Most dogs chase balls. Ronaldo the Football Dog blocks them like he’s playing in the World Cup.
The 6-year-old Chiweenie has become one of the internet’s most unexpected sports stars after videos of his backyard goalkeeper skills went viral. With his little body flying through the air and his mouth snapping up soccer balls like a seasoned pro, his family now proudly calls him the “greatest goalkeeper on 4 legs.”
One clip showing Ronaldo stopping all eight shots on goal has pulled in more than 14 million views on TikTok, leaving fans stunned by the tiny pup’s serious athletic ability.
But for Ronaldo, the online fame is just extra fun. He is all about the game.
WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW:
“Every time someone’s foot goes near a soccer ball, he springs into action, no matter what he’s doing, and runs straight to the ball,” Stephanie Craveiro Katzman explained. “He really is always ready to play.”
Ronaldo belongs to Candida Craveiro and her husband, Antonio, of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Their daughter, Katzman, and her husband, Sam, help run Ronaldo’s social media pages and handle most of his goalkeeper training.
The family brought Ronaldo home in February 2020, and it did not take long for him to become obsessed with the soccer balls rolling around the backyard during family gatherings.
At first, they thought their little dog might follow in the footsteps of his famous namesake, Cristiano Ronaldo, and become a goal scorer. They even bought him a net and tried to teach him how to score.
Ronaldo had other plans.
“At first we bought him a goal and tried to teach him to score on it like Cristiano Ronaldo, but he was much more interested in catching the ball with his mouth than kicking it,” Katzman said. “He showed us he preferred stopping shots and being a goalkeeper.”
It was a perfect fit for the Craveiro family, where soccer has always been a major part of life, especially Portuguese soccer.
“Our family eats, breathes and sleeps soccer, especially Portuguese soccer,” Katzman said. “Since we always are playing in the backyard and enjoy the game so much, [Ronaldo] just always had it around him and wanted to be a part of the fun.”
Now, Ronaldo plays with a soccer ball every day. His family films his training sessions about once a week, and fans cannot get enough.
In video after video, the tiny goalkeeper leaps, dives and grabs balls in midair. Sometimes he blocks one shot. Other times, he strings together save after save, leaving viewers wondering how such a small dog can cover so much of the goal.
His family says practice helps, but Ronaldo’s talent came naturally.
“He also makes saves with a lot of style and swag,” Katzman said. “He looks like an acrobat sometimes when he jumps up and snags the ball whizzing at him. He was born with natural talent.”
The family began posting Ronaldo’s highlights in 2022, and his videos quickly took off. He has since gained more than 50,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok, while major sports pages have shared his clips.
Some familiar names have even noticed him.
“iShowSpeed liked a video on TikTok, which was very exciting because he loves Cristiano Ronaldo as much as our family does,” Katzman said. “It was really cool when Brittany Wilson Isenhour liked one of our videos, because we have a lot of respect for her and what she does in the goalkeeper community.”
Even with all the attention, Ronaldo’s family says they never set out to create a viral star. They simply wanted to share the funny, talented little dog who had brought so much joy into their lives.
“He makes us all so happy, and we’re glad that we can share his talents and cuteness with the world so everyone can enjoy him like we get to,” Katzman said.
Ronaldo may not be scoring goals like Cristiano, but his family says he has more than lived up to his name.
“We named him Ronaldo when we first got him and had no idea how much he’d end up loving soccer,” Katzman said. “Although he isn’t a striker, like Cristiano, he’s definitely lived up to his namesake as a global soccer star!”