Paul the Psychic Octopus has predicted that Spain will defeat the Netherlands in the World Cup final. He also predicted a win for Germany against Uruguay in the third place match. He has so far correctly forecast every World Cup game involving the German national team. He predicts by choosing a mussel from one of two boxes bearing the flags of the competing nations. The two-year-old cephalopod has become an international celebrity on the back of his top tipping. His prognosis of South Africa's World Cup final, made from his tank in the Sea Life Aquarium in the western German city of Oberhausen, has been relayed on satellite TV around the world. 
He correctly predicted all of Germany's World Cup games, including a shock defeat by Serbia in the group stages and the ousting by Spain on Wednesday. After that defeat, there were calls in Germany for Paul to be roasted with lemon juice and olive oil or turned into a plate of paella. But his owners said on Thursday that he is safe with them. 'If Paul gets it wrong tomorrow, nothing is going to happen to him, to him,' said Sea Life's Tanja Munzig. 'Paul has proven his mettle so far and there is nothing bad waiting for him round the corner if he gets it wrong. It could happen to anyone. Even an octopus can get it wrong!' His record is not perfect, anyway, say his owners. Paul got it wrong in about thirty per cent of Germany's games during the 2008 European Championship, including their loss to Spain in the final. However, Paul's might not have the final say. Pauline, a female octopus in Dutch captivity, has predicted victory for the Netherlands in Sunday's final. Maaike Schroeder, spokeswoman for the Sea Life aquarium in Scheveningen in The Hague, said: 'She chose the Netherlands.' However, Schroeder also conceded that this was four-year-old Pauline's first attempt at divination.
In a much more serious topic, FIFA was warned before this year's World Cup of fears that Nigeria's team could be vulnerable to match-fixing, the BBC has learned. A UEFA investigator in South Africa reportedly raised concerns, including suspicions over betting patterns. Nigeria went out of the tournament in the first round, losing to Greece. FIFA does not deny receiving a warning but say it has 'no indication' of match-fixing in any World Cup matches. BBC Newsnight says that it understands a member of UEFA's Disciplinary Services Unit - which is responsible for investigating match-fixing - first became suspicious during qualifying rounds of the World Cup. It is alleged that certain Nigerian players came forward and said their team was vulnerable to manipulation. On the morning of Nigeria's first match, he alerted FIFA's new Early Warning System, set up to look for signs of match-rigging, of his concerns. German journalist Christian Bergmann also had a call just before the first Nigerian game of the tournament from a UEFA contact who said there were suggestions that 'some players from the Nigerian team are actually involved in some form of manipulation.' In their second game of the tournament, Nigeria were strong favourites to beat Greece and took an early 1-0 lead. But after thirty three minutes Nigeria had a man sent off and Greece subsequently scored their first ever World Cup goals to win 2-1. After their elimination, Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan was so angry with the poor performances that he suspended the whole team from international competition. He later reversed that decision following a complaint from FIFA. The UEFA Disciplinary Unit is already working with German Police on the biggest investigation into the rigging of games. Hundreds of matches across Europe - from Champions League qualifiers to domestic cup and league games - are being scrutinised and match fixers are being held in jail. There are no English Premier League games on the list of suspect matches, but the BBC has learned that German police believe many of the bets on fixed games were placed through a London office. The chief suspect, they claim, is a Croatian professional gambler and bar owner called Ante Sapina who is currently being held in Germany awaiting trial. In the past he posed at his bar with footballing greats such as Lionel Messi to give himself credibility, but Messi and others were unaware of his secret life as a match-fixer. It is alleged that he made a fortune by placing bets on matches and then bribing players to get the required result. In 2006 he was sentenced to nearly three years in jail for bribing German referee Robert Hoyzer to fix games. The German police claim that soon after his release Sapina began fixing matches again on an industrial scale.
They say that Sapina bet millions of euros on fixed games and that many of those bets were placed by a company called Samvo, based just off the Hangar Lane Gyratory System in West London. Samvo promotes itself as a betting broker which places billions of pounds worth of bets each year on behalf of 'high-rollers' and 'professional betting syndicates.' German police papers seen by the BBC name a senior Samvo employee called Eric Ho as the man who placed bets on allegedly fixed games and then passed on the winnings, which were in the region of one hundred thousand Euros a game, to Ante Sapina and others. Mr Ho has not responded to repeated BBC requests to clarify what he knew the BBC News website states. The BBC also claims to have learned that Samvo was raided by City of London police and a German detective at the same time as Sapina was arrested in November 2009. The officers who were armed with a search warrant discovered that over a million pounds of Sapina's winnings were in an Isle of Man bank account and according to the German detective's report, which the BBC has seen, Samvo agreed not to hand over those winnings to Sapina.
Germany coach Joachim Löw has been struck down by flu ahead of his side's third-place play-off against Uruguay, forcing him to miss Friday training. Captain Philipp Lahm and striker Lukas Podolski have also been suffering - both are expected to be fir for Saturday's match in Port Elizabeth - but neither are as bad as Löw, who has asked assistant coach Hansi Flick to step in for his press duties. Herr Flick? Are they taking the piss?!
He correctly predicted all of Germany's World Cup games, including a shock defeat by Serbia in the group stages and the ousting by Spain on Wednesday. After that defeat, there were calls in Germany for Paul to be roasted with lemon juice and olive oil or turned into a plate of paella. But his owners said on Thursday that he is safe with them. 'If Paul gets it wrong tomorrow, nothing is going to happen to him, to him,' said Sea Life's Tanja Munzig. 'Paul has proven his mettle so far and there is nothing bad waiting for him round the corner if he gets it wrong. It could happen to anyone. Even an octopus can get it wrong!' His record is not perfect, anyway, say his owners. Paul got it wrong in about thirty per cent of Germany's games during the 2008 European Championship, including their loss to Spain in the final. However, Paul's might not have the final say. Pauline, a female octopus in Dutch captivity, has predicted victory for the Netherlands in Sunday's final. Maaike Schroeder, spokeswoman for the Sea Life aquarium in Scheveningen in The Hague, said: 'She chose the Netherlands.' However, Schroeder also conceded that this was four-year-old Pauline's first attempt at divination.In a much more serious topic, FIFA was warned before this year's World Cup of fears that Nigeria's team could be vulnerable to match-fixing, the BBC has learned. A UEFA investigator in South Africa reportedly raised concerns, including suspicions over betting patterns. Nigeria went out of the tournament in the first round, losing to Greece. FIFA does not deny receiving a warning but say it has 'no indication' of match-fixing in any World Cup matches. BBC Newsnight says that it understands a member of UEFA's Disciplinary Services Unit - which is responsible for investigating match-fixing - first became suspicious during qualifying rounds of the World Cup. It is alleged that certain Nigerian players came forward and said their team was vulnerable to manipulation. On the morning of Nigeria's first match, he alerted FIFA's new Early Warning System, set up to look for signs of match-rigging, of his concerns. German journalist Christian Bergmann also had a call just before the first Nigerian game of the tournament from a UEFA contact who said there were suggestions that 'some players from the Nigerian team are actually involved in some form of manipulation.' In their second game of the tournament, Nigeria were strong favourites to beat Greece and took an early 1-0 lead. But after thirty three minutes Nigeria had a man sent off and Greece subsequently scored their first ever World Cup goals to win 2-1. After their elimination, Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan was so angry with the poor performances that he suspended the whole team from international competition. He later reversed that decision following a complaint from FIFA. The UEFA Disciplinary Unit is already working with German Police on the biggest investigation into the rigging of games. Hundreds of matches across Europe - from Champions League qualifiers to domestic cup and league games - are being scrutinised and match fixers are being held in jail. There are no English Premier League games on the list of suspect matches, but the BBC has learned that German police believe many of the bets on fixed games were placed through a London office. The chief suspect, they claim, is a Croatian professional gambler and bar owner called Ante Sapina who is currently being held in Germany awaiting trial. In the past he posed at his bar with footballing greats such as Lionel Messi to give himself credibility, but Messi and others were unaware of his secret life as a match-fixer. It is alleged that he made a fortune by placing bets on matches and then bribing players to get the required result. In 2006 he was sentenced to nearly three years in jail for bribing German referee Robert Hoyzer to fix games. The German police claim that soon after his release Sapina began fixing matches again on an industrial scale.
They say that Sapina bet millions of euros on fixed games and that many of those bets were placed by a company called Samvo, based just off the Hangar Lane Gyratory System in West London. Samvo promotes itself as a betting broker which places billions of pounds worth of bets each year on behalf of 'high-rollers' and 'professional betting syndicates.' German police papers seen by the BBC name a senior Samvo employee called Eric Ho as the man who placed bets on allegedly fixed games and then passed on the winnings, which were in the region of one hundred thousand Euros a game, to Ante Sapina and others. Mr Ho has not responded to repeated BBC requests to clarify what he knew the BBC News website states. The BBC also claims to have learned that Samvo was raided by City of London police and a German detective at the same time as Sapina was arrested in November 2009. The officers who were armed with a search warrant discovered that over a million pounds of Sapina's winnings were in an Isle of Man bank account and according to the German detective's report, which the BBC has seen, Samvo agreed not to hand over those winnings to Sapina.Germany coach Joachim Löw has been struck down by flu ahead of his side's third-place play-off against Uruguay, forcing him to miss Friday training. Captain Philipp Lahm and striker Lukas Podolski have also been suffering - both are expected to be fir for Saturday's match in Port Elizabeth - but neither are as bad as Löw, who has asked assistant coach Hansi Flick to step in for his press duties. Herr Flick? Are they taking the piss?!
