During the visit Beckham, who remains one of the most recognisable names in football despite retiring in 2013, played a charity football match against local villagers and visited children at the Mount Hagen General Hospital.
Papua New Guinea was the first stop on Beckham’s tour, which will see him play football in seven different countries to promote awareness and raise funds for UNICEF’s work with children.
The initiative is part of the UNICEF 7 Fund – named after the former England skipper’s shirt number – which Beckham started in February this year.
“At the start of this year I launched my own fund with UNICEF because I wanted to help build a safer world for children,” Beckham says.
“I feel very proud to have visited Papua New Guinea to see for the first time how the money raised is helping to keep children healthy and safe, by providing life-saving therapeutic food for children suffering from malnutrition.”
UNICEF has strong links to football in the Oceania region through being an official partner of the Oceania Football Confederation’s sport for development programme Just Play.
Papua New Guinea sports minister Justin Tkatchenko says the visit has also created a lot of interest around football, ahead of a big 12 months for the game.
“The Beckham visit was timely as it has drawn attention to football and boosted the profile of the game in the country as we prepare to host a couple of major tournaments next year,” Tkatchenko says.
“We have the OFC Nations Cup and FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Papua New Guinea, which will make for a huge 2016.”
Beckham will also visit Nepal, Argentina, Djibouti, the United States, Antarctica and England as part of the project.
For more on Papua New Guinea football visit www.pngfootball.com.pg

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