She was the Belgian beauty who was handpicked from the World Cup stadium stands by L'Oreal and handed a modelling contract.

But it seems Axelle Despiegelaere's contract with the global beauty brand is no more, after a flood of global social media criticism targeted her for posting photos of hunting the Oryx Gazelle in Africa.

The controversial hunting photo, which ignited a social media backlash against Belgian Axelle Despiegelaere. Credit:Facebook

The post on her Facebook page read: "Hunting is not a matter of life or death. It's much more important than that ... this was about 1 year ago … ready to hunt americans today haha.”

Footage of Despiegelaere was broadcast across the globe at the Belgium v USA World Cup game when she was picked out by cameras adopting what TV insider call, the 'honey shot' technique.