A goldfish named Swimbappe is making waves in Toronto, where football fans and tourists are hooked on his predictions for the World Cup.
Swimbappe, named after France captain and goalscorer extraordinaire Kylian Mbappe, currently has an accuracy rate of 67 per cent – much better than a coin toss and more reliable than many human pundits.
The oranda goldfish lives in a large tank displayed in the ground-floor window of a collection of creative agencies, and his city centre habitat has been fitted with a mini football pitch complete with two goals and a ball. A small crowd clusters outside his tank at prediction time and counts down to the moment he makes his pick.
On Friday, The National watched as the Iraqi and Senegalese flags were placed at either end of the aquarium. The oracle fish was lured to the centre circle by a pinch of food and then swam confidently in the direction of the Senegalese flag. It was a good call: the West African team thrashed Iraq 5-0 in the Toronto Stadium later that day.
Earlier, Swimbappe made another accurate prediction, picking France over Norway. Sure enough, Les Bleus beat the Vikings 4-1.
Tim Glenn, one of the creative minds behind Swimbappe, said the fish’s soothsaying average took a dive earlier in the tournament after he “made some aggressive underdog picks that didn't quite pan out”.
“But, you know, he's on his way back, and two very strong predictions today,” said Mr Glenn, who works at OneMethod studio.
Swimbappe also predicted a Saudi Arabia win over Cape Verde on Friday, but that game ended in a goalless draw.
“If it's a tie, we don't count it against his average,” Mr Glenn said. “He can't really communicate ties to us.”
For Mr Glenn and his colleagues at the other agencies behind Swimbappe, the aim is for the real Mbappe to take note of the eponymous goldfish.
“If he is aware of Swimbappe, then our mission here is complete. That's the dream,” he said.
Previous sporting events have seen animal predictors, including Paul the Octopus, who rose to global fame at the 2010 World Cup for correctly predicting the outcome of Germany's matches.
Asked what plans the fortune-telling fish might have after his retirement from World Cup predicting, Mr Glenn said he liked the idea of going professional.
“We'll have to branch out his predicting abilities into all kinds of facets of our of our organisation, allowing him to weigh in on critical business decisions moving forward,” Mr Glenn said with a smile. “That could be a great career path for Swimbappe after the tournament.”
