The foreseeing feline lives at St. Petersburg's Hermitage Museum and is fulfilling what has apparently become an essential role at every major international tournament, the animal oracle.

He is following in the foot/paw/tentacle-steps of trailblazer Paul the Octopus from the 2010 World Cup, who inspired a host of score-predicting animal soothsayers to jump on the bandwagon for the 2014 tournament.

Achilles was presented with the choice of two bowls of food, with matching Egyptian and Russian flags, and witnesses report that he rushed to the Russian bowl "without hesitation" and ate all the treats.

The news will be a bitter pill to swallow for the Egyptians, whose ancient ancestors held cats in the highest esteem and regarded them as sacred creatures. If you thought it was merely coincidence the Sphinx, which sits next to the Great Pyramid, is in the shape of a mythical lion, you would be wrong.

Achilles has already made two successful predictions - Russia's victory over Saudi Arabia and Iran's victory over Morocco. Now he's going for the cat-, er, hat-trick.

He is a congenitally deaf snow-white cat, and previously the animal oracle for last year's Confederations Cup. He is dubiously dressed in a Russia football kit in the form of white and red overalls, printed with the number nine, which of course refers to his number of lives.

Russia will take on Egypt at the 64,000-seater St. Petersburg Stadium at 04:00am AEST on Wednesday morning.