BBC Sport Online: Football

Beckham outshone by Egyptian

The inaugural Pepsi challenge, which tested players' passing, dribbling, shooting, ball control and juggling tricks, was won by Egyptian club Zamalek's Hazem Emam.

The little-known footballer beat Beckham and his Manchester United team-mate Dwight Yorke into fifth and third place respectively.

Nguyen Hong Son, a 30-year-old, who plays for the Vietnamese Army took second place.

But the world's greatest players proved no match for Emam, who amassed 111 points to win the competition.

Yorke, who along with Beckham, won full marks for his ball-juggling skills was stunned by the result.

Slipped over

He told the News of the World: "I know what Becks, Veron and Roberto Carlos are capable of, but Emam was a total surprise."

The tasks were devised by Old Trafford boss Alex Ferguson, who said: "I purposely didn't make the skills tests easy.

"We can all take free-kicks and dribble - but these test the person. "

Beckham's most embarrassing moment came when he slipped over during the dribbling test.

He also finished joint second from bottom in the free-kicks discipline.

And surprisingly, Beckham could only achieve 15 points out of an available 50 in the passing test.

Beckham finished the competition 36 points behind Emam, but it is unlikely Ferguson would consider a swap deal involving the players!