David Beckham has been awarded a knighthood in King Charles III’s birthday honours list.
The former Manchester United and Real Madrid player has long been tipped to be knighted, particularly after his role in London winning its bid for the 2012 Olympic Games, but has had to wait more than a decade to receive the honour. The King’s birthday honours list for 2025 was published by the U.K. Cabinet Office on Friday evening.
Beckham, 50, has continued to grow his legacy long after his retirement from playing football in 2013, and is perhaps now best known as the man who helped bring Lionel Messi to America as the co-owner of the Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise Inter Miami.
“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 to the PA news agency. “To have played for and captained my country was the greatest privilege of my career and literally a boyhood dream come true.
“Off the pitch, I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to represent Britain around the world and work with incredible organisations that are supporting communities in need and inspiring the next generation.
“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.
“It will take a little while for the news to sink in but I’m immensely proud and it’s such an emotional moment for me to share with my family.”
Beckham’s anger at being passed over for a knighthood in 2013 was revealed in 2017 when his emails were hacked by a company associated with Simon Oliveira, his then-representative. The messages were subsequently published by a variety of European media outlets and showed his frustration at the honours committee. Beckham called them “unappreciative c—-” and insisted he didn’t “care about being knighted”. Those email exchanges also revealed UK authorities’ concerns over his tax affairs. At the time, a spokesperson for Beckham said the emails were “hacked” and “doctored”.
In December, though, Beckham and his wife, Victoria, were invited to join the King and Queen Camilla at Buckingham Palace to mark the state visit of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Beckham was an ambassador for Qatar at the 2002 World Cup, a role which attracted controversy due to the human rights record of the Gulf state.
Beckham received an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 2003 under Queen Elizabeth II and won the World Economic Forum Crystal Award in January for his work on children’s rights, having been a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF for 20 years.
Beckham was in Florida on Friday ahead of Inter Miami’s Club World Cup opener this weekend (Chris Arjoon/Getty Images)
Though he was born in the east end of London, Beckham was part of Manchester United’s ‘Class of 92’ group of academy players — including the Neville brothers, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs — which help the club win the first ever English treble of the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League in the same season in 1998-99.
Beckham went on to win 19 major trophies over his career with United, Madrid, LA Galaxy, AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain. He also captained England for six years and won 115 caps for his country, the third-most of any men’s player. Beckham’s high point for his country was arguably his last-minute free kick against Greece at Old Trafford in 2001 to secure qualification to the 2002 World Cup, while a notable low came after he was sent off at the 1998 World Cup and the subsequent media storm which followed.
Beckham was the first England men’s player to score at three World Cups and the first Englishman to play 100 Champions League games.
Since retiring in 2013, Beckham has kept close ties with the game as part of the Class of 92 group that bought Salford City in 2014. Beckham joined that investment group five years later, and he and Gary Neville led a new consortium which took full control of the League Two club in May.
As part of the deal that saw Beckham join the Galaxy in 2007, the Englishman was given the option to own an expansion franchise in MLS. He announced his intention to bring a team back to Miami in 2014, and led a group which exercised the option to add an expansion franchise for the pre-agreed fee of $25million. Inter Miami first joined the MLS in 2020 and is valued at $1.2billion by Forbes.
(Top photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
