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Soccer Star to 'Bend It' With Los Angeles Galaxy
Jan. 11, 2007 — - International soccer superstar David Beckham is coming to America to play for a U.S. Major League Soccer team.
The U.K.-born Beckham, 31, will sign with the Los Angeles Galaxy.
"I've played now for two of the biggest clubs in the world. I've played at the highest level for 15 years, and now I think I need another challenge," Beckham said.
The announcement has the sports world buzzing.
"David Beckham coming to the United States is … [like] Tiger Woods meeting Brad Pitt on the red carpet," said USA Today sports columnist Christine Brennan. "This transcends sports. This is a big, big deal."
Outside the United States, Beckham is not only the world's biggest sports star, but also a certified sex symbol. His moves off the field are followed just as closely as his moves on the field.
He is married to former Spice Girl Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham, and the couple is a favorite target of the British paparazzi.
And companies know that. He's received $20 million a year to push Pepsi and Adidas, and his Adidas cleats fetch $450 a pair.
In the United States, he's not a household name -- at least not yet.
But media watchers are gambling that a lot more Americans will know him very soon.
"All that fame and fortune that he's amassed, which is already the world's largest snowball, is going to be rolling down the hill in the United States gathering momentum," Brennan said.
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