FA give Beckham one week to explain deliberate booking

David Beckham has been given a week to explain himself following the controversy which erupted over his deliberate booking against Wales.

The England captain is still in danger of either facing a charge of bringing the game into disrepute or receiving an official warning from the Football Association as to his future conduct. However, for the time being, the FA has required the Real Madrid midfielder to provide them with a written explanation of the events of the past week.

An FA statement on the matter said: "The FA has today written to England captain David Beckham asking for his observations regarding the following: the incident involving Ben Thatcher during last Saturday's World Cup qualifying match against Wales, which resulted in him receiving a yellow card; the motivation which led to him making the challenge which incurred a caution; subsequent comments attributed to him which were published in a national newspaper on Tuesday 12 October.

"David Beckham has until Friday 22 October to respond."

Beckham admitted he deliberately fouled the Welsh defender Ben Thatcher to get himself booked in order to serve out a one-match suspension for Wednesday's win in Azerbaijan while injured. He had suffered a cracked rib in a challenge with Thatcher minutes earlier which he said he knew would rule him out of the game and was eager to pick up a second yellow card of the World Cup qualifying campaign, serve the suspension while banned, and return with a clean slate rather than with one yellow card on his record.