KYODO NEWS - Aug 30, 2017 - 20:55 | Sports, All, Lifestyle

With Japan facing Australia in an imminent soccer World Cup qualifier, the former's victory is a sure thing, one fortune-teller in the country claimed on Wednesday.

Olivia, an African grey parrot who has made a name for himself as a psychic, picked Japan to win Thursday's match in Saitama, north of Tokyo.

The bird has been predicting soccer results since the 2014 World Cup, and found fame during the 2015 Women's World Cup and the 2016 Rio Olympics, when he successfully predicted the outcomes of 6/7 and 5/7 matches respectively.

The latest prediction from Olivia saw the bird given the choice of a small Japanese flag, a small Australian flag, and a third option which signified a draw.

Placed on a small mock soccer pitch at his home at Nasu Animal Kingdom in the eastern Japanese prefecture of Tochigi, he momentarily hovered between the Japanese flag and the draw flag, but picked up the former and passed it to a member of staff.

Soccer has seen a number of animal psychics in recent years, with arguably the most famous being Paul the Octopus, who found fame from his tank in Germany during the 2010 World Cup.

Olivia regularly provides paper fortunes for visitors to the park where he is kept, a job he has carried out for a number of years.