Women’s football deserves full equality with the men’s game, David Beckham has said.
A leading advocate for the expanding women’s game, the former England star has already proudly posted pictures on Instagram of his daughter Harper Seven enjoying a backyard kickabout and modelling the Lionesses kit that was given to her by the England women’s team during their breakthrough World Cup campaign.
Beckham’s views become clear in a forthcoming BBC documentary, For the Love of the Game, in which he plays seven games of football in seven countries over 13 days as part of his role as a Unicef ambassador. When the former England captain joins a night-time match in Miami between two university women’s football teams, he marvels at the level of skill on display. “Football should never be known as a man’s sport,” he says.
However, at a screening of the film he acknowledged the game was already well represented in his family: “After having three boys that obviously do want to play football, Victoria wants to be able to have one of our children that wants to do stuff with her.
“When you’ve had 16 years of sitting on cold Sunday mornings on the sidelines watching the boys, she’d like to sit indoors and watch Harper play tennis or perform ballet or tap.” But he added: “If Harper does want to go and play football, Victoria will support her.”
