David Beckham's dreams of participating at the London 2012 Olympic Games are over after Stuart Pearce omitted him from the Team GB football squad.

Beckham, an ambassador for the London 2012 bid since before it was elected to host the Olympics in 2005 - which commence in 29 days - was widely expected to be part of the 23-man squad.

However the 37-year-old has been omitted by coach Pearce, who always maintained he would select players "on merit". Beckham, who plays for the LA Galaxy in the MLS, has not been subjected to European football since a second loan spell with AC Milan in 2010.

Ryan Giggs, his former Manchester United team-mate and Micah Richards, the Manchester City defender who refused to be placed on standby for England's Euro 2012 squad, are also included.

Giggs' fellow Welshman and Liverpool forward Craig Bellamy is the third and final over-age player to make Pearce's list.

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Beckham told the AP: "Everyone knows how much playing for my country has always meant to me. So I would have been honored to have been part of this unique Team GB squad."

"Naturally I am very disappointed, but there will be no bigger supporter of the team than me."

Only earlier this month, Beckham told ITV1's This Morning programme: "I'd love to play, I'm very proud to have played for my country 115 times and obviously been captain of the country for quite a few games and quite a few years, so yeah, I'd love to be involved, but we'll see."

"I'm gonna be here no matter what. I've been an ambassador for the Olympics and the Olympic bid since we got it back in Singapore, and it's something I've been very proud to be a part of. Being part of Seb [Coe]'s team that has bought this amazing event to the End End of London where I'm from, I'm very proud of that."


Gary Lineker
Never thought for a second that David Beckham would be excluded from GB's team. Then again Stuart Pearce has always been his own man

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  • MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 6: David Beckham during filming for an advert for the London 2012 Olympic bid on October 6, 2004 at the Love Is In The Air coffee shop in Manchester, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

  • MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM - MARCH 24: David Beckham (L) and Michael Owen lend their support to the London 2012 Olympic Bid during the England training session at Carrington Training Ground on March 24, 2005 in Manchester, England (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

  • SINGAPORE - JULY 05: British Prime Minister Tony Blair (R) and his wife Cherie Blair arrive with London 2012 bid ambassador and England football star David Beckham at the Sports Science and Engineering Exhibition on July 5, 2005 in Singapore. The 117th International Olympic Committee session starts on July 6 with the announcement of the city which will host the 2012 Summer Games. The cities up for the bid are London, Madrid, Moscow, New York and Paris. (Photo by John Gichigi/Getty Images)

  • SINGAPORE - JULY 05: London 2012 bid ambassador and England football star David Beckham is presented with a plaque by Leo Tan principal of NTAA as guest of honour for an awards ceremony at Nanyang Polytechnic on July 5, 2005 in Singapore. The 117th International Olympic Committee session starts on July 6 with the announcement of the city which will host the 2012 Summer Games. The cities up for the bid are London, Madrid, Moscow, New York and Paris. (Photo by John Gichigi/Getty Images)

  • England's soccer star David Beckham celebrates with Sir Steven Redgrave after London was awarded 2012 Olympics at the IOC session in Singapore Wednesday, July 5, 2005. The race for the 2012 Olympics came down to a two-city showdown Wednesday between European rivals Paris and London. (AP Photo/ David Longstreath)

  • David Beckham celebrates when London beat favourites Paris for the right to stage the 2012 Olympic Games.

  • Lord Colin Moynihan, celebrates the Olympic handover from Beijing to London waving English flags as , football player David Beckham and Olympic's Minister Tessa Jowell look on during the Olympic flag handover event at the London House in Beijing , China, Monday, Aug.25, 2008. London has taken over as the Olympic host city after the Beijing Summer Olympics officially ended. (AP Photo/ Elizabeth Dalziel)

  • BEIJING, CHINA: BEIJING, CHINA: (L-R) David Beckham, Leona Lewis and Jimmy Page, the stars of the London 2012 eight minute "Handover Performance", pose on the evening before the Closing Ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 23, 2008 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images for London 2012)

  • English soccer star David Beckham kicks a ball during the closing ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Olympics at the National Stadium, in Beijing, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

  • English soccer star David Beckham kicks a ball during the closing ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Olympics at the National Stadium, in Beijing, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

  • Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown, left, and football player David Beckham smile at comments made by London Mayor Boris Johnson during an Olympic flag handover event at the London House in Beijing , China, Monday, Aug. 25, 2008. London has taken over as the Olympic host city after the Beijing Summer Olympics officially ended. (AP Photo/ Elizabeth Dalziel)

  • David Beckham (left) and Chair of the London 2012 Organising Committee Lord Coe, during a visit to the Olympic Stadium construction site, in Statford, east London.

  • (from left) Samsung Vice-President and Head of Worldwide Sports Marketing, Gyehyun Kwon, Samsung's first Olympic torchbearer nominee Gabriella Roseje, Samsung Olympic Games Global Ambassador David Beckham and Chair of LOCOG Lord Coe attend the launch of Samsung's Olympic Games campaign Everyone's Olympic Games in Canary Wharf, London.

  • Former England football captain David Beckham sits with students at the Athens University experimental primary school, in Athens, Friday, May 18, 2012, a day after the ceremonial handover of the Olympic flame to the organizers of the 2012 London Olympics. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

  • Former England football captain David Beckham, left, and London Mayor Boris Johnson attend a handover for the Olympic flame at Panathenaean stadium in Athens, Thursday, May 17, 2012. The torch begins its 70-day journey to arrive at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics, from the Greek capital, to cover about 8,000-mile (12,875-kilometer) on its progress over many parts of England to start the games. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

  • Former England football captain David Beckham center and London Mayor Boris Johnson, right, enter the Panathenaean stadium in Athens, on Thursday, May 17, 2012, at a handover for the Olympic flame that will burn at the 2012 Summer Games in London. The torch begins its 70-day journey to arrive at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics, from the Greek capital, to cover about 8,000-mile (12,875-kilometer) on its progress over many parts of England to start the games. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

  • British soccer player David Beckham, left, lights the Olympic torch from the lantern carried onboard the on board a special British Airways flight BA 2012 following its arrival at Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose, west of England, from Greece, Friday, May 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

  • Britain's David Beckham holds the Olympic torch during the ceremony to mark the arrival of the Olympic flame to Britain from Greece, at RNAS Culdrose, Cornwall, England, Friday May 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)