HE MAY be missing out on that seminal 100th cap for England tonight, but David Beckham will be able to console himself in the knowledge that he has been voted the Sexiest Footballer On The Planet.
The 32-year-old former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder, who is now plying his trade in the United States with LA Galaxy, came top in a poll of female football fans.
The only representative from the Scottish Premier League was Japanese
midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura, and the Celtic player only just crept in as he was voted 20th-equal.
Second place in the worldwide poll of 4,000 women went to former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry, 30, who last year split from his wife of four years, model Claire Merry. Henry’s former Arsenal team-mate Freddie Ljungberg, 30, came in at number three and was one of ten players from the English top flight represented on the list.
Cristiano Ronaldo, 22, of Manchester United fans, came fourth, while Liverpool’s Spanish striker Fernando Torres, 23 – known as ‘the kid’ – finished off the top five.
Italian legend Paulo Maldini, 39, was sixth and the Player of the Year, Kaka, 25, from Brazil, was seventh. Newcastle United striker Michael Owen, 28 came eighth. And Ukrainian international Andriy Shevchenko, 31, slotted into ninth place. England midfielder Frank Lampard, 29, made it into the top ten.
Simon Lassam, of
www.thepeoplesclub.com which conducted the poll, said: “The survey results show the British public have an eye for who’s hot on the football pitch and that it’s not just British Premiership players that are catching their eye.
“They’ve picked a real multi-cultural mix, perhaps reflecting the amount of influence other countries have on our football these days. It shows David Beckham hasn’t lost his sex appeal. He’s loved for his looks, style and ball skills, despite having gone all Hollywood on us.”
Lassam, whose website enables fans to own a professional football club, added: “And, on this evidence, I certainly wouldn’t mind female football fans running The People’s Club and picking the team. Not only would the players be good looking, but the football would be fantastic as well.”
Worryingly for us ‘normal’ men, the poll also found a third of girls would ditch their boyfriend for a top- flight football star.
WORLD’S SEXIEST FOOTBALLERS• 1 David Beckham (LA Galaxy, England)
• 2 Thierry Henry (Barcelona, France)
• 3 Freddie Ljungberg (West Ham Utd, Sweden)
• 4 Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester Utd, Portugal)
• 5 Fernando Torres (Liverpool, Spain)
• 6 Paolo Maldini (AC Milan, Italy)
• 7 Kaka (AC Milan, Brazil)
• 8 Michael Owen (Newcastle Utd, England)
• 9 Andriy Shevchenko (Chelsea, Ukraine)
• 10 Frank Lampard (Chelsea, England)
• 11 Luis Figo (Inter Milan, Portugal)
• 12 Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal, Spain)
• 13 Francesco Totti (AS Roma, Italy)
• 14 Harry Kewell (Liverpool, Australia)
• 15 Michael Ballack (Chelsea, Germany)
• 16 David James (Portsmouth, England)
• 17 Joe Cole (Chelsea, England)
• 18 Raul (Real Madrid, Spain)
• 19 Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham, USA)
• 20 Shunsuke Nakamura (Celtic, Japan)
The full article contains 535 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
