David Beckham receives a Hongi (Maori Greeting) from a member of a Maori welcoming Kapa Haka group as he arrives with his team LA Galaxy at the Wellington airport on Thursday.
Following the popular tour to Australia, Beckham is all set to send the Trans-Tasmanian neighbours in to frenzy; the exhibition game between LA Galaxy and local Phoenix side just one of the events on his packed itinerary.
A crowd of about 500, including teenage girls, who said they had skipped school to see Beckham, were waiting at Wellington Airport when the team flew in from Sydney, reports said.
More than 15,000 schoolchildren are expected to be at Wellington's Westpac Stadium on Friday morning to see Beckham and the Galaxy players in a training session.
Organisers are hoping that more than 31,000 spectators will be at the stadium Saturday evening for the game with the Phoenix, setting a new record for a football crowd in New Zealand, where rugby is the most popular sport.
Beckham made all the right statements on his arrival, saying he would love to face an All Blacks haka.
In his first official comments since his arrival, the soccer superstar said the powhiri his LA Galaxy team received at Wellington airport was "honouring".
"It is something that no player, and no person, would miss," he said.
He acknowledged that New Zealand was a rugby country and said he had watched the national side do the haka many times on TV.
He added: "I would love to stand in front of the All Blacks and see them do it."
On Wednesday, Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber said Beckham's move was an unqualified success and should pave the way for other high-profile European players to migrate to the United States.
Garber said he expected the 12-year-old league to eventually sign players like Barcelona's Ronaldinho and Thierry Henry.
"David was really a home run for us, to use a baseball analogy," Garber said at the Reuters Media Summit in New York.
Garber said the league, which owns all player contracts, pays the 32-year-old English midfielder $5.5 million in base salary. He confirmed reports that Beckham stands to earn $250 million should he meet other incentives in his five-year contract, like revenue sharing and endorsements.
"I think he's going to make the $250 million when the five years are up," said Garber. "I really believe that. Just look at what he's been able to generate this year.
"He is just an incredible marketing machine. And a lot of that has to do with him being quite the celebrity. If I was a sponsor, I would want him to represent me because he's just a quality guy."
Photograph: Getty Images
