Khryak the predictive pig
Khryak the predictive pig Reuters

A "psychic" pig is looking to repeat the success of Paul the Octopus as it predicts the outcome of the European football championship in Poland and Ukraine.

The latest augury, a hog by the name of Khryak, was presented on Tuesday to fans in Kiev, where the cup final will take place. The government of the Ukrainian capital are set to receive daily forecasts from the pig once the tournament kicks off on 8 June.

Khryak, also known as Funtik, will make his predictions by choosing between two plates of food - but he is not the only animal set to prophesise football results. Rivals include Citta the elephant in Krakow and Fred the ferret in Kharkiv, two other cities set to host matches at the tournament.

Svitlana Boykun, PR director of the official Kiev Euro 2012 fan zone, noted that the humorous choice of a pig will bring a jovial atmosphere to the sporting events.

"It's a sequel to the legacy of Paul the Octopus. When we faced an issue to choose an animal to be a symbol of the Ukrainian [part of the] championship, the organisers decided to treat the choice with a certain sense of humour, not to be too serious, and since we didn't have too many associations to work with a hog, a pig, is not the worst association. It brings a smile."

Khryak will have his work cut out for him if he is to attract the worldwide fame of other "psychic" animals. The biggest star of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa was not a footballer but an octopus, as English-born Paul correctly predicted all of Germany's results from his aquarium in Oberhausen before going on to forecast Spain to win the cup final against Holland.

Since then many animals have tried to emulate the success of the cephalopod, such as Sissi the sausage dog, who incorrectly predicted Bayern Munich to win the Champions League final against Chelsea in May.