In football or soccer, there have been many names that are considered to be stars and Hall-of-Famers, and one of the most iconic football stars in recent memory is David Beckham. This famous former football player is known not only for his good looks but also for his great skills in playing the said sport, which include his crossing ability, his range of passing, and bending free-kicks.
David Beckham is regarded by many as one of the greatest midfielders in football, as his skills for his position allowed him to lead his team to numerous major trophies. In fact, Beckham is the first English player to win league titles in four different countries, namely England, the United States, France, and Spain. While many people know about the biggest moments in David Beckham’s career, only a few of them know about the star’s beginnings and early career as a footballer. To know more about this iconic football star and celebrity, here are details about the life of pop culture phenomenon David Beckham.
The Early Life of David Beckham
David Beckham, whose full name is David Robert Joseph Beckham, was born on May 2, 1975, at the Whipps Cross University Hospital, which is located in Leytonstone, London. Beckham is the son of Ted Beckham, a kitchen fitter, and Sandra Georgina, a hairdresser. David Beckham has an older sister named Lynne Georgina, as well as a younger sister named Joanna Louise.
Beckham attended the Chingford County High School in Ridgeway Park, Chingford. According to Beckham, when he was asked by his teacher what he wanted to do when he grew up, he would always say that he wanted to be a footballer.
He found his passion for football when he was attending church every week with his parents, as children of churchgoers would frequently play football near the church. In addition, Beckham’s parents were also huge Manchester United fans that would frequently travel about 320 kilometers just to attend home games of the said football club.
To hone his skills in football, he attended the legendary Sir Robert Charlton’s Soccer Schools in Manchester and had a chance to be a member of the trainees that had a training session with Futbol Club Barcelona. His first official youth team was the Ridgeway Rovers, which was coached by Steve Kirby, Stuart Underwood, and Beckham’s father. He would later work as the Manchester United Mascot for a match of the football club against West Ham United in 1986.
The young David Beckham would also receive training from Tottenham Hotspur’s school of excellence, as well as trials with the local clubs Leyton Orient and Norwich City. He would later play for the Brimsdown Rovers’ youth team for two years, and during that stint, he would be awarded the Under-15 Player of the Year in 1990.
He would then attend Bradenton Preparatory Academy, although he had already signed schoolboy forms at Manchester United when he turned 14. Beckham would sign a Youth Training Scheme contract on July 8, 1991, but he was not selected to become a member of the England Schoolboys team because of his small size and his unpolished skills.
Early Years at Manchester United
When he became a trainee for Manchester United, he was a part of a group of young players that would later become icons in various leagues, and these players include Ryan Giggs, Phil Neville, Paul Scholes, and Nicky Butt. The youth team was coached by Eric Harrison and would go on to win the FA Youth Cup in May 1992. Shortly after the said tournament, David Beckham would become a professional for Manchester United on January 23, 1993.
Career as a Football Player
Beckham officially started his professional career in 1993 with Manchester United, where he would stay as the midfielder until 2003. With the said football club, he was able to win the Premier League six times, the FA Cup twice, and a UEFA Champion League trophy in 1999. He would then sign a contract with Real Madrid, where he would play from 2003 to 2007. In Beckham’s final season for Real Madrid, he would win the La Liga championship.
David Beckham would then move to the United States and sign a contract with LA Galaxy, a football club within Major League Soccer. While he was playing for LA Galaxy, he spent two loan spells to become a player for AC Milan in Italy in 2009 and 2010. He would later play for Paris Saint-Germain in 2013 before officially retiring in the same year.
Achievements of David Beckham
As for Beckham’s solo achievements, he was the first British football player to play 100 UEFA Champions League games, and he was also one of the few to win at least 19 trophies in major leagues. He was a runner-up for the prestigious Ballon d’Or in 1999, and he was also a runner-up for the FIFA World Player of the Year in 1999 and 2001. One of the greatest football players of all time, Pelé, named Beckham a member of the FIFA 100 list of the world’s greatest living football players.
Because of his great achievements in the world of football, Beckham is considered to be a British cultural icon. Beckham would be inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2008, and he would also become a Hall-of-Famer in the Premier League Hall of Fame in 2021. Besides being a football player, he would also become a majority owner of a football club called Inter Miami CF, where he is also the current president (as of 2022).
Since 2005, Beckham has been an ambassador for UNICEF UK, and in 2015, he launched “7: The David Beckham UNICEF Fund,” which aims to protect children in danger. His charities weren’t only done within UNICEF as he has also donated 100% of his salary from Paris Saint-Germain to two children’s charities in France. Beckham has also been an avid supporter of another charity called Help For Heroes, which is focused on providing aid to soldiers that were injured during the Afghan and Iraq wars.