Fourteen teams paid £25,000 each to take part in the fourth Corporate Cup, clad in the colours of the elite. It gave them a professional coach and a professional teammate, access for 12 players and 13 spectators, the matches, the party, the music, the food and the drink, inclusive. In short, it’s a shameless fundraising exercise.

“Our biggest of the year,” DBA marketing director Anthony White nods sagely. Replenishing the coaching coffers to support the thousands of free places the academy offers to schools around the country, in step with its paying customers. But it’s for charity too. Beckham himself nominated recipient the Shine Trust, which helps disadvantaged children raise their educational achievement levels.

Dressed in FC Schalke strip, managed by Ossie Ardiles, with former Newcastle midfi elder Rob Lee playing a stormer, Trader Monthly grew in confi dence and prowess across the competition, beating Marseille, aka the Canary Wharf Group, 2-1 in the final.

“It was really well put together. The organisation and the communication were seamless, from the games to the party. It would have been amazing even if we didn’t win it,” publishing director/captain Christian Price says, still upbeat some three weeks after the occasion. “We slipped up in our opening game and lost 1-0, but we just got better and better. Next thing I know, David Beckham’s presenting me with a huge trophy. I still can’t believe we won it.”

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Introduced to DBA via a mutual friend at the footballer’s management company, 19 Entertainment, Marcus Rendle, managing director at Hype, took the opportunity to put his stamp on the occasion. He brought the party in-house, to a sumptuously furnished structure from his own warehouse. To budget then, but with bells on.

“As soon as you take it further afi eld, even if it’s next door to The O2, where it went last year, you risk losing people in transit,” he explains. “And the Academy is a perfect site. There’s good access and it’s an amazing physical space.”

Open from 6:00pm, activity in the party zone built slowly, with punters and players caught up in the playing schedule. A couple of hours in saw the less victorious seeking sustenance and swigs of solace, and post presentations it turned full on festive, with a set from DJ Spoony and a heaving dancefloor.

“Reaction was really good,” Rendle continues. “We wanted to support our ambition to put more events on there, and we have established a working relationship with the Academy, which is a positive step.”

He accepts that it’s football fi rst at the venue, that it’s busy throughout the year and not the sort of place to prioritise anything over the kids signed up to the programme. Rendle, however, maintains that a bigger set of corporate options at Christmas needn’t interfere with the schedule.

“If I can provide a good, non-intrusive extra revenue stream, I don’t think they would turn it down,” he says. “The plan for 2009 is to book the venue for a week in December and to host four events back to back, so clients can benefi t from economies of scale in the same way they do at [Hype sites] the British Empire & Commonwealth Museum and the Paintworks in Bristol. We have wanted to operate our own Christmas venue in London for a few years now but have not found anywhere we felt was worthy of pursuing. Most sites are locked in existing contracts with other event companies.”

With its proximity to the City, and Canary Wharf just one tube stop away, the Beckham Academy answered all the questions. “The sheer space means that we can host not only corporate events for 4,000 plus, but we can include funfair rides and so on too,” Rendle enthuses. Similarly, draping off areas as required can accommodate smaller events, and the enquiries are already coming in.

“Hype did a very good job. They delivered on their promises. There is certainly scope for doing more here,” White tells Access. “And we would be happy to talk to them.”