Born on May 2, 1975, David Robert Joseph
Beckham is an English soccer player who plays for
Real Madrid and the England National Soccer Team. He
made his debut at he age of seventeen. He signed up
with Manchester United and played a vital role in
dominating the FA Premier League in the 1990s and
200s. He left them and signed up for Real Madrid in
2003. He was the captain of the English national
team for six years, from November 2000 to July 2006.
David Beckham was born in London, England. His
father, David Edward Alan Ted Beckham was a kitchen
fitter and a hairdresser. Beckham's maternal
grandfather was a Jew and was greatly influenced by
him, but he admitted that he doesn't follow any
faith in particular. His father was a great fan of
Manchester United and his son inherited this
passion. David Beckham's talent surfaced when he won
a talent search competition held by the FC
Barcelona. He was a team member of the Ridgeway
Rovers, a team that was coached by his father. He
played for the club Tottenham Hotspur, which was
also his first club. He took training from the
Bradenton Preparatory Academy and Manchester
United's Youth Training Scheme.
In 1992, he played for the Manchester United's team
as a substitute. After that, he signed his very
first professional contract. Beckham became a
household name when he scored a marvelous goal in
August 1996, against Wimbledon. His debut in World
Cup was on September 1, 1996 in the England vs.
Moldova match. PPA Young voted him as the Player of
the Year in that year. In the 1998 FIFA World Cup,
he played all the matches and in the finals his team
played with France. Due to his bad performance in
it, the media and supporters, who blamed him for
England's elimination, accused him. He even received
death threats and the whole incident was the story
line of his Adidas advertisement.
England won the FA Cup and Champions League in the
1998-99 seasons and David Beckham was a part of that
United Team. Although he was criticized from time to
time, about his World Cup performance, he didn't
give up and provided significant performance and
goals afterwards. United forgave him when he was the
reason behind the victory at the league
championship. In 1999, he won the European
Footballer of the Year award and FIFA World Player
of the Year title. But England's defeat in Euro 2000
brought back the criticism from the supporters.
Union team's manager Kevin Keegan resigned on
November 15, 2000, following which David Beckham was
made the captain of the team. Under his captaincy,
England qualified for the FIFA World Cup finals. His
superb performance in the finals inspired many of
the poor performing team member. He again won the
FIFA World Player of the Year award and BBC
presented him the Sports Personality of the Year, in
2001.
Beckham broke his second metatarsal bone in his left
foot on April 10, 2002. The media speculated that
the injury was done on purpose as it involved Aldo
Duscher of Argentina who was in the opponents team
and both the teams were going to face each other in
the World Cup.
He became the highest paid player in the world in
2002, when he signed a 3-year contract with
Manchester United in May. He was given extra money
to buy rights for his images. Advertisements,
endorsement deals were meant huge money for Beckham.
After the recovery from the injury, David Beckham
returned to play at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He got
a winning goal, which knocked out Argentina. Later
England was knocked out by Brazil. He was a victim
to another injury in 2002-03 seasons and he was
unable to play in the Manchester Team. His terms
worsened with the manager Sir Alex Ferguson when he
threw a boot at Beckham which injured his eye,
following a lost match.
Beckham's performance was again criticized in the
2006 FIFA World Cup. England lost in the
quarterfinals and Beckham step down from captaincy.
His final match was with Real Madrid on June 17th,
2007.
In his career of eleven years, he made a total of
two hundred and sixty six appearances and got
sixty-one goals. He has six Premiership titles, one
UEFA Champions League, two FA Cups, and one FA Youth
Cup to his credit.
