David Beckham has recalled his first meeting with wife Victoria – and revealed he still has the train ticket upon which she wrote her phone number.

The former England captain, 44, has been married to the ex-Spice Girl, 45, since 1999 and they have four children together.

During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Beckham told how he was a young player at Manchester United when he met his future wife.

He said: “She came to watch me in a game in London with her manager at the time and one of the other Spice Girls, Sporty Spice.

“We knew of them, obviously, because they were pretty big at the time. And I was just establishing myself in the Manchester United team at the time. But we all had our favourite Spice Girl.”

Asked by Fallon if the then-Victoria Adams was his favourite, a laughing Beckham replied: “She was obviously my favourite, might be a bit awkward if (she) wasn’t.”

He then told how Victoria travelled to Manchester the following week and they spoke for the first time – and he still has a memento from the day.

Beckham, whose Inter Miami football club are about to enter Major League Soccer in the US, said: “She’d had a couple of drinks so I decided why not, I’ll try and get her number.

“We talked for about an hour in the players’ lounge. She actually got the train up that day so she wrote her number down on her train ticket, which I still have.”

The Beckhams tied the knot in a lavish ceremony at Luttrellstown Castle in Ireland in July 1999.

They have four children – sons Brooklyn, 20, Romeo, 17, Cruz, 15 and eight-year-old daughter Harper.