Soccer star David Beckham has played for Manchester United, England, Real Madrid and the L.A. Galaxy. He is married to Victoria Beckham, also known as Posh from the Spice Girls.
A phenom almost from the moment he could first kick a soccer ball, David Beckham began playing for Manchester United, England’s legendary soccer team, at age 18, and was a starter by age 20. In 2007, he signed a five-year, $250 million contract with the L.A. Galaxy. In May 2013, he announced plans to retire.
Beckham wasted little time in making a splash on the English soccer landscape. The talented goal scorer was named the Professional Footballers’ Association Young Player of the Year in 1997. A year later, he was one of the leading faces of England’s World Cup team. In 1998, Beckham, who’d already signed a deal with Adidas, netted $13 million in endorsement deals.
In 1999, he led Manchester United to the Premier League title, the FA Cup championship and the Champions League title. Thanks to a last-minute free kick against Greece in 2001, England qualified for the 2002 World Cup. That same year, Beckham signed a three-year $22 million contract to remain with Manchester United.
But Beckham’s time with United proved to be shorter than anyone thought. In 2003, he was acquired by Real Madrid in a stunner of a deal that brought to light Beckham’s growing rift with Manchester’s manager, Sir Alex Ferguson.
Spanish soccer fans were thrilled to have their archrival join their team. Americans, meanwhile, were just getting to know him with the release of the movie, Bend It Like Beckham (2002), a movie that tells the story of a young girl who bucks her family’s traditional ways and falls in love with English soccer.
Credit : Biography
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