David Robert Joseph Beckham OBE was born in Leytonstone, England on 2nd May 1975. He is the son of David Edward Alan 'Ted' Beckham, a kitchen fitter, and Sandra Georgina West, a hairdresser.

David attended Chase Lane Primary School and Chingford Foundation School and regularly played football in Ridgeway Park, Chingford.

His parents were influential in David becoming a Manchester United fan as they were big fans themselves, often travelling to Old Trafford to watch a game.

As part of a talent competition organised by the Bobby Robson football school he attended David won the opportunity to take part in a training session at FC Barcelona. He also played for Ridgeway Rovers who were coached by his father. He had trials for Leyton Orient and Norwich City but the first team he played for was Tottenham Hotspur. However, his love of Manchester United drove him on, and on his 14th birthday he signed school boy papers with the club. On 8th July 1991 David signed a Youth Training Team contract.

In 1992 he made his debut for the Manchester United first team when he came on as a substitute in a league cup game against Brighton & Hove Albion and signed his first professional contract with the team soon afterwards.

David was loaned out to Preston North End for the 1994 / 95 season so he could get some first team experience. He impressed by scoring 2 goals in 5 appearances and one of the goals was scored directly from a corner. He returned to Manchester and made his Premier League debut on 2nd April 1995.

David went on to make 265 Premier League appearances for Manchester United scoring 61 goals, as well as 81 Champions League appearances where he netted a further 15 goals. He won 6 Premier League titles, 2 FA Cups, 1 European Cup, one Intercontinental Cup and 1 FA Youth Cup. He achieved this all in the space of 12 years at the club before he was sold to Real Madrid on 1st July 2003 for £25 million.