The former Manchester United star has 115 caps for his country, second only to former goalkeeper Peter Shilton's 125.

Even though Beckham is still playing at a high level for Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1, Hodgson said England's glut of quality midfielders would count against his chances of a recall.

"I would be surprised if David was seriously thinking 'I want to play for England again, I want to be in the England team', but I'd also be surprised if ever I had need of him, he'd say 'no, I don't want to do it'," Hodgson said.

"I think that's basically where we are, I think that's the best way I could describe it at the moment.

"And certainly if you're talking about an area of strength of English football at the moment, with English players, I think the midfield is actually an area of enormous strength.

"Had he been a centre-forward or a centre-back he might have a bit more (of a) chance."

Beckham's enthusiasm in playing for his country was famous, and Hodgson said he had been impressed by the level of commitment from all the men who play under him.

"If there's anything that's not surprised me but been a pleasant revelation, then that's the suggestions that people don't care that much and it's all about Champions League football, and that their clubs are the all-important thing, and playing for England is not as it used to be," Hodgson said.

"That's not been the case as far as I'm concerned.

"We have a lot of players who still have that same wide-eyed enthusiasm for putting on the national team shirt and that's very, very important."

Goalkeeper Joe Hart fits comfortably in that category.

"That's what it is to play for England: it's an amazing honour and something I'd never, ever really dreamed of doing," Hart said.

"But now I'm doing it, it's one of the greatest achievements of my life."

Hodgson, meanwhile, welcomed moves this week by UEFA and FIFA to try and stamp out racism, but called for a uniform approach across all of Europe and the rest of the world.

"It also goes without saying that those of us who work in football, we are all for zero tolerance and we are all 100 percent against racism," Hodgson said.

"The one thing that concerns you a little bit, and certainly need to be looked into a little bit closer is what happens at the stadia, because it's very difficult sometimes for us within football to control every element that enters a stadium.

"I think in England we do it well. There's not many games where there isn't CCTV footage (and) we can identify them. But can they do that all over Eastern Europe? Can they do that in Africa? Can they do that all over South America? I don't know.

"From our point of view we must welcome it, I'm sure that for UEFA and FIFA there are a lot more details and nuances they will have to think about before they can come out with a very clear statement of intent."