cc•
A Londoner, Beckham supported Manchester United as a boy and joined the
club at 14, winning the FA Youth Cup and making his first-team debut in
1992.
• Developed into an industrious, technically gifted right-sided midfielder, winning the Premier League/FA Cup double in 1996 and adding the UEFA Champions League to those two trophies in the club's famous treble-winning season of 1998/99.
• Won his first cap for England in September 1996 versus Moldova but was sent off at his first major tournament – against Argentina at the 1998 FIFA World Cup.
• Struck a winning penalty against the same opponents in the 2002 tournament, after scoring a crucial added-time free-kick against Greece in the final qualifier, but was less successful, as skipper, at UEFA EURO 2004 and the 2006 World Cup, after which he resigned the captaincy.
• Left United for Madrid in 2003 after winning his sixth Premier League title with the club; four years at the Santiago Bernabéu yielded just one major honour – the 2006/07 Spanish championship in his final season, under Fabio Capello, during which he announced his forthcoming departure for Major League Soccer and a lucrative deal with LA Galaxy.
• Returned from the United States for loan spells at Milan while remaining a member of Capello's England squad. He overtook Bobby Moore to become his country's most capped outfield player when he made his 109th international appearance in a 4-0 friendly win against Slovakia in March 2009.
• A torn left Achilles tendon sustained while playing for Milan on 14 March 2010 destroyed his hopes of competing on the world stage again, in South Africa, but he remains the only England player to have scored in three World Cups.
• Helped LA Galaxy retain the MLS Cup in his final appearance for the club in December 2012 and, after much deliberation, signed a five-month deal with PSG on the final day of the transfer window the following month.
• Developed into an industrious, technically gifted right-sided midfielder, winning the Premier League/FA Cup double in 1996 and adding the UEFA Champions League to those two trophies in the club's famous treble-winning season of 1998/99.
• Won his first cap for England in September 1996 versus Moldova but was sent off at his first major tournament – against Argentina at the 1998 FIFA World Cup.
• Struck a winning penalty against the same opponents in the 2002 tournament, after scoring a crucial added-time free-kick against Greece in the final qualifier, but was less successful, as skipper, at UEFA EURO 2004 and the 2006 World Cup, after which he resigned the captaincy.
• Left United for Madrid in 2003 after winning his sixth Premier League title with the club; four years at the Santiago Bernabéu yielded just one major honour – the 2006/07 Spanish championship in his final season, under Fabio Capello, during which he announced his forthcoming departure for Major League Soccer and a lucrative deal with LA Galaxy.
• Returned from the United States for loan spells at Milan while remaining a member of Capello's England squad. He overtook Bobby Moore to become his country's most capped outfield player when he made his 109th international appearance in a 4-0 friendly win against Slovakia in March 2009.
• A torn left Achilles tendon sustained while playing for Milan on 14 March 2010 destroyed his hopes of competing on the world stage again, in South Africa, but he remains the only England player to have scored in three World Cups.
• Helped LA Galaxy retain the MLS Cup in his final appearance for the club in December 2012 and, after much deliberation, signed a five-month deal with PSG on the final day of the transfer window the following month.
