Watch the adorable moment dog interrupts soccer game for belly rubs

Dog interrupts soccer game for belly rub
(Image credit: TNT Sports Chile/Twitter)

While ‘dog interrupts soccer game for belly rub’ isn’t the usual headline you’d expect to kick the week off with, trust us when we say you’re not going to want to miss one second of this adorable footage.

A friendly game of soccer between Chile and Venezuela on Saturday night was interrupted in the 37th minute by an exuberant black canine who decided to make the pitch his very own dog park.

Nonchalantly stolling onto the pitch like he had every right to be there, the pup first headed over to the referees but quickly decided he wasn’t quite getting the amount of attention he wanted and proceeded to trot out towards the players.

Once in the middle of the pitch, the confident canine flopped over at the feet of one of the players and promptly rolled over to get his belly rubbed. 

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When it became clear that the delighted players were trying to gently and lovingly move him off the field so they could resume their game, the determined pup decided he was having none of it and sprinted off down the field. 

With the players smiling and laughing, the dog eventually found his way into the Chile huddle where one of the team picked him up and handed him over to one of the match officials who carried him to safety.

The two minute clip, which was posted to Twitter by TNT Sports Chile, has proved a massive hit with animal lovers, having already been watched over 430,000 times. 

One netizen hilariously quipped ‘Chilean Dog League’ in response to the footage, with another saying “This is why Stella isn’t allowed at the boys soccer games…100% she would do this.”

Although neither team scored on Saturday night, the crowd didn’t seem too bothered, with one mischievous mutt’s antics being all the excitement fans needed to call the night a win. 

Kathryn Williams
Freelance writer

Kathryn is a freelance writer who has been a member of the PetsRadar family since it launched in 2020. Highly experienced in her field, she's driven by a desire to provide pet parents with accurate, timely, and informative content that enables them to provide their fur friends with everything they need to thrive. Kathryn works closely with vets and trainers to ensure all articles offer the most up-to-date information across a range of pet-related fields, from insights into health and behavior issues to tips on products and training. When she’s not busy crafting the perfect sentence for her features, buying guides and news pieces, she can be found hanging out with her family (which includes one super sassy cat), drinking copious amounts of Jasmine tea and reading all the books.