• David Beckham has become the UK’s first billionaire sportsman, per the 2026 Sunday Times Rich List
• He and Victoria now have a combined net worth of £1.185 billion ($1.58 billion), up from £500 million just a year ago
• Inter Miami — now MLS’s most valuable franchise at $1.45 billion — is the biggest driver of the wealth surge
• Beckham earned an estimated $255 million from his LA Galaxy contract alone, including a $23 million option to buy an expansion team
• The milestone arrives against a complicated family backdrop, with son Brooklyn publicly accusing his parents of trying to ruin his marriage

Sir David Beckham has made history. The former Manchester United and England captain has officially become the first sportsperson from the United Kingdom to reach billionaire status — and the numbers behind it are genuinely staggering.

The 2026 Sunday Times Rich List, published May 15, puts David and Victoria Beckham’s combined net worth at £1.185 billion — roughly $1.58 billion. That’s up from an estimated £500 million on last year’s list. In twelve months, the Beckhams essentially doubled their fortune.

They sit 141st on the overall Rich List — a climb of 132 places — and rank second among the UK’s wealthiest sportspeople, behind only the family of former Formula One chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, whose wealth is valued at £2 billion. The list is topped overall by the Hinduja family, whose net worth sits at £38 billion.

But the Beckhams are unquestionably its most glamorous new entrants. And the story of how a kid from Leytonstone who once wore a sarong on a night out built a billion-pound empire is one worth telling properly.

The Playing Career That Laid the Foundation

Beckham’s wealth didn’t materialize out of nowhere. It was built, carefully and deliberately, over the course of a career that made him one of the most recognizable athletes on the planet.

He won six Premier League titles and the Champions League with Manchester United, captained England, and went on to play for Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, AC Milan, and Paris Saint-Germain. By 2003, France Football had named him the highest-paid player in the world. His salary at Real Madrid was enormous — and yet, it wasn’t his most important contract.

That distinction belongs to the deal he signed with LA Galaxy in 2007. On paper, it actually cut his salary by around 70 percent compared to what he’d been earning in Spain. But buried in the fine print were clauses that would ultimately change his financial trajectory forever.

Sports investment expert Joe Pompliano has detailed how Beckham’s Galaxy contract entitled him to a percentage of the franchise’s overall revenue. More importantly, it included an option to purchase an MLS expansion team after retirement for approximately $23 million — a number that looks almost laughably low in hindsight. All told, factoring in salary, revenue sharing, endorsements, appearances, and licensing fees, Beckham earned an estimated $255 million from his time with the Galaxy alone. His total playing career earnings are estimated at close to $800 million, according to The Mirror.

Inter Miami: The $23 Million Bet That Paid Off

When Beckham retired in 2013, he exercised that expansion team option. The club he built became Inter Miami, founded in 2018. And then, in 2023, he did something that transformed it entirely: he signed Lionel Messi.

“Ten years ago, when I started my journey to build a new team in Miami, I said that I dreamt of bringing the greatest players in the world to this amazing city,” Beckham said when the deal was announced. “Today that dream came true.”

Victoria, never one to undersell her husband’s hustle, posted on Instagram: “I don’t have enough words to express how proud I am of David Beckham. I have watched you work so hard to make this moment a reality and it’s finally here!!”

The skeptics who once laughed at the idea of Beckham owning a soccer club are no longer laughing. Inter Miami won the MLS Cup in 2025 — the club’s first title — and Forbes now values the franchise at $1.45 billion, making it the most valuable club in Major League Soccer. Messi is signed through 2028, and a major property development adjoining Inter Miami’s stadium has added yet another revenue stream to the pile. The $23 million option has become the best deal in sports history.

The Brand Machine: DB Ventures and a Lifetime of Endorsements

Football was always just the beginning. Even during his playing days, Beckham understood something most athletes didn’t: the jersey matters, but the brand matters more.

Over the course of his career, he’s been the face of Adidas, Armani, H&M, Gillette, PepsiCo, Breitling, Maserati, Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss, Vodafone, Samsung, Sainsbury’s, Haig whisky, and Coty, among many others. In 2014, he formalized all of this by launching DB Ventures, a company set up specifically to manage his commercial interests. His deal with Adidas alone was worth $160 million.

In 2022, he reportedly sold 55 percent of DB Ventures for more than $230 million, according to the Times.

That same year brought a more controversial deal. Beckham signed on as an ambassador for the Qatar World Cup, reportedly receiving around $166 million for his role promoting the tournament. The decision drew significant backlash from LGBT+ groups who had previously viewed Beckham as an ally — Qatar is a country where homosexuality remains illegal — and it remains one of the most debated moments of his post-playing career.

In November 2025, Beckham was knighted by King Charles III for his services to sport and charity — and yes, the Beckhams’ combined wealth now exceeds the King’s. Charles sits on the Rich List at an estimated £680 million.

Victoria’s Contribution: Fashion, Beauty, and Nine Figures in Revenue

The billion-pound milestone is a joint achievement, and Victoria Beckham’s contribution is substantial. After finding fame as Posh Spice with the Spice Girls in the 1990s, she built a fashion label that has become genuinely prestigious in the industry. Revenues from the Victoria Beckham fashion line have now topped £100 million.

And that may not even be the most valuable part. Reuters reported last year that Victoria’s beauty brand could fetch as much as $700 million if she chose to sell — a number that suggests the full scope of what she’s built is still being underestimated.

Where the Beckhams Stand Among British Sports Wealth

The Rich List’s sportspeople rankings offer some useful context. Lewis Hamilton sits fifth at £435 million. Rory McIlroy, fresh off back-to-back Masters titles, is seventh at £325 million. Anthony Joshua is eighth at £240 million, with Tyson Fury ninth at £162 million — and Eddie Hearn, who promotes Joshua, announced last month that a Joshua-Fury fight has been signed, though no date or venue has been confirmed. Harry Kane and Andy Murray are joint 10th at £110 million each.

Joining Beckham in the billionaire bracket are boxing and darts promoters Barry and Eddie Hearn, whose Matchroom Sport empire is valued at £1.035 billion combined.

Globally, Beckham is not the first soccer player to hit the billionaire mark — Cristiano Ronaldo, currently earning $180 million a year in the Saudi Pro League, is worth an estimated $1.4 billion and is recognized as the first active player to get there. And then there’s Mathieu Flamini — the former Arsenal and AC Milan midfielder who co-founded plant-based chemical firm GFBiochemicals — whose fortune is estimated at around $10 billion, making him arguably the wealthiest former player alive, even if few people know it.

But among British sportspeople, Beckham stands alone. And the milestone arrives, as these things often do, against a complicated personal backdrop. In January, his eldest son Brooklyn publicly accused his parents of “trying endlessly to ruin my relationship since before my wedding, and it hasn’t stopped,” also alleging that his wife Nicola Peltz Beckham had been “disrespected” by the family. Business, clearly, has been thriving regardless.

What Beckham has constructed — from a shrewdly negotiated contract clause in an MLS deal to a billion-pound empire spanning football, fashion, beauty, and real estate — is the kind of second act that sports history rarely produces. The Sunday Times Rich List compiler Robert Watts notes that the list measures only “identifiable wealth” and that “the actual size of someone’s fortune may be significantly larger than our conservative figures.”

Which means the real number could be even bigger. Not bad for the boy from Leytonstone.

The post David Beckham Is Now a Billionaire — Here’s How He Did It appeared first on Cream.

• David and Victoria Beckham’s combined wealth hit £1.185bn, making David Britain’s first billionaire sportsman
• The couple nearly doubled their fortune in a single year, up from £500m on the 2025 Sunday Times Rich List
• Inter Miami’s surging valuation — boosted by signing Lionel Messi — is a major driver of the increase
• The Beckhams now outrank King Charles, whose estimated wealth sits at £680m
• Victoria’s fashion line topped £100m in revenue, with her beauty brand potentially worth $700m if sold

David Beckham has officially made history. The former England captain has become Britain’s first billionaire sportsman, according to the 2026 Sunday Times Rich List — and the numbers are staggering.

He and wife Victoria now have a combined fortune of £1.185 billion, nearly doubling their estimated £500 million from just one year ago. To put that in perspective: the Beckhams now outrank King Charles, whose wealth grew by £40 million this year to reach £680 million. Close, but not close enough.

The leap is extraordinary even by celebrity standards, and it didn’t happen by accident. The Rich List compilers point to David’s US investments as the primary engine — specifically his co-ownership of Inter Miami, which is now estimated to be Major League Soccer’s most valuable club at $1.45 billion (roughly £1.07bn). Signing Lionel Messi to the club through 2028 has been transformative, lifting both the team’s global profile and the value of Beckham’s stake. A major property development adjoining Inter Miami’s home ground has added another significant windfall on top of that.

Then there’s the brand. Over a career spanning decades, Beckham has been the face of Adidas, Hugo Boss, Armani, Calvin Klein, Pepsi, H&M, Sainsbury’s, Samsung, Breitling, Gillette, Vodafone, and more. That kind of commercial reach doesn’t stop paying when you hang up your boots — it compounds.

Victoria’s Empire Is Doing Just Fine

Victoria Beckham’s contribution to the family fortune is no footnote. Her eponymous fashion label — built from scratch after her Spice Girls days — has now topped £100 million in revenue. But it’s her beauty brand that may be the real crown jewel: Reuters reported last year that Victoria Beckham Beauty could fetch an eye-watering $700 million if she ever decided to sell.

She hasn’t. And given the trajectory, why would she?

On the Rich List’s ranking of Britain’s wealthiest sportspeople, the Beckhams come in second overall — behind only the family of former Formula One chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, whose wealth was placed at £2 billion. Promoters Barry and Eddie Hearn follow at a combined £1.035 billion, with Eddie serving as the public face of Matchroom Boxing and promoter of British heavyweight Anthony Joshua, who lands eighth on the sports list at £240 million.

Seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton sits fifth at £435 million. Back-to-back Masters champion Rory McIlroy is seventh at £325 million. England football captain Harry Kane and two-time Wimbledon winner Andy Murray share the tenth spot at £110 million each. Tyson Fury, ranked ninth, comes in at £162 million — and notably, his promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed last month that Joshua has signed a deal to fight Fury, with a date and venue still to be confirmed.

Not Everyone’s Having a Banner Year

While the Beckhams are celebrating, David’s former Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe is having a rougher time of it. Ratcliffe dropped from seventh to ninth on the overall Rich List, with his fortune shrinking by £1.85 billion to £15.194 billion. The list compilers lowered the value of his petrochemicals company Ineos to £17 billion, citing “rising debt, falling revenues and a loss of £515.7 million.” That said, the decline is smaller than the year before, when his wealth reportedly fell by more than £6 billion.

The overall Rich List, which measures the minimum identifiable wealth of Britain’s 350 richest people and families — including land, property, art, and significant shareholdings — is topped for the fourth consecutive year by the Hinduja family. Following the death of patriarch Gopichand Hinduja, children Sanjay and Dheeraj Hinduja now hold the crown with an estimated £38 billion.

There are some fun newcomers this year too. Oasis stars Liam and Noel Gallagher made the list for the first time, their £375 million combined fortune built largely on the back of their blockbuster 2024 reunion tour — 41 shows between July and November that, despite controversy over dynamic pricing sending some ticket costs soaring past £355, became one of the biggest live music events in recent memory. Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis and her family also entered the list at an estimated £400 million.

Rich List compiler Robert Watts is careful to note that these figures are conservative by design. “The compilers of the Rich List measure identifiable wealth — such as land, property, racehorses, art or significant shares in publicly quoted companies,” he explained. “The actual size of someone’s fortune may be significantly larger than our conservative figures.”

Which means the real Beckham number could be even bigger. History-making, and still counting.

The post David Beckham Becomes Britain’s First Billionaire Sportsman appeared first on Cream.