David Beckham got a new tattoo ahead of receiving a lifetime achievement honour at the BBC sports personality of the year awards.

The 35-year-old soccer player, who already has around 20 tattoos, got the inking on his chest before flying from Los Angeles to receive the honour here Sunday, reports contactmusic.com.

"I want to let you all in on something. Just had a new tattoo done by the legendary Mark Mahoney. Took six hours!," David posted on social networking site Facebook.

The hunky sportsman also posted a photo of himself bare-chested on the page.