The sexiest man alive

David Beckham is a global superstar, devoted husband and down-to-earth dad of four. And now, the humble British heartthrob is this year's Sexiest Man Alive.

"It's a huge honor," Beckham, 40, tells PEOPLE of scoring our 30th anniversary Sexiest Man crown. "And I'm very pleased to accept."

Although he's been a sex symbol for nearly two decades, the self-effacing soccer icon isn't sure he's even deserving of the mantle. "I never feel that I'm an attractive, sexy person," he says in this week's cover story. "I mean I like to wear nice clothes and nice suits and look and feel good, but I don't ever think of myself that way."

Still, when Beckham shared the news with his wife, fashion mogul Victoria Beckham, 41, she was totally on-board.

For more on the Sexiest Man Alive – and to see who else made the cut – pick up the new issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday

"I would hope that she feels this way about me all the time anyway!" he says with a shy smile. "But she said, 'Congratulations!' "
"We kind of laughed about it with the boys and the boys kind of laughed at me and said, 'Really?! Sexiest man alive? Really?' "

A hands-on father of Brooklyn, 16, Romeo, 12, Cruz, 10, and Harper, 4, Beckham says he's getting the most ribbing from his eldest: "Brooklyn was the one who was like, 'Are you sure it's not me that's meant to be there today?'"