David Beckham: the football star who outshone his sport

07:45, 17 May 2013

LONDON. May 17. KAZINFORM From a hate figure pilloried for his sending-off in a crucial World Cup tie to a star who long ago transcended his sport, David Beckham's globe-trotting odyssey has made him one of the most recognisable, over-analysed and well-paid celebrity figures of the age.

But as he announced his retirement from playing on Thursday, days after adding the French championship to a collection of medals that includes six Premier League trophies, plus titles in the US and Spain, the 38-year-old said he had realised all the ambitions he nurtured as a schoolboy playing on Hackney Marshes, according to theguardian.co.uk

"If you'd told me as a young boy I would have played for and won trophies with my boyhood club Manchester United , proudly captained and played for my country over 100 times and lined up for some of the biggest clubs in the world, I would have told you it was a fantasy," he said. "I'm fortunate to have realised those dreams."

Sources close to the player said he was concentrating on the final two matches of the French season before evaluating the avalanche of offers that were bound to come his way. In an interview on Sky with his former team-mate Gary Neville, he said that he wanted to go out at the top.

It is 17 years since he burst into the national consciousness as a precocious talent in the "Fergie's Fledglings" era, scoring from the halfway line against Wimbledon in a Premier League match. Shortly afterwards, he started going out with the Spice Girls singer Victoria Adams and a match made in tabloid heaven was born.

Long term, he is expected to take up an option to buy a stake in an American Major League Soccer franchise that was awarded as part of the deal that took him to Los Angeles in 2007.

When he left for the US at the age of 31, few thought he would be back to play at the top level in Europe yet he returned for two spells on loan with Milan and a swansong in the French capital with Paris St Germain. Ever mindful of his image, he donated his PSG wages to a children's charity.

David Bernstein , Football Association chairman, said he hoped Beckham would consider becoming England's equivalent of Michel Platini or Franz Beckenbauer, iconic players who went on to play key roles in global sports administration.

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