David Beckham who has been an inspiration for many youngsters have played in teams like Manchester United, Real Madrid, PSG and La Galaxy during his career. Let’s have a look at some of the unknown facts to known him better both as a player and a person.
· His full name is David Robert Joseph Beckham and was born on 2nd May 1975 in London England
· At the age of 11, he won the coveted Bobby Charlton Soccer Schools National Skills competition. The win earned Beckham a trip to Barcelona, where he drew the attention of a Manchester United soccer talent scout.
· At the age of 16, he left school and joined Manchester United. At 18 he made his debut for Manchester United senior team and soon made a reputation for his ability to execute free kicks and score goals, oftentimes in sensational fashion or at critical moments of the game.
· In 1997 Beckham was voted the Young Player of the Year and finished second in voting for the overall Player of the Year award.
· Being in top form he was called in for the World Cup 1998 by England and along with that, he signed a long team contract for Manchester United
· Beckham's life on and off the field have inspired so much curiosity in England that Staffordshire University began offering a twelve-week course on Beckham and the sociological implication of his career. The course is founded on the presupposition that Beckham's 1998 World Cup mishap defined an era in England similar to the way the assassination of John F. Kennedy did in the United States.
· Beckham reached super fame when he began dating Victoria "Posh Spice" Adams in 1997. The couple became tabloid royalty and were often seen out wearing matching designer outfits.
· The wedding of "Posh and Becks" two years later garnered breathless international coverage. The day-long gala reportedly cost $800,000. Adams wore a diamond-encrusted crown, and Beckham wore an ivory suit. Beckham and Adams appeared at the end of the affair in matching purple outfits.
· The couple sold the pictures of their wedding to OK! magazine for $2.2 million.
· In 1999, David and Victoria Beckham purchased their most famous home in Hertfordshire, unofficially dubbed Buckingham Palace estimated to be worth £7.5 million.
· He has a movie named after him. In 2002, a film based on Beckham's world-renowned football skills, 'Bend it like Beckham' was released. Beckham and his wife had wanted to make a cameo appearance in the film, but due to scheduling conflicts, they were unable to.
·In 2003, David joined real Madrid for 40 million dollars but due to injuries he didn’t hit the same heights as he did in United
· David Beckham was searched for more than any other sports topic on Google in 2003 and 2004.
· In 2003 he signed a $160 million lifetime contract with Adidas, earning nearly half the money upfront and will continue to earn percentages of profits on all of his branded Adidas products. He had 10-year collaboration with Pepsi Co. that expired in 2009.
· In April 2004, the British tabloid News of the World carried claims by Beckham's former personal assistant Rebecca Loos that he and Loos had an extramarital affair. A week later, the Malaysian-born Australian model Sarah Marbeck claimed that she had slept with Beckham on two occasions. Beckham dismissed both accusations as "ludicrous".
· Four years later, David Beckham and his family moved to Los Angeles after he signed an enormous five year $250 million contracts to play for the LA Galaxy of the MLS. But his injuries subsisted and he missed quite a few games with the Galaxy at the start of his contract.
· David and Victoria purchased a home in Beverly Hills for $22 million. Their neighbours include Jay Leno and Tom Cruise. Within 48 hours of David Beckham signing with the team, the Galaxy sold more than 5,000 season tickets.
· Tom Cruise hosted a "Welcome to L.A." party for the couple after Beckham joined the Galaxy in 2007. By the time he was healed and ready to play, it seemed like it was already too late. Despite scoring a goal and assisting his American teammate Landon Donovan, the Galaxy failed to qualify for the end of season playoffs.
· David Beckham surprised his wife Victoria with an outrageous gift, her own winery in Napa. Both the lovebirds have a passion for wine and Beckham was more than happy to pay a significant amount for the gift. The winery is only open to close friends and family.
· Beckham's time at Manchester United ended in a horrible way when he was hit in the head with a shoe that manager Alex Ferguson had kicked in anger. Beckham left Old Trafford shortly after.
· He suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Everything has to be strictly organized and, if possible, in pairs. Beckham makes a cameo appearance with Zinedine Zidane and Raúl, in the 2005 film Goal!: The Dream Begins. Beckham himself appears in the sequel Goal! 2: Living the Dream.
· 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.
· On 17 January 2007, Rebecca Johnstone, a 19-year-old cancer patient from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, received a surprise phone call from Beckham. After the conversation, he sent her a Real Madrid jersey with his signature on it. Rebecca died on 29 January 2007.
· Beckham's 115 appearances for England are the most for a player other a goalkeeper, and he was captain of the Three Lions from 2001-06.
· Beckham is consistently ranked among the sport's highest earners, in 2013 he was listed as the best-paid player in the world, earning over $50 million in the previous 12 months.
· Beckham's many H&M underwear ads have proven to be hit wonders, with some hitting millions of views in just one week. One of the ads is directed by Guy Ritchie and shows Beckham running around Beverly Hills clad only in underwear. Due to some scheduling conflicts, Beckham was not able to shoot all the scenes and a body double was used. Beckham enjoyed working on this ad, stating, "We wanted to make something different from the usual body wear commercial and have a bit of fun with it."
· As part of Beckham's marketing campaign with H&M, six 10-foot statues of the soccer star in his underwear were installed in New York City; others were installed in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
· He has his own fragrance called Homme by David Beckham.
· No matter what Beckham is doing, the press is sure to follow. On his first day of training with the Paris Saint-Germain in 2013, approximately 150 reporters were there to watch his important, albeit boring, training session. In the 50-minute the session, Beckham entertained them with some jogging and stretching.
· By 2013, Beckham had become credited as England's wealthiest sportsman, reportedly earning more than $46 million annually.
· In February 2014, MLS announced Beckham and a group of investors would own an expansion team in Miami, which would begin play in 2016 or 2017. Some other endorsements include Armani, Diet Coke, Burger King and Samsung, which in 2012 earned him $27.7 million.
· David Beckham's net worth is $350 million.
