Maximus, possibly the most popular figure in the Wetstraat, got his first prediction right, when Mexico beat South Africa
Maximus, the furry, gray resident at Wetstraat 16, will predict World Cup winners by choosing one bowl of food over another in a special podium made just for him. And lo and behold, his first prediction already came true: Mexico beat South Africa 2-0 in the opening match in Mexico City yesterday.
Maximus has resided at Wetstraat 16, the prime minister’s office in Brussels, since last summer, when he was liberated from an animal shelter. His Instagram account has 227,000 followers, who show up to see what he is thinking and saying via amusing dialogue bubbles and the many pictures of him with prime minister Bart De Wever.
Maximus (full name Maximus Textoris Pulcher) “is always up for a lucrative offer from the sports media,” noted the Wetstraat in a statement. The idea to have Maximus predict the outcomes comes from “the football-minded and creative staff in Wetstraat 16 and not from the prime minister himself, who will play only a minor roll in the videos. It is common knowledge that the prime minister’s interest in football is, well, fairly minor.”
Maximus follows a long line of beastly predictions in Europe. In 2010, Paul the German octopus made headlines for his remarkable accuracy. In 2014, Radio 2 in Flanders put their house guinea pig to work, and in 2018 one of the several cats living in the Hermitae Museum in St Petersburg had the honour.