Background

Ethnicity: Beckham's maternal grandfather was Jewish, and Beckham has referred to himself as "half Jewish".

Beckham was born on May 2, 1975, at Whipps Cross University Hospital in Leytonstone, London, England. He is the son of Sandra Georgina (née West), a hairdresser, and David Edward Alan "Ted" Beckham, a kitchen fitter, who married in the London Borough of Hackney in 1969. He has an older sister, Lynne Georgina, and a younger sister, Joanne Louise.

His parents were fanatical Manchester United supporters who frequently traveled 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.

Education

David regularly played football in Ridgeway Park, Chingford, as a child, and attended Chase Lane Primary School and Chingford County High 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."

He attended one of Bobby Charlton's football schools in Manchester and won the chance to take part in a training session with Barcelona, as part of a talent competition. He played for a local youth team called Ridgeway Rovers, which was 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 14th birthday, and subsequently signed a Youth Training Scheme contract on 8 July 1991.

Career

At age 11 Beckham won a football contest, and as a teenager he competed on Manchester United’s youth squad, leading it to a national championship in 1992. Three years later he began playing with the professional team in league competition, and during the 1995–96 season he helped Manchester United win the league title and the Football Association (FA) Cup.

Beckham attracted national attention in August 1996 when he scored a goal from the halfway line (a feat roughly equivalent to a golfer’s hole in one). The following year Manchester United successfully defended its league title, and Beckham was voted Young Player of the Year. In the 1998–99 season Manchester United won the league title, the FA Cup, and the European Cup. Beckham was named the best midfielder and Most Valuable Player. Considered one of the sport’s elite players, he was perhaps best known for his free kicks and crosses; the 2002 film Bend It Like Beckham paid homage to his kicking ability.

After helping Manchester United win three more league titles (2000, 2001, and 2003), he left the team in 2003 to join the Spanish football club Real Madrid. Four years later he signed a record-setting deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the United States. In October 2008 Beckham signed to play with Italian football powerhouse AC Milan during the MLS off-season. In 2011, he helped the Galaxy win an MLS Cup title. The Galaxy won a second MLS Cup title in 2012, and Beckham left the team at the end of the season. In 2013, he joined the French first-league team Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), and PSG won the French domestic title in his one season with the team. Beckham retired from football soon after winning his championship with PSG.

In 1996 Beckham first played on England’s national team, in a World Cup qualifying match. At the 1998 World Cup he drew much criticism after he was ejected from a game for kicking an opponent. England lost the match and was eliminated from the competition. In 2000 Beckham was made captain of the national team. At the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, England was defeated in the quarterfinals. After the 2006 tournament, Beckham stepped down as captain, and he was later dropped from England’s national team. He was recalled to the team in 2007, and the following year he posted his 100th international appearance, becoming the fifth person to do so in the history of English football. Beckham was poised to be the first Englishman to appear in four World Cups, but he tore his Achilles tendon while playing for AC Milan in March 2010 and was ruled out for the 2010 tournament. A healthy but older Beckham was not selected for the English side at the 2012 European Championship, and he finished his national career with 115 international games played, the most in his country’s history for a non-goalkeeper.

On May 16, 2013 - just days after winning a title with French club Paris Saint-Germain - the 38-year-old Beckham announced that he would be retiring at the end of the 2013 season, ending his 21-year soccer career. By 2013, Beckham had become credited as England's wealthiest sportsman, reportedly earning more than $46 million annually. The following year Beckham announced plans - along with fellow investors - to expand the Major League Soccer franchise with a new team in Miami. He released an eponymous memoir in 2014.

Achievements

• 

  During his playing days, David Beckham became one of the most famous footballers in the world owing to his successful stints at some of the most famous clubs in the world and also for his skills as a midfielder that elevated him above the levels of many of his contemporaries. David was also an integral part of the supposed ‘Golden Generation’ of England national football team and captained the team for a major part of his career; however, the team did not taste the success that was expected of it. He has also been one of the biggest faces in the endorsement industry and has consistently been ranked among the richest footballers in the world throughout his career.

Works

More photos

• book

  • David Beckham: My Side: My Side - The Autobiography

    (David Beckham is one of the world's foremost media icons,...)

    2002
  • David Beckham - My World

    (Manchester United footballer David Beckham has been voted...)

    2001
  • Beckham, Both Feet on the Ground

    (Beckham is an intimate memoir from one of the most privat...)

    2003

Religion

Beckham’s maternal grandfather was Jewish, making him one-quarter Jewish. However, Beckham says that he’s half Jewish. He indicates that he relates quite a bit to Judaism, saying: "I’ve probably had more contact with Judaism than with any other religion. I used to wear the traditional Jewish skullcaps when I was younger, and I also went along to some Jewish weddings with my grandfather."

Beckham cites regularly going to church with his family as a child, but only because he wanted to play soccer for a church-related team. Beckham is nearly covered with Christian-themed tattoos, such as a rendering of Jesus sitting on a cross on his side, an angel on his back, and a cross with wings on his neck.

Politics

Beckham, though British, seems to more identify with the Democrat/liberal side of his adopted country of the United States. He has said that Obama is "amazing."

Beckham visited Afghanistan in May 2010 for a morale-boosting visit to British troops fighting the Taliban insurgency. The appearance of Beckham, as well as British Foreign Secretary William Hague and Defence Secretary Liam Fox, was believed to have prompted a Taliban attack on Kandahar airfield.

Views

Beckham has supported UNICEF since his days at Manchester United and in January 2005, the English national team captain became a Goodwill Ambassador with a special focus on UNICEF's Sports for Development program. In 2012, he met with UK Prime Minister David Cameron at 10 Downing Street to call for more action to help children affected by malnutrition around the world. In 2015, his tenth year as a UNICEF Ambassador, Beckham launched 7: The David Beckham UNICEF Fund to help protect children in danger. In June 2015, he visited Siem Reap in Cambodia, where he met with child victims of violence. Beckham has pledged his support for the Unite for Children, Unite Against AIDS campaign. He is a former patron of the Elton John AIDS Foundation. In 2013, he also donated all his £3.4 million salary taken from Paris Saint-Germain to two children's charities in France. Beckham has been supporting the charity named Help For Heroes for many years whose aim is to help soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghan wars.

Beckham is a founding member of the Malaria No More UK Leadership Council and helped launch the charity in 2009 with Andy Murray at Wembley Stadium. Beckham also appeared in a 2007 public service announcement for Malaria No More U.S, advertising the need for inexpensive bed nets. The TV spot aired in the United States on Fox Networks, including Fox Soccer Channel, and can also be seen on YouTube.

Since joining Major League Soccer, Beckham has been a very public advocate in the United States for related charities such as "MLS W.O.R.K.S." On 17 August 2007, he conducted a youth clinic in Harlem, along with other current and former MLS players. This was in advance of his first New York City area match the following day against the New York Red Bulls. That team's Jozy Altidore and Juan Pablo Ángel were also with Beckham, teaching skills to disadvantaged youth to benefit FC Harlem Lions.

Quotations: "Nothing amazes me anymore."

"As a footballer you always want to test yourself against the best."

"The spotlight will always be on me, but it's something I'm learning to live with as the years go by."

"Tom Cruise, he’s a lot more famous than me."

Membership

Beckham is a founding member of the Malaria No More UK Leadership Council.

• 

  Founding member

  Malaria No More UK Leadership Council

Personality

David Beckham suffers from ornithophobia, which is the fear of birds.

Strength: deadliest free kick taker; can put the ball wherever he wants

David has insured his legs for $70 million.

Although seemingly impossible, if Beckham was not successful in football, he says he would have become an artist. He enjoys drawing cartoons, and so David Beckham says, "I would go for an artist."

Physical Characteristics: Height - 5 ft 11 in (180.5 cm)

Weight - 74 kg (163 lbs)

Hair color - blonde

Eye color - hazel

Measurements:

Chest – 42 inches

Arms/biceps – 15 inches

Waist – 32 inches

Shoe size - 10-10.5 (US)

Beckham suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Due to that, he uses three different refrigerators for drinks, salads, and food respectively.

As of 2017, Beckham had more than 50 tattoos. There are names of his sons Romeo, Cruz and Brooklyn, and of his wife Victoria. His wife's name, tattooed on his left forearm, is in Sanskrit script because Beckham thought it would be "tacky" to have it in English. However, this was misspelled as the equivalent of "Vihctoria." In his autobiography David Beckham: My Side, he said that the idea of having tattoos came to him in 1999 after his son Brooklyn was born, following a conversation on the subject of tattoos with Mel B and her then-husband, Jimmy Gulzar. Beckham said: "When you see me, you see the tattoos. You see an expression of how I feel about Victoria and the boys. They're part of me." In 2018, Beckham added to his collection with a tattoo of a solar system covering the left side of his scalp.

Quotes from others about the person

• "He’s a normal, likable, straightforward boy." - Alex Ferguson
  
  "David impresses by his example on the field. He never stops running, he plays with supreme confidence, he always tries his hardest and he scores important goals." - Alex Ferguson
  
  "He's a winner. There's no doubt about that, and it's stating the obvious to say that he's a tremendous talent." - Kevin Keegan
  
  "He is such a great player that he has the capabilities to let no one affect his game." - Steve McClaren
  
  "He is a tremendous player, and he has contributed so much to the success of Manchester United. He is a world-class performer, so any team would want to accommodate him." - Zinedine Zidane
  
  "We've never had a pop-star footballer quite like David. People here simply can't get enough." - Alan Smith
  
  "In my opinion David Beckham is the one footballer of the modern generation who has done the game a great service. Football needs someone like him terribly badly, and providing he can keep a lid on his temper, he's the perfect frontman for the game." - Michael Parkinson
  
  "His football does not seem to suffer by all of this going on around him. You look at his passing, and he makes it look so simple. When he passes the ball, it always seems to go where he wants it to go. That sounds simple, but believe me, it is not." - Graham Taylor
  
  "It'll be interesting to see how he integrates socially into the team." - Landon Donovan
  
  "David is the most iconic of all footballers." - Simon Fuller
  
  "There's no doubt that he's the biggest sports star in the world now." - Nick Hornby
  
  "Whereas Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan are respected, Beckham is loved, adored, worshipped in some parts of the world. He has an almost godlike status." - Ellis Cashmore
  
  "Real Madrid now without David Beckham is unimaginable." - Ellis Cashmore
  
  "He is the best passer of a ball in the world, and Real’s style fits him." - Ryan Giggs
  
  "Signing players of Beckham's stature would be a wonderful step in the right direction not just for the Galaxy but for soccer in America." - Ryan Giggs

Interests

• Favorite movie: "Ratatouille"
  
  Beckham’s favorite meal is a traditional East London dish, pie and mash with a side of jellied eels.

• Politicians

  Barack Obama

• Writers

  To Kill A Mockingbird, novel by Harper Lee

• Artists

  Favorite Actor: Tom Cruise

• Sport & Clubs

  Soccer, Basketball, Hockey

• Athletes

  Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid

• Music & Bands

  U2, Bob Marley, Eminem, Jay-Z

Connections

In 1997, Beckham started dating Victoria Adams, after she attended a Manchester United match. She was famously known as "Posh Spice" of the pop music group Spice Girls, one of the world's top pop groups at the time, and his team was also enjoying a great run of success. Therefore, their relationship instantly attracted a great deal of media attention. The couple were dubbed "Posh and Becks" by the media. He proposed to her on 24 January 1998 in a restaurant in Cheshunt, England.

On 4 July 1999, they married at Luttrellstown Castle in Ireland. Beckham's teammate Gary Neville was the best man, and the couple's infant son, Brooklyn, was the ring bearer. The media were kept away from the ceremony, as the Beckhams had an exclusive deal with OK! Magazine, but newspapers were still able to obtain photographs showing them sitting on golden thrones. 437 staff were employed for the wedding reception, which was estimated to have cost £500,000.

David and Victoria Beckham have four children: sons Brooklyn Joseph (born 4 March 1999 at Portland Hospital, London), Romeo James (born 1 September 2002 at Portland Hospital, London), Cruz David (born 20 February 2005 at Ruber International Hospital, Madrid), and daughter Harper Seven (born 10 July 2011 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles). Elton John is godfather to Brooklyn and Romeo Beckham; their godmother is Elizabeth Hurley. Beckham's three sons have all played football in the Arsenal Academy. Like their father, Brooklyn and Romeo have both done modelling work and been named among GQ's best dressed British men. Brooklyn previously played football for Arsenal U16, but was released at the end of the 2014–15 season.

Father:

David Edward Alan Beckham

Former footballer and father of footballer David Beckham and his brother Harry Beckham.

Mother:

Sandra Georgina West

Sandra Georgina West married David Edward Alan Beckham in Hackney, Greater London, England, United Kingdom.

Spouse:

Victoria Beckham

(née Adams; born 17 April 1974)

Victoria Beckham is an English businesswoman, fashion designer and singer. In the late 1990s, Beckham rose to fame with the all-female pop group Spice Girls, and was dubbed Posh Spice by the July 1996 issue of the British music magazine Top of the Pops. After the Spice Girls split, she was signed to Virgin Records and Telstar Records and had four UK Top 10 singles. Her first release, "Out of Your Mind," reached number 2 in the United Kingdom Singles Chart.

Sister:

Lynne Georgina Beckham

Sister:

Joanne Louise Beckham

Joanne Beckham is a former hairdresser, an entrepreneur, and the younger sister of former English footballer David Beckham. She is the CEO of a concierge service provider named 'WeAreYourCity.' Joanne started this company in collaboration with former 'Notts County' footballer Jay Smith. The company provides luxury management services to celebrities and entrepreneurs. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Joanne worked as a hairstylist. She dated reality-show star Kris Donnelly, and they have a daughter. Joanne and Kris broke up six months after their daughter was born.

Son:

Brooklyn Beckham

(born 4 March 1999)

Brooklyn Beckham is an English model and photographer. He is the oldest son of former English footballer David Beckham and English singer-turned-fashion designer Victoria Beckham.

Son:

Romeo James Beckham

Romeo James Beckham is the son of soccer star David Beckham and former pop artist Victoria Beckham.

Son:

Cruz David Beckham

(born February 20, 2005, Ruber International Hospital, Madrid, Spain)

Daughter:

Harper Seven Beckham

(born July 10, 2011, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, United States)

Friend:

Gary Neville

(born 18 February 1975)

Gary Neville is an English football coach, retired football player, and co-owner of Salford City. After retiring from football in 2011, Neville went into punditry and was a commentator for Sky Sports until he took over the head coach position at Valencia in 2015. After being sacked by the club in 2016, he returned to his position as a pundit for Sky Sports later that year. He was also an assistant manager for the England national team from 2012 to 2016.

Friend:

Tom Cruise

(born July 3, 1962)

Tom Cruise is an American actor and film producer. He has received several accolades for his work, including three Golden Globe Awards and nominations for three Academy Awards.

David was among the guests at Tom Cruise's and Katie Holmes' wedding ceremony in Italy. Due to his friendship with David Beckham, he became a supporter of the Spanish soccer club Real Madrid.

Friend:

Katie Holmes

(born December 18, 1978)

Katie Holmes is an American actress, producer, and director. David was among the guests at Tom Cruise's and Katie Holmes' wedding ceremony in Italy.

Friend:

Elton John

(born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947)

Elton John is an English singer, songwriter, pianist, and composer. He has worked with lyricist Bernie Taupin since 1967; they have collaborated on more than 30 albums. Elton is the Godfather David Beckham and Victoria Beckham's sons Brooklyn and Romeo.

Friend:

David Furnish

Godfather of Brooklyn Beckham along with his partner Elton John.

Friend:

Elizabeth Hurley

(born 10 June 1965)

Elizabeth Hurley is an English businesswoman, actress, and model. She has been associated with the cosmetics company Estée Lauder since the company gave Hurley her first modelling job at the age of 29. Godmother of Victoria Beckham and David Beckham's sons Brooklyn and Romeo.

Friend:

George Clooney

(born May 6, 1961)

George Clooney is an American actor, director, producer, and filmmaker. Friends were first introduced by designer Giorgio Armani at 2008's Met Ball Gala. Today, Clooney graciously allows Beckham and the family to stay in his Lake Como home whenever it's available.

References

• Managing My Life: My Autobiography
• David Beckham
• GQ UK OCTOBER 2019 DAVID BECKHAM COVER
• David Beckham: Made in Manchester. An Unofficial Photographic Record
• GQ Magazine, March 2016 BRITISH EDITION David Beckham cover
• David Beckham: Gifted and Giving Soccer Star
• David Beckham: Soccer's Superstar