Editing David Beckham (section)

====2006–2007: Real Madrid exit====
The summer 2006 off-season marked a turbulent time as the club's presidential elections were held. [[Ramón Calderón]] became the new Real president. As expected, none of the club officials who served under the previous president was kept, including head coach López Caro. Initially out of favour with newly arrived head coach [[Fabio Capello]], Beckham started only a few games at the beginning of the season, as the speedier [[José Antonio Reyes]] was normally preferred on the right wing. Of the first nine matches Beckham started, Real lost seven. On 10 January 2007, after prolonged contractual negotiations, Real Madrid's sporting director [[Predrag Mijatović]] announced that Beckham would not remain at Real Madrid after the end of the season. However, he later claimed that he was mistranslated and that he actually said that Beckham's contract had not yet been renewed.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/10/sports/web.0110beckham.php |title=Uncertainty over Beckham's future at Real Madrid |work=International Herald Tribune |date=10 January 2007 |access-date=10 May 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080220071830/http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/10/sports/web.0110beckham.php |archive-date=20 February 2008 }}</ref>

On 11 January 2007, Beckham announced that he had signed a five-year deal to play for the [[LA Galaxy]], beginning 1 July 2007. On 13 January 2007, Fabio Capello said that Beckham had played his last game for Real Madrid, although he continued to train with the team.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/6259063.stm|title=Real coach calls time on Beckham|work=BBC Sport|date=13 January 2007|access-date=13 January 2007|archive-date=5 June 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090605205706/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/6259063.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> A few days later, while speaking to the students at [[Villanueva University|Villanueva University Center]] in Madrid, Calderón said that Beckham is "going to Hollywood to be half a film star", adding "our technical staff were right not to extend his contract, which has been proved by the fact that no other technical staff in the world wanted him except Los Angeles".<ref>{{Cite news |first=Jack |last=Bell |title=Real Madrid Club President Says a Mouthful |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/17/sports/soccer/17soccer.html |work=The New York Times |date=17 February 2007 |access-date=2 August 2010 |archive-date=10 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210214834/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/17/sports/soccer/17soccer.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

About a month later, however, Capello backtracked on his earlier statement, allowing Beckham to rejoin the team for the match against [[Real Sociedad]] on 10 February 2007. The player immediately repaid his head coach's trust by scoring the equalising goal from a {{convert|27|yd|adj=on}} free kick, as Real Madrid eventually recorded a 2–1 victory.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/6346573.stm|title=Beckham scores on Madrid return|work=BBC Sport|date=10 February 2007|access-date=10 February 2007|archive-date=8 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208182242/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/6346573.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> In his final UEFA Champions League appearance for the club, Real Madrid were knocked out of the competition by Bayern Munich at the [[2006–07 UEFA Champions League knockout stage|round-of-16 stage]] (on the away goals rule) on 7 March 2007. Beckham played a pivotal role in all three Madrid goals in the home game, with Bayern goalkeeper [[Oliver Kahn]] describing his performance as "world class".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2007/feb/21/match.realmadrid|title=Beckham shines to give Real a slight advantage|first=Simon|last=Talbot|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=12 September 2014|date=21 February 2007|archive-date=2 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171002170034/https://www.theguardian.com/football/2007/feb/21/match.realmadrid|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Beckham 2 (2114756146).jpg|thumb|left|Beckham during his last season with Real Madrid]]
On 17 June 2007, the last day of the La Liga season, Beckham started in his final match for the club, a 3–1 win over Mallorca which saw them clinch the title from Barcelona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2007-06-17 |title=Beckham bows out with Liga title |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/6759697.stm |access-date=2024-05-28 |language=en-GB}}</ref> With Real down 0–1, Beckham limped off the field and was replaced by José Antonio Reyes, who scored two goals, leading the team to that season's [[2006–07 La Liga|La Liga title]], their first since Beckham had signed with them and [[Real Madrid CF#Domestic competitions|30th overall in the club's history]]. Although Real and Barçelona both finished level on points, Madrid took the title because of their superior head-to-head record, capping a remarkable six-month turnaround for Beckham.<ref name="Liga"/> With his wife and children, along with celebrity friends [[Tom Cruise]] and [[Katie Holmes]], watching from a luxury box at the [[Santiago Bernabéu Stadium|Santiago Bernabéu]], it was only Beckham's second piece of silverware since he joined the famous club.<ref name="Liga">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/6759697.stm|title=Beckham bows out with Liga title|access-date=12 September 2014|archive-date=17 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217013123/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/6759697.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Towards the end of the season, as Beckham was getting back into Capello's good books after successfully fighting his way back into the first team, Real Madrid announced they would try to untie his transfer to LA Galaxy, but were ultimately unsuccessful.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Millward|first=Robert|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/10/AR2007061000751.html|title=Agent: Beckham Sticking to Galaxy Deal|date=10 June 2007|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=14 August 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121210081030/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/10/AR2007061000751.html|archive-date=10 December 2012}}</ref> Several weeks before Beckham's scheduled arrival in the United States, Real's management contacted LA Galaxy's ownership group about reacquiring the player, but were quickly turned down.<ref>''The Beckham Experiment'', Grant Wahl, Three Rivers Press, New York, 2010 paperback edition, p.36</ref> A month after the conclusion of Beckham's Real career, ''[[Forbes]]'' magazine reported that he had been the party primarily responsible for the team's huge increase in merchandise sales, a total reported to top {{USD|600 million}} during Beckham's four years at the club.<ref>{{Cite news |first=Paul |last=Maidment |title=Becks And Bucks |url=https://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/sports/2007/07/07/beckham-soccer-marketing-face-markets-cx_pm_0707autofacescan01.html |work=Forbes |date=7 July 2007 |access-date=14 August 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081101184121/http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/sports/2007/07/07/beckham-soccer-marketing-face-markets-cx_pm_0707autofacescan01.html|archive-date=1 November 2008 }}</ref>