Mere minutes after announcing his retirement from professional soccer, David Beckham was trending around the world, as Twitter was rampant reaction from players, leagues, media outlets and fans.
Here is some of the best reaction to the news, including tweets from those involved in the soccer world, some interesting Beckham stats, funny tweets and even thoughts from a few who thought Beckham didn’t deserve all the credit he received.
David Beckham= Amazing Career . He just loved playing football. Congratulations and a pleasure to be a team mate! twitter.com/GNev2/status/3…
— G.Neville (@GNev2) May 16, 2013
NEWS: David Beckham to retire at the end of this season. Thanks for everything, Becks: soc.cr/l68IJ #Legend twitter.com/MLS/status/335…
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) May 16, 2013
David Beckham, one of the most iconic figures in global football is retiring from playing. It’s the end of a chapter of an amazing story.
— Joseph S Blatter (@SeppBlatter) May 16, 2013
David grew up as a football loving child & achieved his dreams, and unquestionably inspired millions of boys & girls to try & do the same
— Joseph S Blatter (@SeppBlatter) May 16, 2013
Superstar has called time on his career .. We’re do I start , class player genuine guy legend of a footballer, wish you all the best. ⚽⚽
— Andrew Cole (@vancole9) May 16, 2013
David Beckham-what an unbelievable career-4 titles in 4 countries over 100 caps for eng and the best ambassador this countries has had!
— phil neville18 (@fizzer18) May 16, 2013
David Beckham announces his retirement, what a great player and a legend to the sport
— Luke Shaw (@Luke_shaw3) May 16, 2013
Good luck with your retirement, David Beckham. Thanks for the memories, here’s one of our favourites… #MUFC twitter.com/ManUtd_PO/stat…
— Manchester United PO (@ManUtd_PO) May 16, 2013
“I’m fortunate to have realised those dreams.” #davidbeckham twitter.com/EASPORTSFIFA/s…
— EA SPORTS FIFA (@EASPORTSFIFA) May 16, 2013
Took this pic a few years ago. David Beckham with son Brooklyn. Met him when he trained with #afc, top man flic.kr/p/7cFdqS #Beckham
— Stuart MacFarlane (@Stuart_PhotoAFC) May 16, 2013
One of the greats! Pic from his last England game #David Beckham gossi.pr/13zfcpT
— Ian Wright (@IanWright0) May 16, 2013
Topps Premier League Football Stickers salutes David Beckham with a look back at the early years! twitter.com/MyTopps/status…
— MyTopps (@MyTopps) May 16, 2013
David Beckham on his England career: “To this day, one of my proudest achievements is captaining my country.” twitter.com/FA/status/3350…
— The FA (@FA) May 16, 2013
Beckham’s career was full of many ups and downs. CLICK HERE to look at some highlights from his career.
Whether it was internationally with England or on club teams Manchester United, Real Madrid, Los Angeles Galaxy or Paris Saint-Germain F.C., Beckham had many accomplishments during his career that spanned over 20 years.
RE-LIVE one of David Beckham’s greatest-ever England moments when he scored this stunner against Greece in 2001: youtube.com/watch?v=t0GESl…
— The FA (@FA) May 16, 2013
David Beckham made 265 Barclays Premier League appearances during his time at #MUFC, scoring 62 goals in the process.
— Premier League (@premierleague) May 16, 2013
David Beckham won the Premier League 6 times at Manchester United, adding 2 FA Cups, 1 UEFA Champions League & 1 Intercontinental Cup too.
— Premier League (@premierleague) May 16, 2013
And hey, what would a social media reaction piece be without some funny tweets?
David Beckham:6 Premier Leagues2 FA Cups1 La Liga1 Champions League1 Ligue Un1567 Haircuts1 Spice Girl1 SarrongLegend
— Football Funnys (@FootballFunnys) May 16, 2013
When you realise Paul Scholes, Sir Alex Ferguson and now David Beckham have all retired from football… twitter.com/FootyHumour/st…
— Footy Humour (@FootyHumour) May 16, 2013
David Beckham is retiring. He’s exhausted from running through your aunt’s dreams all night.
— Comedy Central (@ComedyCentral) May 16, 2013
David Beckham retiring. Reportedly buying Florida.
— CollegeHumor (@CollegeHumor) May 16, 2013
If David Beckham isn’t going to be playing football anymore, this frees up more time for underwear modelling: ok.co.uk/celebrity-news…
— OK! Magazine (@OK_Magazine) May 16, 2013
David Beckham says he will retire at the end of this season, mainly because he ran out of ideas on how to do his next haircut.
— Khalifa (@KKAlThani) May 16, 2013
David Beckham announced his retirement today.He scored 7 goals in his career, the most in the history of soccer.
— Guy Endore-Kaiser (@GuyEndoreKaiser) May 16, 2013
If you were wondering if Beckham was ever interviewed by Ali-G, thankfully the answer is yes.
Despite his superstardom, you can’t please everyone (including our very own John Molinaro), as many believe Beckham was overrated and that his fame, not his skills on the pitch, were was the major reason he garnered so much attention.
David Beckham is retiring. Thus ends the career of the most overblown, over-hyped and over-rated player in modern soccer history.
— John Molinaro (@JohnMolinaro) May 16, 2013