Soccer Legends - David Beckham

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.