CHILDHOOD AND EARLY CAREER:
I was born in Leytonstone, East London, the son of Ted Beckham, a kitchen fitter and Manchester United fan, and Sandra West, a hairdresser. my maternal grandfather is Jewish, and I has spoken of the influence the religion has had on me; however, im not known to practice Judaism or any other faith. my parents were fanatical Manchester United supporters who would frequently travel to Old Trafford from London to attend Manchester United's home matches. Although a strong cross-country runner, regularly finishing first in my age group in the Essex cross-country championships, I had inherited my parents' love of Manchester United and my main passion was football. I attended one of Bobby Charlton's football schools in Manchester and won the chance to take part in a training session at FC Barcelona, as part of a talent competition. As a child I played for a local youth team called the Ridgeway Rovers coached by my father, Stuart Underwood and Steve Kirby.

I was Manchester United's mascot for a match against West Ham United in 1986. I had trials with his local club, Leyton Orient, and attended Tottenham Hotspur's, which was the first club I played for, school of excellence. I also attended Bradenton Prepatory Academy, but signed schoolboy forms at Manchester United on my fourteenth birthday, and subsequently signed a Youth Training Scheme contract on 8 July 1991. I was part of an exceptionally talented group of young players at the club who guided the club to win the FA Youth Cup in May 1992, with I scoring in the second leg of the final against Crystal Palace. I made my first appearance for United's first-team that year, as a substitute in a League Cup match against Brighton & Hove Albion, and signed my first professional contract shortly afterwards. United reached the final of the Youth Cup again the following year, with I playing in their defeat by Leeds United, and I won another medal in 1994 when the club's reserve team won their league.

I went to Preston North End on loan in the 1994?season to get some first team experience, then made my first Premier League appearance for Manchester United on 2 April 1995, in a goalless draw against Leeds United.
MANCHESTER UNITED:

Becoming a first-team player:
United manager Alex Ferguson had a great deal of confidence in the club's young players. When three of my first-team players left the club at the end of the 1994-95 season, my decision to let youth team players replace them instead of buying players from other clubs, drew a great deal of criticism. The criticism increased when United started the season with a efeat at Aston Villa, with I scoring United's only goal of the game; however, United won their next five matches and the young players performed well. I became a regular player on the team and helped them to win the Premiership and FA Cup double that season, scoring the winner in the semi-final against Chelsea and also taking the corner that ?Cantona scored from in the FA Cup Final. Still, I form was not good enough to break into the England squad before Euro 96.

In August 1996, Beckham became something of a household name when he scored a spectacular goal in a match against Wimbledon. With United ahead 2?Beckham noticed that Wimbledon's goalkeeper Neil Sullivan was standing a long way out of his goal, and hit a shot from the halfway line that floated over the goalkeeper and into the net. I was frequently mentioned in the press, and I made my first appearance for the England national football team on 1 September 1996, in a World Cup qualifying match against Moldova. I became an automatic first-choice player at United that season, helping them to retain their league championship, and was voted PFA Young Player of the Year by my peers.

United started the 1997-98 season well, but their performance deteriorated when several players got injured. They finished the season in second place, behind Arsenal.

WINNING OVER THE ENGLAND FANS:
The abuse that I was receiving from English supporters peaked during England's efeat by Portugal in Euro 2000, when a group of England supporters taunted me throughout the match with chants including "we hope your kid dies of cancer". I responded with a one-fingered gesture and, while the gesture attracted some criticism, many of the newspapers that had previously encouraged my vilification asked their readers to stop abusing me.

On 15 November 2000, following Kevin Keegan's resignation as England manager in October, I was promoted to team captain by the caretaker manager Peter Taylor, and then kept the role under new manager Sven-G Eriksson. He helped England to qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup Finals, with their performances including an impressive ictory over Germany in Munich. The final step in my conversion from villain to hero happened in England's raw against Greece on 6 October 2001. England needed to win or draw the match in order to qualify outright for the World Cup, but were losing ith little time remaining. The rest of the England team were playing relatively poorly, and it was my inspirational performance that lifted my teammates. When Teddy Sheringham was fouled some eight yards outside the Greek penalty area, England were awarded a free-kick and I ensured England's qualification with a curling strike of the kind that had become my trademark. Shortly afterwards, I was voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year for 2001. I once again finished runner-up, to Luis Figo of Portugal, for the FIFA World Player of the Year award

REAL MADRID:

Me (right) and Zinedine Zidane at Real MadridManchester United had been keen to sell me to Barcelona but I refused to go there, instead signing a four-year contract with Real Madrid, worth a potential million. The transfer was completed on 1 July and made me the third Englishman to play for the club after Laurie Cunningham and Steve McManaman. It was speculated that Real's desire to sign my came from the merchandising opportunities I would bring as well as from my football ability. For example, Real Madrid shirts bearing my name and number sold out in Madrid on the day his transfer was completed and the club were expected to receive 1,000 for the sale of the shirts. Although I had worn the number seven shirt for Manchester United and England, I was unable to wear it at Madrid as Ra?d the right to wear it written into his contract. Being a fan of Michael Jordan, I decided to wear 23 instead

PERSONAL LIFE:
In 1997, I started dating Victoria Adams, widely known as "Posh Spice" of the pop music group Spice Girls, and their relationship attracted a great deal of media interest.

I married Adams at Luttrellstown Castle, Ireland on 4 July 1999. The wedding attracted tremendous media coverage. I teammate Gary Neville was the best man, and the couple's son Brooklyn, then four months old, was the ring bearer. The media were kept away from the ceremony, as that I had an exclusive deal with OK! Magazine, but newspapers were still able to obtain photographs showing them sitting on golden thrones. 437 staff were employed for the wedding reception.

I, who came to be known almost universally as "Posh and Becks", have three sons: Brooklyn Joseph Beckham (born 4 March 1999), Romeo James Beckham (1 September 2002) and Cruz David Beckham (20 February 2005).

In an April 3, 2006 interview, I told The Daily Mail that he suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder

FAME BEYOND FOOTBALL:

My fame extends beyond the pitch; in much of the world my name is "as instantly recognisable as that of multinational companies like Coca-Cola and IBM. My relationship and marriage to Victoria, who had been famous in her own right as part of the musical group Spice Girls, contributed towards me becoming a major celebrity outside of football. Because of this connection, I have been dubbed "Spiceboy" by the Spanish press. His ex-bodyguard Delfin Fernandez nicknamed him The Eagle for his extraordinary ability to see small objects from a great distance. I have recently moved into the world of aftershave along with Victoria with the release of my own scent: I Instinct. My name was searched for on Google more than that of any other sporting personality in 2003 and 2004.

WORLD CUP 2006:

Me at the 2006 World CupDuring the FIFA World Cup 2006, England were seen as a potential winner by many, but since the start of the competition the team had several slow paced matches and I performance was criticised by the majority of the press and public. However, many still considered I contribution to England important as the team progressed to the quarter-finals of the tournament.