RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) 鈥� Rio de Janeiro鈥檚 main beaches bustle with commotion on sunny weekends. But activity ground to a near standstill on one stretch of sand. People held up their phones to record athletic feats they鈥檇 never before witnessed, or even imagined.
The game? Footvolley, a combination of soccer and beach volleyball. The athlete? A 3-year-old border collie named Floki.
Floki sparks wonder among bystanders, because he hangs tough in a game that even humans struggle to get a handle on. Footvolley rules are essentially the same as beach volleyball, but with a slightly lower net and, like soccer, players are forbidden from using hands and arms. Floki springs up from the sand to drive the ball with his mouth. He has become something of an internet sensation in , with hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram and TikTok.
Floki鈥檚 owner, Gustavo Rodrigues, is a footvolley coach, but swears he didn鈥檛 plan this. He had wanted an American Bully, a decidedly less sprightly breed. Floki came into Rodrigues鈥� life instead and quickly revealed his potential when, at just 2 months old, he started jumping after birthday balloons.
Rodrigues started Floki out on what's called 鈥渁ltinha,鈥� where a group standing in a circle juggles a soccer ball for as long as possible. In 2023, Floki made his debut in the much more complex, competitive game of footvolley 鈥� a hobby enjoyed by some Brazilian soccer stars after they retire, including and .
Footvolley players need poise, agility, coordination, timing, finesse. Covering one side of the court between just two people means quick sprints back and forth on soft sand under the baking sun. It鈥檚 no mean feat, but Floki was a natural. A star was born.
鈥淗e does things that even some professionals don鈥檛 鈥� like positioning on the court,鈥� said Rodrigues, 26. 鈥淪ometimes the ball goes from one side (of the court) to the other, and he doesn鈥檛 keep his back turned to it. He turns toward the ball to always hit it straight on.鈥�
It鈥檚 clear this high-energy pup lives for this game. Even resting under the shade of the beach鈥檚 caipirinha bar, he was laser-focused on the action of the adjacent court鈥檚 match.
When playing, he barks at Rodrigues to pass him the ball and seems to at least understand the basic rules. At times, rather than passing back to Rodrigues for the third and final touch their opponents expect, he sneaks the ball over the net himself to score a point. Then he jumps into Rodrigues鈥� arms to celebrate.
One of the awestruck onlookers Sunday was Luiza Chioli, who had traveled to Rio from Sao Paulo. She already knew the famous Floki from TikTok, but hadn鈥檛 expected front-row seats to watch him while sipping her gin and tonic.
鈥淪eeing social media, we had thought it was just cuts, that they used the best takes,鈥� said Chioli, 21. 鈥淏ut we saw he played, performed the whole time, did really well. It鈥檚 really cool.鈥�
As Floki鈥檚 follower count has grown, partnerships and endorsement deals have come rolling in. Rodrigues and Floki live in the inland capital Brasilia, but often travel to Rio 鈥� footvolley鈥檚 mecca 鈥� and other Brazilian states to show off his skills, do marketing appearances and create monetized social media content.
His Sunday began with almost an hour playing beside former footvolley champion Natalia Guitler, who鈥檚 been called . Between attempts to film her doing a trick pass to him, he scampered for drinks of water or to dip in the ocean. By the end, both she and Floki were scrambling for shade.
鈥淲e鈥檙e dead,鈥� she said as she collapsed onto the sand next to a panting Floki. Someone passed her a phone to check out the best clips for her Instagram, where she has almost 3 million followers.
鈥淢e and my bestie @dog_altinha playing footvolley,鈥� she wrote in a later , and which included her bicycle kicking the ball over the net.
After a rest and another footvolley session, Floki headed to a more remote beach to do a marketing shoot for Farm, a fashion designer that鈥檚 become , both in Brazil and abroad.
Then Floki was on Instagram hyping a brand of dog popsicles, gnawing a banana-flavored one himself, and giving an altinha demonstration to mall shoppers. His evening stroll along Copacabana鈥檚 beachside promenade showed him straining against his leash, still evidently bursting with his boundless energy.
With their weekend marketing blitz in Rio over, Rodrigues and Floki would head back to Brasilia, where their influencer hustle takes a back seat to the hustle of playing competitive matches. They win about one in every three, Rodrigues said, and their opponents are always desperate to avoid being beaten by a dog.
鈥淚t generates talk, and people make fun,鈥� he said. 鈥淣o one likes to lose a point to him, so people play their hearts out against us.鈥�
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David Biller, The Associated Press
