Beckham and his agent, 19 Entertainment, have spent the past two years putting in place a series of long-term global deals as a hedge against damage to his brand image in his home country.

The view in the Beckham camp is that the England star is reshaping his career, and has been written off too easily in the past. Already the footballer has bounced back from being sent off against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup and allegations of marital infidelity in 2004.

Max Clifford, the publicist, who once represented Beckham’s supposed lover Rebecca Loos, said that “brand Beckham rested on strong foundations, as long as he’s part of the England set-up. He’s the first superstar outside football; he’s a good- looking guy and there’s still no competitor to his image amongst the rest of the England team.”

David Beckham’s company, Footwork Productions, earned £10.5 million after tax during 2004, the last year for which accounts are available. Since then, local deals with Vodafone and Marks & Spencer have been dropped, while global agreements have been retained. A sponsorship agreement with Police, the sunglasses brand, is due to end soon.

The value of the endorsements is far greater than the post-tax £4 million that he makes from his club, Real Madrid — and the Spanish club demands a cut of the sponsorship arrangements he negotiaties as part of his deal.

Commercial deals make Beckham the world’s best-paid footballer, with only Brazilian striker Ronaldo, whose commercial income is estimated at about £9 million, the only other player to breach the £5 million sponsorship barrier.

Last month Beckham closed a three-year deal with Motorola, to act as a “global ambassador” for the mobile phone manufacturer — an agreement that, like existing deals with Gillette, Pepsi and Coty, the fragrance maker, does not rely principally on his status as a footballer. Only Beckham’s relationship with adidas is football-related, his strategy being to try to sell himself as an icon rather than a mere sportsman.

His existing sponsors have been happy to back him until the end of his playing career, despite the risks that sports stars can bring. Northern Rock, the mortgage bank, pulled all its advertising featuring Michael Owen after the England forward damaged his knee earlier this World Cup.

Beckham’s sponsorship deals expire betweeen 2008 and 2010. By then, Beckham will be 35, and at the end of his playing career. Still, he plans to remain in the public eye. He is already helping to create several Beckham-branded youth sports academies — two have already been launched in East London and Los Angeles — and this year 19 Entertainment intends to hold a competition among Asian cities to launch a third.

FOOTBALLER’S BACKING TEAM

Key sponsors of Beckham

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