Updated

A massive catfish has apparently choked to death after trying to chow down on a soccer ball in a Bavarian canal.

German police say the unfortunate two-yard-long fish was found dead Monday, floating on the surface with a blue-and-white ball in its mouth.

"He tried to eat the ball and it got stuck," police spokesman Karl-Heinz Kuberlein said Tuesday.

Did the Euro 2008 soccer championship final on Sunday — where Germany lost 1-0 to Spain — have anything to do with it?

"Whether the fish was caught up in football fever in the aftermath of the European championship and hence snapped at the ball can unfortunately not be determined," police said in a statement.