David Beckham arrives in Beijing as to begin China football role

David Beckham arrives in Beijing as to begin China football role

The former England captain, who will combine the job with playing for Paris Saint Germain, was met by a media scrum and thousands of fans at the start of his four-day visit.

Beckham will attend league matches in China and visit schools to promote the game at grassroots level.

The 37-year-old said earlier this month that he was "excited by the prospect of promoting the world's greatest game to Chinese sports fans".

Chinese football is working to recover from a match-fixing scandal that has seen several top officials, players and referees jailed or banned.

Television viewing figures for foreign leagues far outnumber those for the tarnished domestic league, while the national side failed to qualify for next year's World Cup.