King’s Birthday Honours record 2025: David Beckham awarded knighthood whereas Luke Littler receives MBE | Soccer Information

David Beckham has been awarded a knighthood within the King’s Birthday Honours.

The previous England captain has been recognised for each his profession as a footballer and his providers to charity.

Beckham started his soccer profession at Manchester United, the place he made 394 appearances and scored 85 objectives, earlier than happening to play for Actual Madrid, LA Galaxy, AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain.

He made 115 appearances for England, the third-highest of any senior males’s participant, and captained his nation 59 occasions.

Beckham has been a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF since 2005, and he additionally established the 7 Fund aimed toward serving to weak youngsters world wide.

He helps various charities, together with the Chelsea Pensioners, Assist for Heroes, Nice Ormond Avenue Hospital, Age UK and the London Air Ambulance service.

Luke Littler has been awarded an MBE for providers to darts. The 18-year-old is at present the world No 2 and the reigning world champion, the youngest within the sport’s historical past.

Littler has received two World Sequence of Darts titles, 13 PDC titles and 5 main titles in his skilled profession. He’s additionally the youngest participant to hit a televised nine-dart end.

Littler’s rival, Luke Humphries, has additionally been awarded an MBE for providers to darts. He’s the world No 1 and former world champion, having received the title in 2024.

The 30-year-old can be the reigning World Matchplay, Premier League, Gamers Championship Finals and World Masters champion.

Billy Boston, 90, has turn into the primary rugby league participant to obtain a knighthood. Boston is thought to be one of many sport’s best ever gamers having scored 571 tries in his profession, putting him because the second-highest strive scorer in historical past.

Born in Cardiff, Boston spent 15 years taking part in for Wigan, scoring a club-record 478 tries in 488 appearances earlier than ending his profession with Blackpool Borough, retiring in 1970.

He additionally performed 31 occasions for Nice Britain, scoring 24 tries and profitable the 1960 World Cup.

Virginia Wade has acquired a CBE for providers to tennis and charity. The 79-year-old received three main singles championships – the Australian Open, US Open and Wimbledon – and 4 main doubles titles.

Wade is the one British girl to have received titles in any respect 4 majors and was ranked because the world No 2 in singles and No 1 in doubles.

Wade serves as a patron for the charity Management By means of Sport and is a director for Compton’s Yard Charitable Belief.

Aston Villa ahead Rachel Daly has been awarded an MBE for providers to soccer. Daly holds the joint report for essentially the most objectives in a Girls’s Tremendous League season with 22 and has received the WSL golden boot, PFA girls’s gamers’ participant of the yr and participant of the season awards, all within the 2022/23 season.

The 33-year-old has performed 84 occasions for England, scoring 16 objectives, and was a part of the squad that received the Girls’s European Championships in 2022.

Different sports activities stars to be recognised embrace two-time Olympic triathlon champion Alistair Brownlee, who has been awarded an OBE; whereas MBEs have been awarded to two-weight boxing world champion Natasha Jonas, former Gloucestershire bowler David Lawrence, who took 625 wickets for the county, and former golfer and Sky Sports activities pundit Trish Johnson.

Bryan Henderson, head of cricket and NFL at Sky Sports activities, has been awarded an MBE for providers to cricket.

Henderson and Sanjay Patel, the previous managing director of The Hundred, had been closely liable for the planning and supply of the short-format cricket match. The competitors will this yr ship a whole lot of thousands and thousands of kilos to the sport from the sale of the groups.

“I am very honoured and humbled,” mentioned Henderson. “It is a tribute to all of the wonderful individuals I have been fortunate sufficient to work with at Sky and within the sport I like.”

Patel added: “I really feel very privileged to obtain this award and to be given the chance to work in a sport that I like. I wish to thank the individuals who supported me and particularly the good workforce who helped construct The Hundred.”

Over a thousand recipients have been awarded for his or her distinctive achievements, with a specific give attention to those that have given their time to public service.

This yr’s recipients embrace devoted neighborhood champions, function fashions in sport, pioneers within the arts, passionate well being employees, and supporters of younger individuals.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer mentioned: “This yr’s Birthday Honours Checklist is a strong reminder of the extraordinary dedication, compassion and repair that exists in each nook of our nation.

“From neighborhood champions to cultural icons, every recipient displays the perfect of Britain. I prolong my heartfelt congratulations and gratitude to all of them.”