ITV2 has snatched exclusive UK television rights of David Beckham's debut for new club Real Madrid.

ITV2 will screen live all four games of the Spanish club's pre-season friendly tour of Asia in August. This will give British viewers their first glimpse of the England captain playing in Real's famous all-white strip alongside new teammates and soccer legends Ronaldo, Figo, Roberto Carlos, Zidane and Raul.

The deal, negotiated by Zai Bennett (ITV2) with Richard Sunderland (Heavenly Marketing on behalf of rights holder ASD), will see Spanish League winners Real take on two national and two club sides in China, Japan and Malaysia.

Zai Bennett, ITV2's Head of Scheduling and Strategy, said: "It's a major coup for ITV2 to have won David Beckham's first kick for new team Real Madrid, and we're delighted to bring this historic event to both football fans and Beckham watchers

Heavenly, ASD's UK representatives, are delighted with the partnership. Commenting Managing Director Richard Sunderland said: "This is a great signing for ITV2. Debut games don't come any bigger than this. Whatever David Beckham does, the world will be watching. And in the UK, they will be watching on ITV2".

The ITV2 transmission schedule (UK times), is:

Saturday 2 August at 12.30pm Real Madrid v China Dragons Kick-off 1pm

Tuesday 5 August at 10.45am Real Madrid v FC Tokyo Kick-off 11am

Friday 8 August at 12.45pm Real Madrid v China Kick-off 1pm

Sunday 10 August at 12.45pm Real Madrid v Malaysia Kick-off 1pm

A 60-minute highlights show will also be aired the same evening on ITV2, and the games will be replayed in full in the late-night schedule.

ITV2 is one of the fastest growing digital channels. In May 2003, it achieved its highest monthly audience share of 2.16% in multi-channel homes, beating E4, UK Gold and BBC3 to become the second most popular non-terrestrial channel.

Source: ITV.com