UKRAINE: France and Sweden will reign victorious in their Euro 2012 Group D matches, says 'Funtik', the Ukrainian hog who has now accurately predicted four out of six matches at the European football championship
Record ID:
830992
UKRAINE: France and Sweden will reign victorious in their Euro 2012 Group D matches, says 'Funtik', the Ukrainian hog who has now accurately predicted four out of six matches at the European football championship
- Title: UKRAINE: France and Sweden will reign victorious in their Euro 2012 Group D matches, says 'Funtik', the Ukrainian hog who has now accurately predicted four out of six matches at the European football championship
- Date: 12th June 2012
- Summary: VARIOUS OF FUNTIK THE PIG IN HIS PEN PEOPLE OUTSIDE OF PEN (SOUNDBITE) (English) SWEDISH EURO 2012 FAN JOAKIM, SAYING: "I think it will be a close game, but I guess, just because I'm Swedish, I kind of believe that Sweden will win." HANDS PLACING FRENCH AND ENGLISH FLAGS IN FUNTIK'S FOOD BOWLS MAN PUTTING FOOD BOWLS DOWN AND FUNTIK GOING FOR FRENCH BOWL PEOPLE WATCHING FUNTIK EATING FROM SWEDEN BOWL UKRAINIAN FOOD BOWL SITTING ON FLOOR FUNTIK FINISHING BOWL OF FOOD MAN'S HANDS HOLDING EMPTY SWEDEN FOOD BOWL FUNTIK EATING UKRAINIAN FANS FUNTIK SLEEPING FUNTIK'S SNOUT (SOUNDBITE) (English) SWEDISH EURO 2012 FAN LOVE SAYING: "We predicted it before that guy who lives there predicted it. Because we have this incredible team, and I think it's the atmosphere in this team that will bring them to the victory." PEOPLE SURROUNDING FUNTIK'S PEN (SOUNDBITE) (English) SWEDISH EURO 2012 FAN TOBIAS, SAYING: "You know, the best player in Ukraine is 35 years old, so I don't think they have a chance." UKRAINE FANS PEOPLE IN FAN ZONE
- Embargoed: 27th June 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Ukraine
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: Sports
- Reuters ID: LVA9KMYZHYVU7YLY527LVB7H3ZFO
- Story Text: Funtik, a Ukrainian hog, who has so far correctly predicted four of the six Euro 2012 group stage matches from his Kiev fan zone pen, indicated France and Sweden will be successful in their Monday (June 11) matches in Ukraine.
Group D rivals England and France meet in Donetsk at 1600 GMT, and Ukraine and Sweden face off at 1845 GMT at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev.
Funtik, who is named after a piglet from a children's' cartoon, but who is better-known to Ukrainians as "Khryak", predicts the European championship winners by sniffing at bowls of food festooned with a country's flag. Kiev fan zone officials say wherever Funtik's snout lands first indicates match victors.
Swedish fan Joakim said he expected a good game, no matter what Funtik predicted.
"I think it will be a close game, but I guess, just because I'm Swedish, I kind of believe that Sweden will win," he said.
Other Swedish fans at the fan zone agreed with the Funtik's predictions.
"We predicted it before that guy who lives there predicted it. Because we have this incredible team, and I think it's the atmosphere in this team that will bring them to the victory," Swedish fan Love said.
Fellow fan Tobias, whose face was painted in the blue and yellow cross of the Swedish flag, agreed.
"You know the best player in Ukraine is 35 years old, so I don't think they have a chance," Tobias said.
The "psychic pig", who, along with Fred the Ferret from Kharkiv, who also predicts matches, is carrying on the tradition of perceptive creatures like the late Paul the Octopus, who accurately predicted match winners in every game of the 2010 World Cup.
Funtik was originally named "Khryak", the local word for "hog", but he was renamed for foreign fans who would have found his first name too hard to pronounce, according to fan zone officials. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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