Tag: David Beckham

Former Manchester United and England star David Beckham has become Britain’s first billionaire sportsman, according to the 2026 Sunday Times Rich List.

Beckham and his wife Victoria’s collective wealth reached an estimated £1.185 billion ($1.583 billion) this year, the Rich List compilers said.

That moved them into second place in the list of the UK’s wealthiest sportspeople, behind the family of ex-Formula One chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, whose wealth was valued at £2 billion.

Beckham, who retired from playing in 2013, is a co-owner of Inter Miami, estimated to be Major League Soccer’s most valuable club at £1.07 billion.

The 51-year-old also has lucrative brand ambassador roles for companies including Adidas and Hugo Boss.

Beckham captained England and won the Premier League and Champions League during a glittering career with United, before spells at Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, AC Milan, and Paris Saint-Germain.

Victoria Beckham’s wealth has largely been generated from her fashion label after she originally found fame as a member of pop band The Spice Girls.

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Joining Beckham on the Rich List, seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton is fifth, with a fortune, according to the Rich List, calculated at £435 million.

Reigning Masters golf champion Rory McIlroy is seventh with a £325 million valuation.

Boxer Anthony Joshua is placed at eighth with a fortune of £240 million, one place above his heavyweight rival Tyson Fury, who is ninth on £162 million.

Bayern Munich and England striker Harry Kane and retired former Wimbledon champion Andy Murray are joint 10th with £110 million each.

Among business people with sporting associations, Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe has dropped down the overall Rich List.

His fortune shrank by £1.85 billion, according to the list compilers, to £15.194 billion.

The list compilers lowered the value of Ratcliffe’s petrochemicals company INEOS to £17 billion owing to “rising debt, falling revenues and a loss of £515.7 million”.

Promoters Barry and Eddie Hearn have joined Britain’s billionaire club, with their combined wealth estimated at £1.035 billion.

Barry is the founder and president of Matchroom Sport, one of the leading promoters in boxing, darts and snooker, while his son Eddie is chairman of the organisation.

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Former England football captain and global fashion icon David Beckham was awarded a knighthood on Friday for his contributions to sport and charity, with The Who singer Roger Daltrey and actor Gary Oldman also receiving the honour.

Beckham, who played 115 times for England as well as for some of the world’s most high-profile clubs including Manchester United and Real Madrid, will now be known as “sir” and his wife Victoria, a former member of the Spice Girls pop group, will be known as Lady Beckham.

The 50-year-old, who has long been in the running for a knighthood, was appointed an officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2003 — a lesser award in Britain’s honours system.

Victoria later received the same award for services to the fashion industry.

“Growing up in East London with parents and grandparents who were so patriotic and proud to be British, I never could have imagined I would receive such a truly humbling honour,” Beckham said in a statement issued to the Press Association.

“I’m so lucky to be able to do the work that I do, and I’m grateful to be recognised for work that gives me so much fulfilment,” he added.

Daltrey, who co-founded The Who in 1964, will also take the title of Sir, having been recognised for his services to charity and music in King Charles III’s Birthday Honours list.

The 81-year-old singer has been a patron of Teenage Cancer Trust since 2000, holding fundraising concerts at London’s Royal Albert Hall for more than two decades.

“It’s kind of weird, but I am deeply honoured to get this, especially for the charity for the Teenage Cancer Trust, and I accept it on their behalf really, because this honour is really for all unsung heroes,” the “My Generation” singer told the Press Association.

“It’s a dream come true for me, but it’s especially a dream because the charity means so much,” he added.

Oldman, who won a best actor Oscar for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in 2017’s “Darkest Hour”, also received a knighthood for his services to drama.

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The 67-year-old’s films have earned over $11 billion, and his credits include the “Harry Potter” series, The “Dark Knight” Trilogy and “Air Force One”, along with cameo appearances in the sitcom “Friends” and music videos for David Bowie and Guns N’ Roses.

Stage star Elaine Page, who played Eva Peron in the first production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Evita”, and novelist Pat Barker have both been made dames.

Barker is known for her World War I “Regeneration Trilogy”, the first book of which was turned into a Hollywood film starring Jonathan Pryce.

Beckham’s knighthood is the culmination of years of tireless efforts to transcend football and turn himself into a global icon at the intersection of sport, fashion and business.

The honour, one of the highest bestowed by the UK state, “is a powerful symbolic marker”, Marie Agnes Parmentier, professor of marketing at the University of Montreal and author of several papers on “Posh and Becks”, explained to AFP.

Even at the height of his football career, Beckham was building his global brand with a view to his retirement.

His appearance in a sarong, revelations that he used make-up and his eccentric hairstyles were all feverishly gobbled up by the UK’s tabloid press.

He also had to overcome the tag as England’s “most-hated man” after being sent off during the 1998 World Cup in a knockout game against Argentina.

Beckham is understood to have been on the verge of receiving a knighthood after helping London win its bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games.

But UK authorities placed a red flag on his nomination due to his involvement in an alleged tax avoidance scheme, according to previous reports. He was subsequently cleared.

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David Beckham believes Lionel Messi will need time to adapt to Major League Soccer (MLS), even though the standard of play is at a “different level” from the European game.

Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham, the former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder, watched Inter Messi take part in his first training session for the club on Tuesday after signing a two-and-a-half-year contract.

Spanish midfielder Sergio Busquets, a former team-mate of Messi’s from Barcelona, also trained at the club’s complex, after signing on Saturday, with former Barcelona and Argentina coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino leading the session.

“Leo’s still going to need, no matter how good he is, no matter what his stature is, he and Sergio are going to need time to adapt no matter,” said the Englishman.

“They might surprise us, we might start winning every single game, but we have to be patient,” he said.

Miami’s fans may need to show that patience at Friday’s Leagues Cup game against Mexicans Cruz Azul, with Beckham saying the Argentine may not necessarily start.

“Leo will play some part of the game but that will be down to the coach (and) it’ll be down to Leo to decide if he’s ready because we know that he’s been away for a few weeks with his family but he looks sharp, he looks great but he’s going to need time to adapt as well,” said Beckham.

David Beckham was the biggest name to have moved to MLS when he signed for the Galaxy in 2007 when the league had just 13 clubs, compared to 29 today and the standard of play was significantly lower.

But Beckham said that there was one area where nothing had changed.

“One of the similarities will be, when I came, all of a sudden, everyone thought: LA are going to win everything. LA are going to win every game, 7-0, 8-0, and that’s it, nobody else is gonna win anything,” he said.

But despite Beckham’s arrival, the Galaxy weren’t even able to make the playoffs in his first two seasons.

LA finished next to bottom of the Western Conference in 2007 and 2008 but then in 2009 were beaten finalists before winning MLS Cup in 2011 and 2012.

“Those first two years for me, it was a challenge, getting used to everything, bringing the club and the league to be a little bit more professional, but things changed very quickly,” he said.

“I started enjoying the soccer a lot more, not just because we were winning (but) because I could see the change that was being made — the academy stuff coming into each of the clubs… we’re now at a stage where things are definitely different to how they were in 2007,” he said.

While the standard of MLS is still well below that of the top leagues in Europe, where Lionel Messi has spent his entire club career, several foreign players who joined the league late in their career have found it difficult to thrive.

The frequent travel across time-zones, playing on artificial surfaces at some stadiums, and having team-mates who might not be on the same wavelength or have the expected technical ability, are some of the challenges players have faced.

David Beckham has no doubt that Lionel Messi will be a success but accepts his impact on the field might not be as instant as some may be anticipating.

“It’s a different style of football, it’s  a slightly different level to what obviously some of the players that are coming in are used to,” he said.

“But at the end of the day, this level of football in this country now is a good level, it’s a great level, so there are going to be moments where we have to be patient,” he said.

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