Beckham gives his World Cup opinions in Beijing

World
Europe

01:43

England football icon David Beckham was in Beijing on Wednesday to help kick off China's University football league. The opening ceremony of the China University Football Association (CUFA) was held inside the Beijing Institute of Technology but it was the former Manchester United and Real Madrid star who took center stage.

As beneficiary of youth football development in England, Beckham acknowledged the growth of youth football in China. Lauding the development of the game in the country, he said, "In the future this country really does have real opportunities to become one of the big powerhouses in this sport, but it takes a lot of investment, a lot of hard work, and it's going in the right direction."

David Beckham unveils the jersey of one of the teams in the CUFA in Beijing. /VCG Photo

Meanwhile, the former England captain also spoke about the ongoing FIFA World Cup in Russia. While predicting the final, Beckham, who just saw England beat Tunisia 2-1 in their opening game, mentioned, "I believe Argentina will play against England in the final."

"I think obviously my choice would be England to win the competition, but that's me being biased and passionate about my country."

England has long stuttered on the big stage and they last reached the World Cup quarter-finals in 2006, when Beckham was captain. Their only World Cup final was way back in 1966, when they beat West Germany at Wembley.

"I'm very happy that we won the first game in the group," he said. "England is a very young team, they don't have a lot of experience yet and the journey of the World Cup will become harder and harder because there are many good teams in the tournament."