David Beckham is setting up his own school - a soccer school.

The David Beckham Academy opens this summer in east London, not far from where the England and Real Madrid midfielder grew up.

Dressed in a white track suit and wearing his hair long again, Beckham spoke softly Monday as students ran through basic drills with several hundred photographers and reporters crowding around.

"That was a good one, mate," said Beckman, encouraging one student.

As a child, Beckham attended a soccer school run by former England midfielder Bobby Charlton. He wants his school to be similar: professional, but low key.

"To see the happiness that football brings to kids, for me that is the most important thing," Beckham said.

Built next to the Millennium Dome on a horseshoe bend in the Thames, the academy will have two full-size fields, indoor facilities, classrooms and a dining area. The school will be open to boys and girls ages 8-15.

About 15,000 are expected to enroll, with 10,000 enrolling for free. Others will pay a STG250 ($A608.27) fee for a five-day training camp.

"David has never lost touch with the school and the friends he had there," said Clive Moore, the head teacher at Chingford Foundation School - Beckham's old school. "He wants to put something back into football."

Said Beckham: "To have kids from that school, and have them down here now and be part of this is special to me."

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