Landon Donovan Responds to David Beckham’s LA Galaxy Captaincy Regret | OneFootball

Landon Donovan is speaking out about losing his LA Galaxy captaincy to David Beckham.

Beckham, who joined the LA Galaxy late in the 2007 season after leaving Real Madrid, recently said on CBS Sports’ Beckham & Friends Live that the “one regret” of his playing career was taking the club’s captaincy from Donovan when he joined. Donovan had spent the 2007 season as captain prior to Beckham’s arrival.

While Beckham said he initially denied owner Philip Anschutz’s request to take the captaincy, he later changed his mind after receiving Donovan’s blessing.

“A week went by and they came to me again and said they spoke to Landon, Landon’s completely fine with it,” Beckham said. “I then asked Landon and he said ‘Yeah, of course no problem.’ And they gave me the captain’s armband.

“It’s my one regret, I should never have taken it off of Landon.”

Asked about those comments, Donovan admitted that he did not initially agree with the decision to pass along the captaincy to Beckham.

“In the end, I wanted to win and so if the right thing to do was to do that, and that's fine,” Donovan told Sports Illustrated. “I told our coach and our general manager and our owner that I didn't agree with it, but in the long run, that was what was best for the team, and I understood that.”

Donovan said he reached out to Beckham to express appreciation for his comments on taking the captaincy.

“It gave David confidence when he came in, it gave him more clout with the team immediately, and although it didn't happen quickly, eventually it was the right thing because we were able to succeed and win together,” Donovan said. “It wasn't comfortable at the time for sure for me, but ultimately I wanted to win and we did that.”

Beckham went on to serve as LA Galaxy captain through the 2008 season, but Donovan earned the armband back from 2009 to 2011. The duo ended up winning two MLS Cup titles together with the Galaxy in 2011 and 2012.

To mark their legacy, Beckham and Donovan both have statues outside the Galaxy’s stadium and are members of the club’s Ring of Honor.

Donovan is the Galaxy’s all-time leading scorer, having played with the club from 2005 to 2014 and returning briefly in 2016. He is Major League Soccer’s all-time leader in regular-season goals (145), assists (136), playoff goals (25) and had the league’s MVP award named after him in 2015.

Currently, Beckham serves as the president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF, which is participating in the FIFA Club World Cup this summer. Meanwhile, Donovan recently served as interim head coach of the NWSL’s San Diego Wave FC in 2024.

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