This week’s human interest topic will be the one and only David Beckham. Now, I myself don’t follow soccer too closely but I couldn’t ignore the latest news as to his career. Even for those how have never watched a soccer game in their life this is a house hold name. He has been in countless commercials and made cameos on shows such as The Simpsons and Sesame Street. After a career of two entire decades this pro athlete super star announced this morning (5/16/13) that he would be hanging up his cleats. So due to the retirement announcement by this legendary soccer player, it might be appropriate to take a look back and remember his superb feats and accomplishments.
David Beckham has a total of nearly 800 games, 10 league championships and participation in three World Cups. According to his Wikipedia page Beckham's professional career began with Manchester United, making his first-team debut in 1992 aged 17. With United, Beckham won the Premier League title six times, the FA Cup twice and the UEFA Champions League in 1999. He then played four seasons with Real Madrid, winning the La Liga championship in his final season with the club. In July 2007 Beckham signed a five-year contract with Major League Soccer club Los Angeles Galaxy. In international football, Beckham made his England debut on 1 September 1996, at the age of 21. He was captain for six years, during which he played 58 times. Beckham has twice been runner-up for FIFA World Player of the Year and in 2004 was the world's highest-paid soccer player. When joining the MLS in 2007 he was given the highest player salary in the league's history of 6.5 million dollars per year.
He is married to Victoria Beckham and they have four children. Victoria was famously known as "Posh Spice" of the pop music group Spice Girls. Therefore, their relationship instantly attracted a great deal of media attention. David proposed to her on 24 January 1998 in a restaurant in Cheshunt, England. In 2009, the couple's joint wealth was estimated at 125 million dollars. In April 2007, the family purchased their current main residence, an Italian villa in Beverly Hills, to coincide with Beckham's transfer to the Galaxy that July. The mansion, priced at $22 million, is near the homes of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, and talk-show host Jay Leno, in an exclusive gated community in the hills overlooking the city. The family also owned a home in Dubai.
Though he is retiring according to his Yahoo.com profile Beckham may be as busy in retirement as he was as a player. He has already agreed to a lucrative deal to become an ambassador for Chinese soccer, as that nation seeks to increase its soccer profile, and it is likely he will also perform a similar role for the Qatar group that owns PSG and several other worldwide soccer properties. His brand is so powerful that it is sometimes easy to forget that for a period towards the end of the last millennium and into the new one, Beckham truly was one of the best in the world.
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