July 26 (Bloomberg) -- David Beckham, captain of England's national soccer team and the sport's highest earner, will no longer endorse the products of Vodafone Group Plc, the world's largest cellular-phone company.

Beckham, who earns 25 million euros ($30 million) a year according to France Football magazine, has appeared in posters and television advertisements for Newbury, England-based Vodafone since 2002. His third one-year contract expired in July and Vodafone spokeswoman Maria Bellanca said in a telephone interview that ``we've decided not to renew it.''

Beckham, also sponsored by companies including Adidas- Salomon AG and Coty Inc., helped Vodafone add 4.14 million subscribers in the three months to June, the company's biggest growth in five years. He's spent the last two years at Real Madrid, whose shirts bear the name of Vodafone's German-based rival Siemens. Bellanca said there are no plans to replace him.

``David's involvement has significantly contributed to the continued enhancement of the Vodafone brand,'' Peter Bamford, Vodafone's chief marketing officer, said in an e-mailed statement. ``We wish him continued success both on and off the pitch.''

Beckham earned about 1 million pounds ($1.74 million) a year from his tie-up with Vodafone, according to the Sun newspaper. He's paid 5 million pounds a year by Madrid and 3.5 million pounds annually by sporting-goods maker Adidas, the newspaper reported. Deals with Brylcreem hair care and software maker Rage Plc earn him 1 million pounds a year, the paper said.

According to the Sunday Times, the 30-year-old midfielder has amassed a joint fortune of 75 million pounds with his wife Victoria, a former member of the Spice Girls pop group. The pair in February agreed to market a range of fragrances and cosmetics for Coty, the world's biggest maker of perfumes and colognes.

No. 6 Earner

Beckham's earnings make him the sixth highest-paid sportsman in the world, France Football reported. Top-ranked golfer Tiger Woods makes 66 million euros a year, edging seven-time Formula One motor-racing champion Michael Schumacher, who gets 63.5 million. Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and basketball's Shaquille O'Neal and Michael Jordan are also ahead of Beckham.

Vodafone's sponsorship of Manchester United, the club that sold Beckham to Madrid in 2003, is worth 13 million euros a year, the fourth-biggest in soccer, according to sports consultant Sport+Markt AG. Siemens AG has paid Madrid 14 million euros a year, while Bayern Munich receives 17 million euros a year from Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile unit. Juventus gets 18.5 million from Tamoil and Sky Italia.

Outside their annual meeting in London today, Vodafone shareholders were given leaflets suggesting they pressure the company to end its sponsorship of United in protest at the club's takeover in May by U.S. billionaire Malcolm Glazer.

Bolster Growth

Vodafone Chairman Ian MacLaurin told shareholders the company would ``take on board what you have said'' and ``review the agreement at a suitable time.''

``The number of cancellations we have had in relation to our sponsorship of Manchester United has been very small indeed,'' Bamford said. ``It's tiny in relation to the overall benefit of the sponsorship over the years.''

Vodafone Chief Executive Arun Sarin said July 25 he plans to bolster growth with takeovers in Poland and Turkey as he repeated a forecast that competition and the cost of signing up customers may dent profitability this year. New subscribers in Europe, where Vodafone competes with Spain's Telefonica SA and T-Mobile, made up for customer losses in Japan.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan Mills in London at at rmills5@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 26, 2005 12:38 EDT