Original article (in Albanian) was published on 10/06/2026; Author: Patris Pustina
Although the prophecies of the Bulgarian “seer” Baba Vanga usually circulate on social media toward the end of one year and the beginning of the next, the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which kicks off on June 11, has revived these claims ahead of schedule.
As a result, social media platforms, including Albanian-speaking ones, have been flooded with claims that “according to those who decipher her visions, Baba Vanga left behind a coded message: during a major global sporting event, the world would not be watching only the field. A ‘new light in the sky’ would appear out of nowhere, visible to every eye on the planet.”
As with similar claims, no proof, source, or supporting reference is offered, including the names of the supposed individuals who “decipher” her visions.
As Faktoje has explained before, Baba Vanga was a blind and semi-illiterate woman from Bulgaria. She died in 1996 without having written down her predictions.
Since there is no written evidence of her prophecies, various predictions can be attributed to Ms. Vanga.
In 2010, the Bulgarian newspaper 24 Chasa published an article refuting a number of predictions that were wrongly attributed to Baba Vanga. Her relatives and friends told the newspaper that Vanga was known in her community as a fortune teller for the advice she gave to those who visited her, but that she had never predicted any disasters.
According to Baba Vanga’s close circle, sensational claims attributed to her, such as predictions about wars or natural disasters, were either invented or exaggerated after her death. “Now it is easy, Vanga is no longer here, so she cannot defend herself. They put all kinds of nonsense in her mouth,” her friend Boyka Kostadinova said.
According to a report by Colitco, Baba Vanga scholar and academic Viktoria Vitanova-Kerber stated:“She was not someone who kept diaries or recorded her prophecies. … There is almost no written record of what she actually said, making it impossible to verify these claims.”
Colitco adds:
“If there are no official records, then where did these predictions come from? Vitanova-Kerber believes that many of these claims originate from people who visited Baba Vanga while she was alive.
Years later, these individuals recall additional details and say: ‘Oh, she told me this and that,’ she explained. For instance, if Baba mentioned “a serious illness” during a reading, people may now interpret it as a prediction of COVID-19.
Baba Vanga’s granddaughter, who lived with the mystic, is another source of these predictions. According to Vitanova-Kerber, the granddaughter claims she wrote down some of Baba’s prophecies, but she has not provided any evidence. In a 2021 interview, she even suggested that Baba predicted COVID-19 in 1988, but said she is waiting for ‘the right moment’ to present the proof.”
These claimed pieces of evidence have still not been made public.
It is also worth noting, for readers who may still feel concerned, that the predictions attributed to Baba Vanga for 2025 include the beginning of World War III and aliens descending to Earth. As of the publication of this article, fortunately, none of these have been fulfilled.
