Sport

David Beckham: I Was Told I’ll Never Play For England National Team

Published

5 years ago

March 26, 2018

Former England captain David Beckham has revealed how he was once told he was ‘too small’ to play for his country. Beckham is the second most-capped England player of all time, having made 115 appearances for the Three Lions.

But when he was child he was told that he wouldn’t have a chance of cutting it at international level because of his size.

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‘At about 12 years old, I was told I would never play for my country,’ he said.

‘And that was told to me by an England coach at the time, at a lower level.

‘I was trying to get into a school, academy and they said you’re too small, not strong enough and “you’ll never play for your country”.’

Thirty years on, I made 115 appearances for my country, captained my country, played three World Cups and a had pretty good career.

‘So, my message to young people out there is, there might be difficult times, difficult moments, but believe in yourself, have fun, enjoy yourself and just love the game.’

Beckham has moved on from his career as a player and now owns a Miami-based MLS franchise.

He has big plans for his new team, which will officially become the 25th franchise of MLS and is expected to begin playing in 2020.

According to reports, Beckham is planning to call on his former boss Carlo Ancelotti to guide his new team through its infancy, with the Italian still out of work following his departure from Bayern Munich.

Beckham played under Ancelotti during his short stint at Paris Saint-Germain in 2013 and is believed to be on good terms with the Italian.

Other managerial candidates include Real Madrid’s Zinedine Zidane, who Beckham played alongside at the Bernabeu, and former LA Galaxy and US national team coach Bruce Arena.

It is also understood that Beckham wants to sign Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo.