One Direction

The retired soccer star - who has sons Brooklyn, 14, Romeo, 10, Cruz, eight, and two-year-old daughter Harper with wife Victoria Beckham - took his kids to meet the teenage heartthrobs backstage at their concert at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

Soccer fan Niall Horan wrote on Twitter: "Met our footballing hero! Mr David Beckham! He brought the boys and his little girl to see us! What a Nice Man! So courteous! (sic)"

Underneath a picture of the two of them together, he added: "what a great guy! Great t[o] meet him! absolute legend! (sic)"

Unfortunately, Niall's bandmate, Louis Tomlinson - who previously confessed he wanted to meet the soccer legend even though he would be starstruck around him - missed out.

He tweeted: "Gutted I didn't get to meet Beckham yesterday :("

The band were in Los Angeles to kick off four nights at the 20,000-capacity venue.

Niall wrote: "It's good t[o] be back in LA ! It's been too long! Havnt been here since we performed on the [TV show] xfactor final before Xmas last year" (sic).

Louis was buzzing too, adding: "Amazing show today !! Loved it ! Can't believe we just played the staples centre! Sickkkkkkkkk."

One Direction - which also includes Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Harry Styles - are currently on the US leg of their Take Me Home Tour.