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Like father, like son! Prince George shares his dad Prince William's passion for the professional soccer club Aston Villa. Mike Tindall, who is married to Prince William's cousin Zara, spoke about George's love for the sport and the team in an interview with The Telegraph that was published on Saturday, Oct. 12.
Mike shared, "George loves his football. I’ve played numerous times in the garden with him. He’s passionate about Aston Villa, too. Wherever he is, he’ll sit down and watch that game."
The Prince of Wales' cousin-in-law added, "They’re just a family who love sport." Mike also revealed that the Princess of Wales "loves her running."
It's no secret that George is a soccer fan. For his sixth birthday in 2019, the young Prince reportedly had a soccer-themed party. He's also cheered for Aston Villa alongside his father.
Back in April, George and Prince William, who is president of the Football Association, attended a match between Aston Villa and LOSC Lille at Villa Park. At the game, sports writer Neil Moxley asked the royal dad of three, "Is George now part of the pride?" to which His Royal Highness replied, "Oh yes, he’s loving it."
During an appearance on That Peter Crouch Podcast in 2020, Prince William admitted that he was "trying not to persuade [George] to be a Villa fan." The heir to the throne said, "I'm letting him like choose his own way."
William has previously explained why he supports Aston Villa. In 2015, the Prince told the BBC’s Gary Lineker, "A long time ago, at school, I just got into football big time and I was looking around for clubs, you know, sports. All my friends at school were either [Manchester United] fans or Chelsea fans. I didn’t really want to sort of follow the run of the mill teams. I wanted to have a team that was more middle of the table that could give me the more emotional rollercoaster moments, which to be honest, now looking back, yes it was a bad idea. Could have had an easier time. And Aston Villa’s always had a great history.”
"I've got friends of mine who support Aston Villa and one of the first FA Cup games I went to was Bolton v Aston Villa. It [was] back in about 2000. It was a semi-final, which sadly Villa then went on to lose against Chelsea," he recalled. "But it was fantastic. I sat with all the fans, [had] my red beanie on" and "had a great time."
William added, "It was just the atmosphere, the camaraderie and I really felt that there was something I could connect with.”