Flattered by the "huge honor", the humble heartthrob admits he never thinks of himself as sexy

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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.

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“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!’ ”

Watch Sexiest Man Alive David Beckham Get Sexier By the Second

“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?'”