The Success Rate of Paul's Divinations Was Staggering

Published on October 29th, 2020


Remembering Paul the Octopus, the legendary animal who predicted soccer scores. Paul the Octopus. An animal who could sense the outcome of football matches and was taken from the world too soon.

This legendary creature was located at the Sea Life Centre in Oberhausen, Germany. His keepers would present him with two identical boxes of food, with the only difference being the flag put on top of them. Whichever box Paul chose to eat from, that would be the team that he predicted to win.

The success rate of his divinations was staggering. He was introduced to the world to mainly see the outcome of German international matches at the UEFA European Championship tournament of 2008. At this tournament he gained attention thanks to his 4 correct predictions out of six attempts.

However, it was not until the 2010 World Cup that he would truly shine in the spotlight. Here he would predict all 7 of the results he was presented with, including Spain's victory over both Germany and the Netherlands. Those in Germany hoped he would be wrong, as he was those 2 times in 2008. He even got death threats when Germany did lose, though the Prime Minister of Spain offered a protection program to help.

Tragically, Paul was not to continue his successful career as an octopus oracle. He was found dead on October 25th 2010 at the age of 2 1/2 years. His legacy is consistently remembered as other animals and other nations try to find their own oracle (such as Mani the parakeet from Singapore or Leon the porcupine). Yet none have been able to match Paul's success percentage of 85.7%. A true legend of the game, who will always be missed.

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