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Dachshund and speedy tortoise enjoy an intense match of football in an unbelievably cool video

The one-minute-long video shows the pair chasing a football around in what appears to be a backyard.

Dachshund and speedy tortoise enjoy an intense match of football in an unbelievably cool video
Cover Image Source: YouTube/Rudy Janssens

Name a more iconic duo than the internet and funny animal videos. Go on, I'll wait. It's a love story as old as the world wide web itself and a little over three decades in, their bond remains as strong as ever. Be it the Baby boomers, Millennials, Gen Z, or Generation Alpha, we humans can keep ourselves entertained for hours and hours with nothing more than the inexhaustible supply of animal videos online. And today, we've come to you with an epic new addition to this library: A tortoise and a Dachshund engaged in an intense match of football.

The athletic duo's heated competition was captured on camera by their human, Rudy Janssens, who shared it on Facebook with the caption: "Ronaldo versus Messi..." The one-minute-long video shows the pair chasing the football around in what appears to be a backyard. The clip, which perfectly captures the unlikely friendship between the two, is all kinds of adorable. Everything from the pup gently nudging the ball away again and again while repeatedly turning back to make sure his pal is following him to the tortoise's speedy chase after the ball while his friend excitedly hops about, screams friendship goals.



 

Speaking to Good News Network, Janssens revealed that he found the tortoise while walking around in a small Belgian forest about three decades ago and since then has since happily shared the yard with generations of family pets. The family decided to name him Jaguar because "he is really fast—the hotter the weather, the faster," added Janssens. He discovered Jaguar's love for football by chance one day when he suddenly started chasing the ball when his sons were playing soccer in their garden in Antwerp. Their family dog at the time — a Bouvier des Flandres — proved a worthy football opponent for Jaguar and the pair often used to play together.



 

Today, Jaguar's opponent in football is a Dachshund by the name of Marcel; he was named after Rudy's late father. Marcel loves his little matches with Jaguar so much that he plays both defense and offense so as to keep the game going for as long as possible. Unfortunately, as winter settles upon the countryside, the pair's football season has come to an end for now. "Jaguar has already buried himself in the sand somewhere in our garden," said Janssens. "In spring, he will appear again, always a happy moment: He's back, winter is passed!"



 

The video of Marcel and Jaguar playing football has made quite the splash on social media where netizens were left dumbstruck by their skills. "It's time to let the animals have the planet. They seem to know how to respect each other despite their differences," tweeted @soulasianGod. "How is this not in the Olympics? Who do we lobby?" asked @FrozenHomie. Meanwhile, Twitter user @MarcusPlato gave a little science lesson to fellow netizens who'd mistaken Jaguar for a turtle. "For all those folk saying 'Never seen a turtle move that fast...' Probably not, because turtles live primarily in water. It's a tortoise. A damn fast tortoise, but a tortoise nonetheless," they wrote.

"You have to evaluate your fitness level when you're fairly certain a tortoise moves faster than you do," commented a netizen named Chris H below the video Janssens uploaded to YouTube. "This should inspire a Disney movie," suggested another netizen. Janssens also revealed in the comments section that he used to be a football coach — albeit not one for tortoises — a long time ago and that Jaguar likes to follow everything; even the lawnmower.

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