhalgh says, his face lighting up as the camera pans to his girlfriend. \u201cI\u2019ve\u00a0got three kids with her now!\u201d<\/p>\n

Greenhalgh\u2019s relationship with Inter didn\u2019t last anything like as long, which was probably to be expected. By the start of 2011, the left winger was back in England, on trial at Brighton, following a successful loan spell with Como in Serie C, Italy\u2019s third tier. He rejoined Welling later the same year.<\/p>\n

The experience at Inter, however, was unforgettable. Greenhalgh brings along to the interview a signed shirt that Patrick Vieira gave him, tells stories about Mario Balotelli and his Lamborghini, marvels at the way the Inter players worked so hard for Mourinho and, more than anything, feels privileged to have had a front-row seat for the most successful season in the club\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cMy six-month contract began in January (2010), so it went to the end of the season,\u201d Greenhalgh explains. \u201cEverything was high-flying because they were on for the treble at this time \u2013\u00a0they\u2019ve got through the group stage in the Champions League, they\u2019re in the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia and they\u2019re top of the league as well. It was some experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inter created history by winning all three competitions, and although Greenhalgh played for the reserves and the under-18s rather than the first team, he was in the right place at the right time when it came to the Champions League final against Bayern Munich at the Bernabeu.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore the final, we played a game at Real Madrid City (the Spanish club\u2019s training ground) against Bayern Munich,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was called the \u2018UEFA Under-18 Challenge\u2019, and that\u2019s now become the UEFA Youth League. We also won 2-0 (the same scoreline as the first team).<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of us then travelled with the match-day squad, staying in the team hotel, and then sitting just behind them at the game. Just being able to experience those types of matches was ridiculous, really.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And what about the medal? \u201cWe managed to get one because\u2026 they were just handing them out in the changing room afterwards!\u201d Greenhalgh says, smiling.<\/p>\n

All of which explains why the supporters at non-League side Margate, who play in the Isthmian League South East Division (the eighth tier of English football), sing what they do on a match day.<\/p>\n

\u201cChampions League, he\u2019s won that too. Now he\u2019s at Margate, playing in blue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greenhalgh, who is the player-manager at Margate, breaks into laughter. \u201cThat\u2019s a good song. I\u2019ve had some bad songs,\u201d he says. \u201cAt Tonbridge Angels \u2013 and I loved it when I was there \u2013 I\u2019m about to take a free kick on the edge of the area, and they go, \u2018We got Super Ben Greenhalgh, he runs around the park\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m listening to it thinking, \u2018Oh wow, I\u2019ve got a song.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then they go, \u2018He looks like (British TV celebrity) Rylan Clark\u2019, and I think, \u2018Oh no!\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

In his younger days, when he was still at school and before he grew a beard, Greenhalgh looked more like Cristiano Ronaldo, so much so that he was a body double for the former Manchester United and Real Madrid player in a television commercial.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started coaching for a guy called Mike Delaney, who also ran a company called Select Sports Artists,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cMike was one of the big ones at the time when it came to body-doubling adverts and he managed to get me Ronaldo, which was obviously massive. I was 16 and this was Ronaldo in his prime. And, fair play to Ronaldo, I\u2019ve been to so many shoots where the players are there for 10 minutes maximum. But he was there for about three to four hours. He was even doing kick-ups with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Greenhalgh with Ronaldo at a shoot where he was the Portugal captain\u2019s body double<\/p>\n

That line of work provides another chapter to a colourful life story that includes a playing CV unlike any other. Greenhalgh\u2019s list of clubs, in order, reads:<\/p>\n