Former England captain David Beckham has revealed that as a boy he used to stay in and "watch Match of the Day" instead of go out with his mates on a Saturday night.
Beckham, 40, is the most-capped outfield player in England's history and helped Manchester United and Real Madrid to seven titles in a storied career.
But speaking to adidas Gamedayplus, Beckham revealed that it was the "sacrifices" and "dedication" he made as a youngster that led him to success.
"People measure success with, in my field, by trophies, medals, by the success that I’ve had over my career," said Beckham.
"Personally I measure success by 'have I had a good time, have I had fun, have I reached the goals that I wanted to reach that I had when I was eight, nine-years-old'.
"I wanted to captain my country, I wanted to represent my country in a world cup, I wanted to win the fa cup, luckily I achieved all those dreams."
He added: "But when I sit with kids and they turn round and say how can we be professional footballers the one thing I always say to them is, 'you have to enjoy yourself, you have to have fun playing football if you want to be a footballer.
"'More importantly you have to be dedicated you have to make sacrifices', that’s one of the most important things for me.
"As a young kid living in London, you have friends going out on a Friday night. But I made the sacrifice of staying in watching Match of the Day on a Saturday evening and when I had a game on Sunday I went to bed early."
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