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Rabat – A page dedicated to a cat called Nimbus, posted a video ahead of the Morocco vs Brazil match, predicting a draw – a result that ultimately materialized on the pitch as the Atlas Lions held the five-time world champions to a 1-1.
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The video quickly gained traction online, surpassing 4.3 million views and more than 142,000 likes as football fans flooded the comments with disbelief and amusement.
The viral moment has once again revived one of football’s strangest tournament traditions: animal “oracles.”
Long before social media cats and TikTok parrots began predicting football scores, the phenomenon gained worldwide fame during the 2010 FIFA World Cup through Paul the Octopus, a sea creature housed in a German aquarium that correctly predicted multiple match outcomes, including Spain’s victory in the final against the Netherlands.
Prediction animals have become a recurring feature of major football tournaments, from World Cups and Euros to AFCON. Cats choosing between food bowls, elephants kicking balls toward flags, and parrots selecting winners have all become part of the online spectacle surrounding football.
In many ways, the appeal goes beyond the predictions themselves.
Football fandom has long been intertwined with rituals and superstition. Fans wear lucky jerseys, repeat pre-match routines, and search for signs before games. On social media, animal predictions have evolved into lighter, more shareable extensions of that culture, especially during high-pressure tournaments where online engagement peaks.
Still, experts generally attribute these viral successes to coincidence rather than any genuine predictive ability. With enough prediction videos circulating online before every major game, some are statistically bound to be correct.
That has done little to diminish the internet’s fascination with football’s furry forecasters.
For many supporters, the entertainment lies less in whether the animals possess supernatural powers and more in the communal experience surrounding the prediction itself. In Morocco’s case, the Atlas Lions’ draw against Brazil was already historic. The viral cat prediction simply added another layer to the online hype surrounding the match.
