Beckham deal ‘has ruined Unicef work’ say charity insiders

SENIOR officials at Unicef have been left dismayed at David Beckham’s decision to sign a multi-million-pound deal to be the face of the Qatar World Cup.

Well-placed sources say the ‘great’ and ‘fundamental’ work the former England captain did with the organisation over the past 15 years has been ‘ruined’ following his lucrative tie-up with the Middle Eastern country.

Beckham, 46, serves as a goodwill ambassador for Unicef and in 2015 he launched 7: The David Beckham Unicef Fund, his own arm of the charity.

While the organisation is refusing to comment on his decision to take the money from Qatar, which has a poor human rights record, some senior bosses are cross.

One source told The Mail on Sunday: ‘In all fairness to David, he has made a huge contribution to Unicef over the course of many years. David has brightened and saved the lives of children across the globe, but for the next year the only thing people will be talking about him will be him taking millions from Qatar.

‘It is the antithesis of Unicef. It is all very sad.’

Insiders say that it is unlikely he will be dropped by the agency, but they speculate he will not be involved in any projects for the foreseeable future.

The Mail on Sunday revealed in February that Beckham had signed a deal with Qatar to be the public face of the competition, which starts next November.

Qatar had been in talks to sponsor his new US football team, Inter Miami, which began competing in March last year. But senior officials at the club decided at the last minute not to proceed.

At that point, Beckham agreed the personal deal.