LONDON, Oct 13: England captain David Beckham apologised Wednesday for admitting to getting deliberately booked in Saturday's World Cup qualifying win over Wales as he was a yellow card away from a one- match ban and was certain he had broken ribs in an earlier tackle.

FIFA President, Joseph Blatter, had earlier called on the English Football Association (FA) to take action against Beckham over his comments in Tuesday's Daily Telegraph where he said it was a deliberate foul on Ben Thatcher.

"I knew I will be out for a few weeks, so I thought: Let's get the yellow card out of the way," Beckham told the paper. "I was asked a question and made a frank and honest admission to counter the negative speculation. I now know that was wrong and apologise to the FA, the England coach, my team-mates and all England fans," said Beckham in a statement.

"I have also apologised personally to my manager Sven Goran Eriksson. The greatest honour in my career was when I was made England captain, there is no better feeling in football than playing for your country.

I know that as captain you are in a privileged position and must always abide by FIFA's code of fair play, something which I have always done throughout my career. On this occasion I made a mistake." -dpa