Yes, you read it. According to Austrian bank Raiffeisen Zentralbank (RZB), the Czechs will beat Spain in the finals after a penalty shoot out (the match will be tied 1-1). The big boys at the bank, applied the same statistical models they use to predict product evolution, bond values, etc. After all that number crunching all I can conclude is that those guys have really a lot of free time.

They have also predicted that Italy would lose 3-1 to Spain in the semi-finals.

Factors considered: FIFA rank (ha!), Country Economics, player values on the football market, betting predictions, corruption level and even, believe it or not, beer consumption!

This is all bully crap. Everyone is sayng that the Czechs are going to win (just like Swiss bank UBS who say that Spain will be thrown out by the Netherlands on the quarter-finals).

But then again UBS predicted Italy to win 2006 World Cup.

The truth: I don’t believe any of that.