David Beckham

Born: May 2, 1975 (age 38), Leytonstone, London, United Kingdom
Height: 6' 0" (1.83 m)
Spouse: Victoria Beckham (m. 1999)
Salary: 3.4 million USD (2013)
Children: Brooklyn Beckham, Harper Beckham, Romeo Beckham, Cruz Beckham
Siblings: Lynne Georgina Beckham, Joanne Louise Beckham


David Robert Joseph Beckham, (born 2 May 1975) is an English former footballer. He has played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, Milan, Los Angeles Galaxy, French Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain, and the England national team for which he holds the appearance record for an outfield player, and also the first English player to win league titles in four countries. He announced his intention to retire at the end of the 2012–13 Ligue 1 season on 16 May 2013, and on 18 May 2013, played what was likely his final game of his storied 20-year career.

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. When joining MLS in 2007 he was given the highest player salary in the league's history of US$6.5m per year.
He is married to Victoria Beckham and they have four children. In 2009, the couple's joint wealth was estimated at £125 million.

In international football, Beckham made his England debut on 1 September 1996, at the age of 21. He was captain for six years during which he played 58 times. He has 115 career appearances to date.

Beckham's professional career began with Manchester United, making his first-team debut in 1992 aged 17.With United, Beckham won the Premier League title six times, the FA Cup twice, and the UEFA Champions League in 1999. He then played four seasons with Real Madrid, winning the La Liga championship in his final season with the club. In July 2007 Beckham signed a five-year contract with Major League Soccer club Los Angeles Galaxy. While a Galaxy player, he spent two loan spells in Italy with AC Milan in 2009 and 2010.

Early life

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.[28] He also attended Bradenton Preparatory Academy, but signed schoolboy forms at Manchester United on his 14th birthday, and subsequently signed a Youth Training Scheme contract on 8 July 1991.