BRUSSELS, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Every four years, top financial institutions including UBS and Goldman Sachs will crunch their numbers and make predictions about the football World Cup. On Thursday morning, the European bank said that Germany is this year's favorite to win the trophy in Russia.

UBS said in a press release that its Global Wealth Management's Chief Investment Office used econometric tools, usually applied to assess investment opportunities. "No country has higher odds than Germany," which leads the table with a likelihood of 24 percent, according to the prediction.

Following Germany are Brazil and Spain, with chances of 19.8 and 16.1 percent respectively. Host nation Russia will start in the World Cup's weakest group and is expected to progress to the round of 16, where it is likely to lose against Spain or Portugal, UBS reckoned.

In 2014, both UBS and Goldman Sachs predicted the World Cup champion to be Brazil, which ended up in third place.