Beckham’s retirement is a big deal

As the world basks on the thought of David Beckham retiring, we cannot but recognise what he had offered in his two decades of service to the sport.

His awe-inspiring precision-based long balls that land on the player making the run, his undefeated loyalty to Manchester United and his marketability factor were few of the aspects that we and the money men appreciated him for.

Though the world’s highest-paid athlete was rewarded handsomely for it, Beckham should also receive credit for single-handedly raising the profile of American football/soccer league (MLS). It’s interesting to note that even without the income coming in from football in the forseeable future, his association with Samsung, Adidas, Calvin Klein and H&M among the few will continue to feed him and his family for years to come.

One thing is certain, nonetheless. Beckham is among the few footballers that have wowed us day-in and day-out without the need of peculiar technical ability. He has been a strong advocate of Children’s rights, representing UNICEF at different events to initiating projects like Malaria No More UK & US. Unfortunately, with his retirement, the sport’s senior guards, the hard-tackling, old school agents of the sport continue to shrink. We will surely see him in many of his off the pitch roles he carries as he recently did in China.