You're reading: Ukrainian psychic pig bets on Poland and Russia

The "psychic" pig promoted by European championship co-hosts Ukraine as a successor to Paul the octopus made its first predictions about upcoming games on Friday, picking Poland and Russia as winners.

Paul, who has since passed away, shot to fame at the 2010 World Cup after his feeding behaviour was used to correctly predict the winner of each of the Germany’s seven matches.

The German cephalopod also tipped World Cup winners Spain to beat the Netherlands in the final in South Africa from his tank at an aquarium in Oberhausen.

Similarly, the pig, which now lives in the "fan zone" in downtown Kyiv, made its predictions on Friday by choosing between pairs of bowls containing corn pops.

The pig, nicknamed Foontik by local fans, picked the bowls with Polish and Russian flags.

Co-hosts Poland will kick off Euro 2012 with a Group A clash against 2004 winners Greece on Friday. Russia will start their campaign against the Czech Republic later in the same group.