The boy who became Becks

Football was all David Beckham ever knew. A new Netflix docuseries reminds us that there is more to come 

- Nitin Sreedhar

Growing up in the parks and gardens of Delhi, which offer less than ideal football playing conditions, one would often be teased for trying something out of the ordinary: Who do you think you are? Beckham?

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, before the Ronaldo-Messi era, before the Mbappés and Neymars, there was David Beckham. The boy from London, playing for Manchester United, who decided to lob the then Wimbledon FC goalkeeper Neil Sullivan from almost 60 yards out on the opening day of the 1996-97 Premier League season.

The goal changed his life. It also marks the starting point of director Fisher Stevens' new Netflix documentary series, Beckham, on the former England football team captain, which gives an intimate view into the player's life and career.