12 of the Best Footballers Who Own Cats

​There was meant to be football this weekend and, frankly, we're a little bit lost. 

It's like the summer, except there's no tournament, no transfers and we didn't know it was coming. And there's no NBA. Or baseball. Or anything. 

There's one good thing about self-isolation for a significant chunk of the population though – who get to spend more time with their pets. Isn't that nice? 

Footballers tend to be dog people (see?) but there's still some fantastic felines out there. We all need something nice to look at, don't we? Sink back, here we go...

Mohamed Salah

​Mohamed Salah has what appears to be a brilliant cat. Look at it – little socks, little dark ears, size of a little mini loaf of bread. Perfect. He's also got a brilliant body. 

Why's that relevant? The smug git's posted 13(!) shirtless pictures of himself on his Instagram account since his last cat update. 

Give! The people! What they want! 

Janine van Wyk

South Africa skipper Janine van Wyk has a frankly ridiculous 170 caps for her country and – far more importantly, showing up a certain Mr Salah – an Instagram account for her cat. 

The fact, then, that she has 67 more caps than the cat has followers? An outrage. 

Dani Alves

Dani Alves is probably one of the five best looking people on the planet, so it makes an amount of sense that his cat is...well, this. This is his cat. LOOK at those eyes! Which one of them does that refer to? It doesn't matter! 

Axel Witsel

Hairless cats are freaky and weird and Not Of God, but Axel Witsel seems really happy with his and sometimes that's just nice. Not everything has to be for you. 

Kevin De Bruyne

See: Salah; Mohamed. WHERE ARE THE UPDATES, KEVIN? 

Bernd Leno

Not entirely sure if this is actually Bernd Leno's cat or just a cat he's found on the street and press-ganged into having a picture. 

If it's his – Bernd, more pictures please. If it isn't – fair play, I'm not picking up a grumpy-looking random cat off the street, because I like my blood to stay on the inside of my body. 

Becky Sauerbrunn

Two-time World Cup winner. Olympic gold medalist. Two-time NWSL champion. Three-time NWSL defender of the year. 

And more importantly, owner of a magnificently stocked cat tree. Get in. 

Robin van Persie

Off the back of almost no research whatsoever, fairly confident in saying that this is the longest between a footballer posting a picture of their cat and the present day. 

What's happened to Robin van Purrsie in the last six and a bit years? No idea. Email chris@90min.com with any leads. 

Koke

Honestly? Can't tell which one is more dressed up. 

Barry Douglas

Barry Douglas, Leeds defender, one-time Polish champion, Turkish Cup winner and cat spooner. How lovely. 

Ellen White

Apart from having a name that you can sing to the tune of Baby Shark (Ell...en...White do do do do do do, etc), England's starting striker also has (had? Only one's popped up lately :|) a pair of absolutely cracking cats. They're synchronised and all. 

Thibaut Courtois

It's---yes shut up, look past the dogs for a second because there's two cats right behind them. If you honestly didn't see them, go to your nearest hospital and donate your eyes to someone who might actually make use of them. 

Bonus Cats

The more the merrier, eh? 

This little beaut is called Coco, and owns 90min editor Sean Walsh. She's good as hell. 

This is Stefan (Bames to his friends), he's more or less completely stupid but soft as hell to make up for it.

For more from Chris Deeley, follow him on Twitter at @ThatChris1209!