Before major football matches, experts spend hours analysing the coaches’ choices of players, and how they will manage the game in order to predict which team is most likely to win based on sports-related factors. Some people, on the other hands, would just ask their pets.
Ahead of the Fifa World Cup 2026 final on Sunday, July 19, videos of furry friends being asked by their owners the biggest question in football these days — Who will be crowned champion? Spain or Argentina? — went viral.
This is not the first time in the history of World Cup that animals have joined the football fever. From the popular Paul the Octopus to cats, turtles and camels, several animals became celebrities and internet sensations in previous tournaments thanks to their predictions before every match. Their predictions may not be correct all the time but their presence has become more of a World Cup tradition.
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This year, pet animals took centre stage, and owners filmed their beloved companions to join the trend. Take a look at some of them:
Bug the Brussels Griffon
Bug is a grumpy Griffon; the dog’s owner defines it as a model, actor and sports commentator. Since the beginning of the tournament, it is seen in all videos wearing the England jersey. To choose the winning side, two balls, each carries a little flag of one country, are put in front of Bug, which has to move one leg and pick the winner.
In one clip ahead of the France vs England match to decide who will come in the third place, Bug chose the English team. Fans reacted with cheers for the dog, with one user suggesting it should replace England’s coach Thomas Tuchel. “We love you Bug. Tuchel out, Bug in,” they wrote.
For the Spain against Argentina final match, Bug was quick to tap the Spain ball. Watch here:
Billy Heartnose
Billy’s owner says the two-year-old cat may be an amateur World Cup predictor but he is a professional napper. All that the feline cute pet has to do to pick the winner is to tap a little flag of the winning side. Ahead of the final match, Billy looked away for some time, and his owner wondered if he is tired of predicting World Cup matches’ results by now or he just go into deep thinking mode. Watch here:
Milo the stroopwafel
Some pet owners were not so honest in playing along the predicting game. Those who do not want Argentina, the reigning champion of the world since 2022, to win, chose not to leave any chance for their pets to choose Lionel Messi’s team as winners, so they intervened. Milo the stroopwafel, who is described by its owner as Amsterdam’s fluffiest, had to choose to eat from a plate with Spain tag or another with Argentina tag to pick the winner.
Watch what happened when the hungry pet approached the Argentina plate:
Beyond all the technical analysis from experts and the predictions of the “paw-dictors” online, it will ultimately be the players on the pitch — their skill, determination, and ability to deliver on football’s biggest night — that decide who will lift the Fifa World Cup 2026 trophy.
Source: Khaleej Times