David Beckham

David
Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE (born 2 May 1975) is an English footballer
who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League
Soccer,having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North
End, Real Madrid, and A.C. Milan, as well as the England national team,
for whom he holds the all-time appearance record for an outfield
player.Beckham's career began when he signed a professional contract
with Manchester United, making his first-team debut in 1992 aged
17.During his time there, United won the Premier League title six times,
the FA Cup twice, and the UEFA Champions League in 1999. He left
Manchester United to sign for Real Madrid in 2003, where he remained for
four seasons, clinching the La Liga championship in his final season
with the club.In January 2007, it was announced that Beckham would leave
Real Madrid for the Major League Soccer club Los Angeles Galaxy,
signing a five-year contract with them on 1 July 2007. While a Galaxy
player, he spent two loan spells in Italy with Milan in 2009 and 2010.In
international football, Beckham made his England debut on 1 September
1996, at the age of 21. He was made captain from 15 November 2000[10]
until the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals,during which he played 58 times. He
earned a much-publicised hundredth cap against France on 26 March 2008,
and became the all-time outfield player appearance record holder on 28
March 2009 when he surpassed Bobby Moore's total of 108 caps. With 115
career appearances to date he has stated that he does not intend to
retire from international football, having missed the 2010 World Cup
through injury and not featuring in England manager Fabio Capello's
post-World Cup plans.Beckham has twice been runner-up for FIFA World
Player of the Year and in 2004 was the world's highest-paid footballer
when taking into account salary and advertising deals. Beckham was the
first British footballer to play 100 Champions League matches. He is
third in the Premier League's all time time assist provider chart, with
152 assists in 265 appearances.He was Google's most searched of all
sports topics in both 2003 and 2004. With such global recognition he has
become an elite advertising brand and a top fashion icon. When joining
the MLS in 2007 he was given the highest player salary in the league's
history, with his playing contract with the Galaxy over the next three
years being worth US$6.5m per year.

He
has been married to singer and fashion designer Victoria Beckham since
1999; they have four children.Beckham was born at Whipps Cross
University Hospital in Leytonstone, London, England. He is the son of
Sandra Georgina (née West) (b. 1949), a hairdresser, and David Edward
Alan "Ted" Beckham (b. Edmonton, London, July–September 1948), a kitchen
fitter, who married at the London Borough of Hackney in 1969, He
regularly played football in Ridgeway Park, Chingford, as a child, and
attended Chase Lane Primary School and Chingford Foundation School. In a
2007 interview, Beckham said that, "At school whenever the teachers
asked, 'What do you want to do when you're older?' I'd say, 'I want to
be a footballer.' And they'd say, 'No, what do you really want to do,
for a job?' But that was the only thing I ever wanted to do."Beckham's
maternal grandfather was Jewish, and Beckham has referred to himself as
"half Jewish" and wrote in his autobiography "I've probably had more
contact with Judaism than with any other religion". In his book Both
Feet on the Ground, he stated that growing up he attended church every
week with his parents and his older sister, Lynne Georgina and younger
sister, Joanne Louise.His parents were fanatical Manchester United
supporters who would frequently travel to Old Trafford from London to
attend the team's home matches. David inherited his parents' love of
Manchester United, and his main sporting passion was football. He
attended one of Bobby Charlton's football schools in Manchester and won
the chance to take part in a training session at FC Barcelona, as part
of a talent competition. He played for a local youth team called the
Ridgeway Rovers – coached by his father, Stuart Underwood and Steve
Kirby. Beckham was a Manchester United mascot for a match against West
Ham United in 1986. Young Beckham had trials with his local club Leyton
Orient, Norwich City and attended Tottenham Hotspur's school of
excellence. Tottenham Hotspur was the first club he played for. During a
two-year period in which Beckham played for Brimsdown Rovers' youth
team, he was named Under-15 Player of the Year in 1990. He also attended
Bradenton Preparatory Academy, but signed schoolboy forms at Manchester
United on his fourteenth birthday, and subsequently signed a Youth
Training Scheme contract on 8 July 1991.
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