London, Oct 15: England football captain David Beckham has parted company with his commercial agents and pledged to concentrate on playing for both his country, ahead of next year's European championships in Portugal, and for his club Real Madrid. Beckham announced late yesterday that he had left the SFX sports group and would turn down new advertising deals in the short term.
A written statement released by the Beckham camp said: "David Beckham has today confirmed he has parted company with the SFX sports group."
"His contract was due for renewal and he has decided with the European championships and a busy year in Madrid he will be focusing entirely on football and not taking on any new commercial activity in the short term -- except as part of his club commitments."
Beckham's spokesman said SFX would continue to earn from the current deals it has negotiated for the player, which involve leading world brands Vodafone, Adidas and Pepsi.
"He will continue to work with his current sponsors," the statement said.
News of Beckham's departure shocked SFX, which has successfully negotiated 10 commercial deals over the last year worth more than 10 mn pounds annually to the player.
"We are very surprised to learn of this statement given that David Beckham remains under contract to SFX for next 2 years," said company chairman and chief executive Jon Holmes.
"We are aware and recognise that David wants to cut down on the level of his commercial commitments and we support that view and we are actively helping him to achieve this." Bureau Report