David Beckham at 50: A life of football, fame, and success

When David Beckham made his debut with Manchester United on September 23, 1992, luck wasn’t on his side. The soccer team delivered a lackluster performance and only managed a draw. Although his 18-minute appearance was deemed acceptable by the press at the time, it gave little indication of the legendary career that lay ahead. Now turning 50 on Friday, May 2, the once-humble boy from London has become a true sporting icon — an enduring figure whose popularity and media presence have remained remarkably constant for decades.

Twelve years after retiring from professional soccer, Beckham has stayed connected to the sport while successfully expanding into business and media. He’s now preparing to take on a new role as a television presenter. As he recently announced on Instagram, his new show, Beckham and Friends, will premiere on May 6 on the U.S. network Paramount+. The show promises a relaxed, informal setting in which Beckham is joined by guests from the world of film, food, and football to watch and chat about the latest Champions League matches.

“I love watching the game. And I like watching the game in a certain way, most of the time it is even with my kids or my friends,” he said while promoting the show. “So it’s going to be that kind of thing where I’m sitting there, watching the game, commenting about the game with friends, talking about the game and sometimes not talking about the game.”

The first episode of Beckham and Friends — available exclusively in the U.S. and U.K. — will coincide with the Champions League semi-final between Inter Milan and Barcelona, followed the next day by PSG vs. Arsenal. In just a few days, Beckham will have the chance to show whether his presenting skills match his prowess on the field — or his savvy as an entrepreneur. Because beyond soccer, Beckham is a money-making machine and the face of his most profitable venture: his personal brand.

The footballer who became a celebrity

According to a Guardian article published in December, David Beckham is set to receive £28 million in dividends from his personal brand in 2024 — around $33 million. The report also notes that in 2022, Beckham sold a 55% stake in his business to Authentic Brands Group, the U.S. firm that manages the image rights of icons like Muhammad Ali and Elvis Presley. Beckham’s legacy isn’t limited to the soccer field; his name sparked a fan phenomenon that transcended sport and has yet to be matched.

The fashion world quickly embraced the Beckham craze, drawing in fans who had never even watched a soccer match. In fact, a significant share of his current advertising revenue still comes from fashion campaigns, such recent collaborations with major brands like Adidas and Boss.

Of course, his path to near-global stardom wasn’t without hardship. One of the darkest moments of his career came during the 1998 World Cup, when he was sent off in the quarterfinal against Argentina, leaving England a man down. The team was ultimately eliminated in a penalty shootout, and Beckham became the scapegoat for many angry fans.

In Beckham, the Netflix documentary series released in 2023, his wife, Victoria Beckham, revealed that he was “clinically depressed” in the aftermath. Speaking with Prince William in 2020 about mental health, Beckham also reflected on that difficult time: “I made a mistake in 1998, and the reaction was quite brutal […] I had a support system in Manchester United and the manager and obviously family, but did I feel at the time it was OK to [go to] someone and say ‘I need help’? I would say ‘no.’ It was a different era, and I just felt I had to keep it all in and deal with it myself. Now I’m the one preaching to my kids and to other kids that it’s really important to talk.”

Off the pitch, Beckham’s personal life became just as much a topic of conversation as his football career. His relationship with Victoria—whom he began dating in 1997, at the height of the Spice Girls’ global fame — immediately captured the attention of the British tabloids, notorious for their relentless and invasive coverage. His face began to dominate both sports pages and gossip magazines, and the line between celebrity and athlete quickly blurred. Even his manager at Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson, suggested the media frenzy was affecting his game. “He was never a problem until he got married,” Ferguson once remarked.

His parents’ divorce and, in 2002, a police investigation into an alleged kidnapping plot involving Victoria and their two children increased the pressure on Beckham to unprecedented levels.

In July 2003, he left the U.K. to start a new chapter with Real Madrid. According to a report published at the time in the Spanish outlet AS, one million Beckham jerseys were sold within just four months — shattering all previous sales records. Despite the move, the attention on his personal life didn’t fade. Headlines about an alleged affair with Rebecca Loos — acknowledged by her but consistently denied by Beckham — kept the couple in the media spotlight. By then, however, the Beckhams were accustomed to the constant glare. They lived largely insulated from the outside world, rarely seen in public beyond Victoria and their children attending his matches.

Beckham’s extravagant hairstyles, the tattoos that gradually covered nearly every inch of his skin, the luxury watches he wore, the cars he drove, and his designer wardrobe — every detail of his appearance was scrutinized. While his athletic achievements were extensively covered in the sports pages of the time, Beckham ultimately rose to become a cultural icon. He helped popularize the short-lived term “metrosexual.” While the term eventually faded, Beckham’s commercial appeal has never waned.

The business of being David Beckham

After his stint at Real Madrid, Beckham signed with the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007. Until his retirement, he bounced between the U.S. club and short-term contracts with Milan and Paris Saint-Germain, where he spent his final five months as a player. He officially retired in May 2013, bringing a more than 20-year playing career to a close. However, soccer has always been a constant in his life.

Perhaps his most ambitious post-retirement venture has been the creation and development of Inter Miami, a team in Major League Soccer (MLS), the top-tier league in the United States and Canada. Beckham became the club’s majority owner in 2020, as well as its sporting director. And he’s taking his mission — to help cement soccer’s place in North America — very seriously.

In July 2023, now serving as club president, Beckham pulled off his most high-profile move yet: signing none other than Lionel Messi. The Argentine star’s arrival not only transformed Inter Miami’s fortunes but also sparked a wave of celebrity interest in soccer. Stars like Leonardo DiCaprio and Selena Gomez — previously fixtures at NBA games — began showing up in the stands.

“I made the promise of saying, ‘I’m going to bring the best players in the world to this team,’” he told CBS in mid-April. “It was probably a silly promise, because you never know if you get the opportunity to bring the best players. I just was able to bring the best player to ever play the game and it’s something we’re very proud of.”

Alongside Messi, other former Barcelona FC legends — Luis Suárez, Jordi Alba, and Sergio Busquets — have also answered Beckham’s call.

Beyond his debut as a presenter and his work with Inter Miami, Beckham keeps busy, constantly exploring new business opportunities. In November of last year, he launched a line of supplements called MI8, developed in partnership with Prenetics, a publicly traded biotechnology company based in Hong Kong, in which he is an investor.

He also serves as the director of DB Ventures, the company through which he markets products and fragrances bearing his name. And he is a co-owner of the production company Studio 99, which co-produced his documentary and is currently working on his wife’s documentary. Together with the profits from Victoria Beckham’s eponymous fashion label, the couple has amassed a net worth exceeding $420 million. The Beckham brand remains a powerful commercial force.

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