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For drama and sheer unpredictability, it's a comeback which mirrors Manchester United's incredible victory in the European Cup Final.
Just a few months ago, David Beckham was a pariah. The mob hatred to which he was subjected was of an intensity normally reserved for murdering paedophiles.
But Beckham's only crime was to be sent off in England's World Cup game against Argentina for retaliating after he was fouled by an opponent.
When England went on to lose that match on penalties, a heartbroken nation found an easy scapegoat in the rash 23-year-old, who had trudged off the park at St Etienne with tears of remorse swelling in his eyes.
In the days following that desperate night of June 30, Beckham was without doubt the most hated man in the country. When an effigy of the player swinging from a noose appeared outside a pub, it even seemed as if his life might be in danger.
In a bid to lighten the gloom, a football-mad minister erected the sign 'God forgives even David Beckham' outside his church.
Who then would have imagined that within a year this same villain would be feted as a national hero? Probably about as many as imagined, in the dying moments of Wednesday's game, that United would emerge victorious.
With his matinee idol good looks, pop star girlfriend, designer clothes and reedy voice (which has been compared to Michael Crawford playing Frank Spencer), it has been easy to dismiss Beckham as a lightweight character.
But what all those who wrote him off last year failed to appreciate is that he is, at heart, rather a serious young man.
His unbridled delight in fatherhood - his son Brooklyn by his Spice Girl fiancee Victoria Adams was born on March 4 - has afforded Beckham a golden opportunity to demonstrate his new-found maturity to the public.
But for the most part it has been on the pitch that the player has shown himself to be a fundamentally sensible, strong-hearted chap.
He has endured obscene taunts from rival fans about his fiancee. Since that World Cup game, he has also had to contend with supporters who branded him 'Beck-scum'.
But such adversity has made him stronger, both mentally and as a player. This season he has been a pillar of his club's phenomenal success, and - incredibly - he is being hailed as a role model as much for his temperament as for his skills.
Guzzling Gazza would have gone on a binge after the World Cup. And so, in fact, did Beckham, in the New York boutiques where he embarked on binge buying. For the record, Beckham rarely drinks alcohol.
Shopping is a passion for him and Victoria, and his unusual dress sense is famous - string vests, strange woolly hats and the unforgettable sarong.
It may well be no coincidence that the eye-popping spending spree on a fleet of luxury cars - a £70,000 Range Rover, a Bentley, Jaguar XK8, Porsche and £220,000 silver Ferrari 550 Maranello - began last August after the World Cup.
He recently told the Mail: 'I'd be lying if I said I didn't like nice clothes. We both like nice clothes and we like to go shopping. But we're not in there 24 hours a day - we go only now and again. There's nothing wrong with that.
'I've never looked at a car and thought: 'That's too much money, I can't spend that.' I love cars. But I haven't lost the value of money,' added the player who, thanks to a huge wage and even bigger sponsorship deals, earned £2.9 million last year.
While his Manchester United team-mates enjoy a break from the glare of publicity, we shall be hearing much more of Beckham and his Spice Girl this summer.
They are to marry in Ireland in July - Manchester United teammate Gary Neville will be best man - and in scale and opulence (albeit sometimes in questionable taste) it is set to dwarf the wedding of Edward and Sophie.
Victoria and David even commissioned a family crest to adorn the invitations and were forced to weather the embarrassment after it was pointed out that their linked initials spelled 'VD'.
The wedding is sure to be an orgy of celebrities, combining her friends from showbusiness and his friends from that sub-strata of showbusiness which football
Naturally, the happy day will be faithfully recorded by a glossy magazine, which has paid a reported £1 million for the privilege of being wedding photographer. But for all their sparkling associates, the couple seem content with only each other for company.
As Victoria said: 'David and I haven't got that many friends. We could have our wedding in a postbox if we wanted.' Such self-sufficiency bodes well for their marriage. It may well derive from the fact that both come from close families.
Victoria spends time with her family in Hertfordshire whenever she can, and Beckham, who was born in London's East End, is exceedingly close to his parents.
His father, Ted, is a kitchen equipment fitter, and his mother, Sandra, is a hair-dresser. Ted once had aspirations to play the beautiful game professionally but concentrated instead on cultivating his son's talents.
A devoted Manchester United fan, Ted bought his son a replica kit every Christmas. When Beckham signed for the club on his 14th birthday, he burst into tears.
No-one would bet against Brooklyn (named after the New York district where he was conceived) following in his father's footsteps.
'Being a father is just how I expected. Totally as I expected. I knew I would enjoy it,' said Beckham.
'It's just unbelievable that someone comes out of a person who you love so much, like I love Victoria. You know, it's just amazing really.'
Last summer, the depth of hatred against Beckham was such that the Prime Minister intervened. 'I should think no-one feels worse about it than David Beckham does. He is obviously going to have to learn from that,' said Tony Blair.
And learn, he has. 'I think after the World Cup I have grown up a lot, because I had to,' says Beckham. 'You learn certain things about the game and outside the game. I think I learned about my personality, and about stress.'
After all, any Briton who puts one over on the Germans is bound to be popular. But there is more to Beckham's rehabilitation than one game. It's the product of a year of hard work, level-headedness and success.
Just a few months ago it seemed that, at the tender age of 23, Beckham had already written his own epitaph. 'David Beckham - the player who lost England the World Cup,' it would say.
No matter what he did subsequently, it seemed, that is how he would be remembered. But now the slate has been wiped clean.
What his epitaph will say is up to him...and his right foot.
