David Beckham paid tribute to Gary Speed as the soccer world mourned the death of the Wales manager.
Cheshire police in north-west England, where Speed lived, said in a statement that a 42-year-old man had been found hanged at his home and that there were no suspicious circumstances.
Beckham, who is in Indonesia as part of LA Galaxy's Asia-Pacific tour, said: "Obviously, firstly I would like to speak about Gary (Speed). I think he was an amazing, talented player, a player that had such a glittering career and just began a great career in management as well.
"On behalf of myself and the players and the manager and everybody at the Galaxy we'd like to send our love and thoughts to his wife and his children and all of his family because it's a sad time to lose a man like this. So we send our love, we send our thoughts to everybody involved with Gary's family."
Tributes poured in from hundreds of colleagues and former team mates. Fans left shirts and floral tributes at football stadiums; many of them marked "Rest in Peace."
Speed, who was awarded the honorific title of Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to football last year, leaves a wife and two sons.
Speed played for Leeds United, Everton, Newcastle United, Bolton Wanderers and Sheffield United in a playing career that spanned 22 seasons and he became Wales manager last December.
He was a member of the Leeds team that won the last First Division title in 1992, before the start of the Premier League, and he became the first player to make 500 Premier League appearances during his time at Bolton in December 2006.
He retired after making 535 appearances in the Premier League. He also made 85 appearances for Wales between 1990 and 2004, becoming their most capped outfield player and second highest overall behind goalkeeper Neville Southall.
He then turned to management - briefly with Sheffield United as player-manager then with Wales from last December. Although Wales were eliminated from the race for the Euro 2012 finals, they had won their last three internationals and there were signs of real improvement under Speed's guidance.
Reuters