Walk on the Wild Side: 10 Tales of Animal Pitch Invasions in World Football

In the intense, often exciting atmosphere of the beautiful game, sometimes fans get a little too involved and run onto the pitch in a rash of emotion. Animals do the same, not because they want to celebrate or neutralize a striker, but because they probably saw something that looked edible on the field. Dogs, cats, foxes and birds are among the non-human invaders to grace football pitches in recent years.

Here are 10 stories (most with video) of furry, feathered and four-legged pitch invaders. If you have some other favorites not seen here or have any thoughts on the ones featured, please tell us in the comments. 

Sometimes, You Just Have to Stop and Pet the Puppy

Dogs are probably the most commonly-seen animals when it comes to football pitch invasions, and there are a ton of entertaining YouTube videos which attest to this. But this one takes the cake in terms of adorable.

In a 2008 Copa Libertadores match between Universidad Católica and Vélez Sarsfield, an itinerant pup wandered onto the pitch. In an effort to subdue the wandering pup, one of the U. Católica players got down to its level and gave the dog a loving scratch on the head. Awwww. 

A Squirrely Encounter

In a 2006 Champions League match between Villarreal and Arsenal, a grey squirrel ran onto the pitch and crossed the path of Diego Forlán. The squirrel probably just wanted his autograph.

"A Cat, a Cat, a Cat!"

Feline pitch invaders are fairly common—English fans are particularly adept in dealing with them, in several cases famously converting the "Attack! Attack! Attack" chant seamlessly into "A cat! A cat! A cat!" 

The 2009 UEFA Cup final was held in Istanbul, Turkey, a city where many a stray cat can be seen wandering the streets. So it should come as no surprise that one four-legged fan made its way into the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium for the final between Werder Bremen and Shakhtar Donetsk, much to the delight of the fans.

What the Duck?

Two pitch invasions can be seen in this video: the first from a cat and the second from a very confused duck. Equally confused are the players in the latter video, taken from a 2010 Belgian league match between Zulte Waregem and Lokeren. Zulte Waregem's striker Mahamadou Habib Habibou resolved the situation, as he appears to pick the duck up and fling it back over the advertising boards. The duck, thankfully, was unharmed.

Oliver Kahn Gets Stung by a Wasp

In a 2007 DFB-Pokal match, fiery Bayern Munich goalkeeper Oliver Kahn stopped suddenly, clutching the back of his neck in pain. At first, the officials and the announcers thought someone in the crowd had thrown some kind of foreign object at him, but it turns out Kahn had been stung by a wasp in one of the most painful animal pitch invasions in football history (for the humans, anyway).

Watch a video of the sting operation here. 

Pitch-Invading Police Dog Gets into the Game

During a match earlier this year between Brazilian rivals Varginha and MG, an eager police dog decided to get in on the action. The dog joins the fray, stealing the ball and proceeding to chew on it vigorously before the cop decides to intervene. Poor Fido just wanted to have a little fun.

'Cause He's Watching Us All with the Eye... of the Tiger

Serbian club FK Obilić may be in a lower division than some of their city's more well-known teams, but the Knights are certainly first in awesome mascots. Many football clubs use live animal mascots—Eintracht Frankfurt and Benfica both have eagles called Attila and Vitória, respectively—but none are quite as unique as Obilić's tiger cub, seen here roaming the pitch before a summer 2011 match.

Of course, the use of the tiger has a somewhat darker shade of context, albeit likely an unintentional one, in that it hearkens to the club's historic ties with Serbian paramilitary leader Željko "Arkan" Ražnatović and the violent militant force he established, called the "Tigers." Yikes.

Ballack Beans a Bird

While warming up for the 2009 FA Cup fourth round match between Chelsea and Ipswich Town, Michael Ballack linked up with an unusual striking partner. While he was practicing his shooting, a pigeon flew onto the pitch and straight into the path of Ballack's ball. 

Don't worry, though. According to the person who shot the video, the pigeon flew away, seemingly unharmed. 

Luis Moreno and the Owl

[Trigger warning for (unintentional) animal cruelty]

Unlike the bird who got caught in the crossfire with Michael Ballack's ball, this owl, a good-luck charm for Colombian side Atlético Junior de Baranquilla, was not so lucky. In a charge from rival Deportivo Pereira player Luis Moreno, the owl, on the pitch, gets caught in a crossfire play and is kicked rather brutally. The move doesn't look intentional, but the owl met a tragic end, and Junior supporters, as you can probably imagine, were none too happy.

A (Basil) Brush with Footballing Fame

In 2009, a family of foxes decided to make Dens Park into a den of their own. The pack of vulpine guests had been found digging around the goal mouths at Scottish Premier League side Dundee United's home ground, presumably looking for rabbits, a previous infestation at the park. 

A Scottish news report on the furry pitch invaders can be found here.