Manchester United footballer Rio Ferdinand has shown his support for One Direction as they battle it out with Justin Bieber to win an MTV VMA award.

The two acts are going head-to-head in the Most Share-Worthy Video award at the MTV VMAs, which takes place on September 6 in Los Angeles.

The gong is decided by the amount of tweets each video gets and defender Rio Ferdinand took to Twitter to give his support to the British group, who are currently winning the vote.

He retweeted a message from singer Harry Styles asking fans to vote for them, before adding:

"Boooo! » I'm gonna vote fella! #FlyingTheFlag."

As previously reported, Justin Bieber today (September 3) called on his Beliebers to not start arguments with other acts' fans as the battle for the Share-Worthy MTV VMA intensifies.