England’s Three Lions heroes will be barked to victory in Germany by their army of pet dogs.
Several of Gareth Southgate’s Euros squad – and the manager himself – are dog lovers who regularly share pictures of their patriotic pooches supporting the team.
And they have revealed how their hounds help them through ‘ruff’ patches as well as providing security at home.
Among them is Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher, 24, who has a cream-coloured Chow Chow named Freddy.
The pooch has his own Instagram page, run by Gallagher’s Irish girlfriend Áine May Kennedy – filled with posts of him wearing England shirts and hats.
Another dog that has found Instagram fame is Declan Rice’s cockapoo Raffa.
The animal has 11,000 followers on the site and has previously been pictured wearing an England bandana to cheer on his famous owner.
For England captain Harry Kane – based in Germany since signing for Bayern Munich last summer – his two labradors Brady and Wilson could take a paws-on approach to cheering up the striker.
The dogs have previously helped to announce his wife’s pregnancy and Kane, 30, recently revealed he uses daily walks to help clear his mind.
In a post on Instagram, Kane himself said: ‘I love my dogs and I’m very fortunate to have an amazing dog walk route close to home where I can go for a stroll and clear my mind.
‘It’s always good to see them off the lead and enjoying themselves and it gives me time to reset regardless of what’s been happening.’
Phil Foden claimed he would have got a new dog named World Cup if England had won the tournament two years ago.
The Manchester City winger already has a French bulldog named Carabao after winning the cup tournament in 2020.
Asked if he would consider calling another dog ‘World Cup’, he said: ‘If we get there and win it, then yeah – definitely.’
Arsenal keeper Aaron Ramsdale has also previously spoken about how his pet Chow Chow has helped him through difficult times.
He told Sky News: ‘I got a Chow Chow. He’s two years old. He sleeps in the house, that’s about it. He sleeps three quarters of the day.
‘Yeah, he runs the house when I’m not there. Takes liberties over my missus. Takes her for walks.
‘And then will sit down halfway through the walk and refuse to move. For me, he’s a lot better, but he just knows who’s in charge.
‘When you’ve got this creature, this animal when you walk in the door with a big tongue hanging out the mouth and, like, their tails wagging.
‘They don’t care, they just want to see their owner and you know he came bounding over yesterday we had a quick cuddle.
‘It helps so much. We’ve got a little group at football. So me, Rob Holding, and Kieran Tierney have done a few dog walks, which is great.
‘Hardly speak about football when we go on these long walks. But even just myself, if it’s either a street walk, or a park, or a field, you don’t think about much – you’re just out in the open.’
While Southgate may be in charge on the touchline, he revealed in an interview how his labrador and cockapoo call the shots at home.
He said: ‘I do accept that at home I’m lower in the pecking order, below the kids and the dogs.’
Midfielder Trent Alexander-Arnold, 25, regularly posts pictures and video of his French bulldogs.
In one Instagram post captioned ‘easy like a Sunday morning’, the dogs can be seen jumping on the Liverpool ace.
Perhaps tightening up the defence back home, John Stones has a Dobermann pinscher cross supplied by a firm that sells £30,000 security dogs to celebrities – while his Manchester City team-mate Kyle Walker has a £15,000 rottweiler.