David BeckhamDavid Robert Joseph Beckham OBE (born 2 May 1975) is an English footballer born in Leytonstone, London. He is a midfielder for Real Madrid and captain of the English national team. He is known for the quality of his crosses and ability to hit free kicks and corners, particularly long range free kicks and also for his marriage to a Spice Girl. He played most of his career for Manchester United. Although there are many top players in world football currently, none are as famous. Manchester United 1995-2003 Beckham first signed a YTS (youth training programme) contract (similar to an apprenticeship) with United in 1991, and made his league debut in 1995, aged 19. The following year he helped the team win the Premiership and FA Cup and dominate domestic football. In the 1998-99 season, he was part of the United team that won the "treble" - Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League, an unprecedented feat in English football, which earned the club's manager a knighthood, Alex Ferguson. In total, Beckham scored 86 goals in 397 games for Manchester United, a rate of around 2 goals every 9 games, highly commendable for a midfielder. Real Madrid career 2003 to present On 17 June 2003, Beckham signed a four-year contract with Spain's Real Madrid, potentially worth up to €35 million (£25 million, $41 million). Plus 2. As well as benefiting from his footballing skills, this transfer offers the Spanish club the opportunity to profit from merchandising, especially in the Far East, where Beckham is enormously popular, and Manchester United have so far had the lion's share of the interest. It is probably no coincidence that Beckham was transferred shortly before Real began a tour of the Far East, but it would be very unfair to say that his marketing potential alone was the sole reason for his transfer. At the time of the announcement of his move to Real Madrid, Beckham and his wife (Victoria) were on a week-long tour of Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand to promote beauty products, chocolate, motor oil and mobile phones, which is It was reported that they would earn more than the entire first year of his contract with Real Madrid. (Western journalists are barred from Japanese "press conferences" organized by his sponsors because of the embarrassment they would cause him in the West.) He successfully completed the transfer on 1 July and was presented with shirt number 23 in July. 2.