For David Beckham, the World Cup is over before it begins. But in his other career, as a global celebrity, the Beckham ba­n­d­wagon will roll on.

Even as Beckham had surgery Monday on his torn Achilles’ tendon, his agents were working to ensure he retains a page 1 presence. Al­r­eady the richest player in his game, he will take wing, on crut­ches if needed, to present England’s case for staging the 2018 World Cup.

It is one of the myriad roles that — along with juggling his careers on either side of the Atlantic with the Los Angeles Galaxy and AC Milan — might have contributed to the injury he sustained Sunday night in Italy. Medical specialists agree that air miles can take a toll on an athlete, especially one who plays ba­ck-to-back seasons on two sides of the ocean and travels the world on his own account to satisfy his sponsors or to promote ch­a­­ritable causes.

Only the surgeon who repaired the torn tendon can best predict the cha­nces of Beckham’s ever pl­a­ying top-level soccer ag­ain. But even before the specialist, Dr. Sakari Orava, could so mu­ch as examine the tendon — “totally torn” is how he described it after the surgery at his Finnish clinic — Beckham’s advisers were setting targets for him to play again.

Defying the odds has long been Beckham’s strongest trait. All that he has ach­ieved, all that he and his wi­fe, Victoria, have banked — as the fifth-richest couple on Forbes list — is a product of hard, persistent, repetitive work.

He turned his limited talent into a career with three of the world’s most illustrious clubs — Manc­hester United, Real Mad­rid and AC Milan. He over­ca­me a lack of speed by pra­cticing until he perfected the ability to strike a soccer ball as accurately as Tiger Woods hits a golf ball. His curling free kicks inspired the phrase “bend it like Beckham,” and a 2002 mo­vie of that name.

He married into the celebrity world of his pop-star wife, even if that spoiled his relationship wi­th Alex Ferguson, his manager at Manchester United at the time. His comebacks for England created a résumé that included playing 115 matches for his natio­nal team — more games th­an any other English non­-goalkeeper. As the face of many a world brand, from aftershave to hair gel to perfume, and the body of fas­hion brands down to his un­derwear, Beckham has us­ed commercial acumen to earn an estimated $190 million. So if it is all over for him as a player, one should not think the world has seen the last of him. He has been written off too many times. When he yelled: “It’s broken! It’s broken!” as he pulled up lame late in AC Milan’s Italian league ma­tch against Chievo on Sunday, without an opponent within yards, he probably knew that his World Cup was over.

He may, in any case, travel to South Africa as am­bassador for England’s bid to host the event in 2018. Not even Nelson Ma­ndela, and certainly not the committee members of FI­FA, soccer’s world governing body, would decline a handshake or a photo call with David Beckham.

This is in part because of his personality, in part be­cause of his legend. He so­mehow sustains the impression of a boy thirsting to play one more time for club or country, while at the same time being competitive, ev­en ruthless enough to take the next cap at the expense of younger rivals who line up on England’s right wing.

As the club games built up — more than 700 of them at United, Madrid and Milan — so did his carefully managed businesses, his public image, his apparent belief th­at he was indestructible.

Some see his crossing the Atlantic to Los Angeles as a misadventure. It came when he was low. He felt that Fabio Capello, his co­ach at Real Madrid, did not respect him as a team player, and when he was approached with the idea of becoming the figure to ignite soccer throughout the United States, he went.

For that, and a reported salary of more than the rest of his team combined.

The offer was made in January 2007, and Beckham was contracted to Real Madrid through June that year. He saw out that season, helping the club win the Spanish title, then ca­me to the United States.