A PHOTOGRAPHIC portrait of England captain David Beckham which features in an exhibition of pictures of the world's greatest living footballers has been defaced, it emerged today.

The words "You loosers" was written in indelible red felt pen on the 5ft high picture of Beckham at the Royal Academy of Arts in central London.

The vandals spelt "loosers" with a double "o" in a possible reference to Rebecca Loos, the woman who earlier this year claimed she had a torrid affair with the England captain.

The words "Beckham and Meier, you loosers" were also scrawled on a wall opposite a portrait of Pele - in an apparent reference to the Swiss referee Urs Meier, who officiated during England's Euro 2004 quarter final defeat to Portugal and disallowed a last minute Sol Campbell goal.

The Beckham portrait, worth '7,500, was one of the most popular in the FIFA 100 exhibition, which was designed to celebrate the centenary of world football's governing body.

It showed a T-shirted Beckham, 29, standing in a hotel corridor holding a football and was taken earlier this year by the Scandinavian Mark Hom, a leading portrait photographer.

The England captain missed two penalties at Euro 2004 - one in the first match against France and another during the penalty shoot-out against Portugal - and came in for criticism for his performances.

Complaint

The curator of the exhibition, David Grob, said staff had made a complaint of criminal damage to police.

"Somebody has gone in this morning and written across the Beckham image 'You loosers' and in another room they have written 'Beckham and Meier, you loosers'. They have written it in red felt pen," he said.

"The picture is a write off. We have reported it to the police and we will have to get another one printed.

"It is enormously irritating. We hoped the Academy would inspire everybody to good behaviour. You do not expect people to act like football hooligans - it is very frustrating."

Mr Grob said the Academy had sold around 10 edition prints of the Beckham portrait at '7,500 each, and around 30 smaller versions costing '335 each.

He said: "It has been our biggest seller. It is definitely our most popular image."

A spokeswoman for the Royal Academy of Arts said: "Vandals have defaced a work of art at our FIFA 100 exhibition.

"The police were called immediately and are currently investigating."

The list of the 125 greatest living players to feature in the exhibition was specially selected by Brazilian superstar Pele.

In addition to a host of current stars like Beckham, Michael Owen and Thierry Henry, portraits of football legends such as Sir Bobby Charlton, Johan Cruyff, Eric Cantona and Pele himself also feature.

Pele had described the exhibition as a "fitting tribute" to the 100th anniversary of FIFA and a "wonderful celebration of the beautiful game".

It is due to visit 12 other countries, before it finishes in Berlin in time for the World Cup in Germany in 2006. Tweet