On Tuesday afternoon, David Beckham officially received his knighthood at Windsor Castle.
It's the former England captain's latest (and arguably most prestigious) acchievment, adding to a list that includes six Premier League winners medals, a Champions League title and an ambassadorship to the UNICEF and King's Foundation.
A lesser-known Beckham accolade is that he holds the Premier League record for most goals from a direct free-kick (18).
There is current player who is close enough to steal this record from the Inter Miami co-owner.
Enter James Ward-Prowse.
Ward-Prowse's free-kick prowess:
Ward-Prowse is just one goal behind Beckham on the all-time list, with 17 goals from direct free-kicks. Per data from Opta, six of the midfielder's free kicks have been winners and a staggering 13 have come away from home.
He made his Premier League debut in 2012, but he didn't score his first from a free-kick until January 2016. The England international's reputation as one of the all-time great free-kick takers in the league was bolstered during the 2021-22 season, where he scored four.
At the start of 2023, Pep Guardiola called him "the best free-kick taker I have ever seen." Less than a month later, his free-kick winner at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea took him within one goal off Beckham's record.
It felt only a matter of time before Ward-Prowse surpassed Beckham. But, it remains his last goal from a free-kick.
Could Beckham still hold on to his title?
Ward-Prowse's dead-ball prowess wasn't good enough to keep Southampton in the Premier League in 2022-23, and he left for West Ham United that summer. After a middling first season at the club, he joined Nottingham Forest on loan for the following campaign.
But, the midfielder struggled to break into Nuno Espirito Santo's starting XI and returned to east London midway through the season.
As luck would have it, Espirito Santo replaced Graham Potter as West Ham boss early into this season. Ward-Prowse started each of the five games in the league under Potter but was promptly dropped from the squad after Espirito Santo took over.
It's going to be hard for him to break Beckham's record when he can't even make it onto the pitch at the moment.
All-time list of most free-kick goals in the Premier League:
David Beckham - 18
James Ward-Prowse - 17
Thierry Henry, Gianfranco Zola, Cristiano Ronaldo - 12
Laurent Robert, Sebastian Larsson - 11
Ian Harte, Morten Gamst Pedersen - 10
Nolberto Solano, Frank Lampard, Jamie Redknapp, James Maddison - 9
Christian Eriksen, Juan Mata - 8
Matt Le Tissier, Steven Gerrard, Alan Shearer, Mikel Arteta, Gary McAllister, Gylfi Sigursson, Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, Didier Drogba, Ashley Young - 7