Football betting guide
Being the world’s most-watched sport with over 3.5 billions fans, football receives a huge amount of attention in the betting industry. With £1000s bet on football markets every minute, it’s certainly the most popular sport for punters to bet on.
If you’re just getting started with football betting or you’re looking to maximise your profit, you’re in the right place… In this football betting guide we cover everything you need to know from placing your first bet to the best football betting tips.
Best football bookmakers
Bookmakers are essential to your football betting strategy and you’re likely to place a lot of bets with these platforms. Therefore it’s important to pick a reliable and trustworthy betting site that is well-reviewed by its customers.
There are hundreds of online bookmakers all offering football betting which means picking just one or two bookies can be quite a challenge. But we’ve got you covered…
Here’s a list of our top-rated football bookmakers in 2020.
Football index
Football Index is another popular platform that you should consider using. They offer a new and innovative way of gambling which involves betting and trading. The platform is becoming increasingly popular with football punters throughout the UK. It’s a great way of testing your football knowledge whilst making a profit at the same time.
With Football Index, you buy and sell players as investments. The aim is to buy low and sell high. You can also make money by earning dividends from your players. Rather than betting on the short term, with Football Index you’re betting on the future performances of your players.
You can get started today with £500 risk-free. Alternatively, why not check out one of the following articles we’ve written about Football Index.
Profit with football matched betting
If I said you could make risk free cash whilst sitting back and watching your favourite footy team you probably wouldn’t believe me. But that’s exactly what’s possible with a strategy called matched betting.
If you’re new to this concept, it’s a way of taking advantage of bookmakers free bets and promotions. Thousands of individuals use matched betting to make a guaranteed profit each month.
Thanks to the number of fixtures and range of markets, Football is one of the best and most popular sports for matched bettors to bet on.
To get started, I recommend you check out OddsMonkey. They offer brilliant guides, tutorials and support to get you off the ground with matched betting. They even walk you through your first offer hand in hand meaning you’re guaranteed to profit.
Best football betting markets
With so many football betting markets in 2020, it can be difficult to select just one. You’re spoilt for choice. So we’ve done the hard work for you and listed the most popular markets to consider.
Accumulator
Accumulator bets are certainly one of the best football markets. Over the last few years, they’ve become incredibly popular with thousands of footy fans placing them every week.
An accumulator or acca is a bet that contains at least three selections. Due to the nature of these bets, the potential winnings can be very lucrative when compared to the small stake that is required.
It’s not unheard of to win £1000s from a small stake of just £5. Whilst these outcomes are quite rare, it’s one of the reasons football accumulators are so popular.
You can bet on a wide range of teams and most bookies allow up to 18 selections per accumulator.
Accumulator betting articles
Win draw win
Another popular football betting market is Win Draw Win or 1X2. The most simple of all football betting markets, the three-way bet is a great option for many punters. It’s simple to understand and can provide great value.
With this market, you’re simply betting on the outcome of a match. Sounds easy right? There’s a lot more that goes into picking a winning selection on this football market but we’ll save that for another article.
Correct score
Similarly, correct score markets are very straightforward to understand, making them very popular with football punters around the world.
As you guessed it, with this market you’re simply betting on the correct score of the game. Predict the correct score and you win the bet. As simple as that…
To add more excitement, this market can be split into first and second halves. So you can pick the correct score at half time and then at full time.
Both teams to score
Another popular football betting market, both teams to score is a good option for your betting. With this market, you’re selecting whether you think both teams will score during a football match.
You have the option of selecting yes or no with this market. The odds on both selections are generally fairly low but it’s still a popular football market that is worth considering.
In-play betting
Another football betting market that has changed the way punters gamble online is in-play betting. With this format of betting you’re simply placing wagers once a match has kicked off.
Most football betting markets including the ones mentioned above are available in-play which makes the whole process far more exciting. In-play betting is available at pretty much all online bookmakers making this market incredibly easy to access.
Best football competitions for betting
One of the great things about betting on football is the huge range of football matches and tournaments that take place each week. There’s always something to bet on. Here are some of the largest and most popular football competitions and tournaments from around the world.
Most popular football leagues
Premier League
The English Premier League or EPL as it’s also known as is the most popular football league in the world. With games each week and a huge range of football markets to bet on, the Premier League is certainly one of the best events to place your bets on.
The league consists of 20 teams including the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool.
It’s not just the UK who love betting on the Premier League, each week football fans from around the world tune in and place bets on their favourite teams.
La Liga
Another popular football league throughout the world is Spain’s La Liga. Boasting some of the world’s best players and teams such as Barcelona and Real Madrid, there’s plenty of reasons to bet on La Liga.
Similar to the Premier League, there are 20 teams that play each other twice during the season. As with other leagues in this list, the winner is the team with the most points.
Bundesliga
From England to Spain and now to Germany, the Bundesliga is another wildly popular football league that attracts a lot of betting activity from around the world.
With 18 teams including the likes of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, betting on the Bundesliga is a great option.
Serie A
The main football league in Italy, the Serie A is another great market to place your football bets. Whilst this league isn’t as popular as the ones mentioned above, it’s still a great option for your football betting.
Champions League
Arguably the pinnacle of club football, the Champions League is a brilliant tournament which combines the best teams from the leagues mentioned above.
Football fans from around the world tune in to watch and bet on Champions League fixtures. It’s an incredibly exciting competition showing European football at its best.
Each year punters bet millions on the Champions League, especially at the business end of the tournament.
International football tournaments
Football World Cup
The most-watched sporting event in the world, the Football World Cup is a brilliant tournament that football fans go crazy about.
Punters around the world love betting on the World Cup thanks to the drama and excitement of the tournament. In fact, the bookmakers take millions of bets every time the competition comes around.
The World Cup takes place every 4 years with 32 international teams competing for the most coveted prize in the sporting world. Qatar is hosting the next tournament in 2022.
The Euros
Another brilliant football tournament that fans love betting on are the Euros. Taking place every 4 years 2 years after the World Cup, the Euros fill the gap between World Cups.
Euro 2020 is set to take place in the summer of 2021 due to the coronavirus outbreak. The tournament consists of 23 teams and 12 different venues.
Copa America
The South American football tournament, Copa America is a brilliant competition that takes place every 4 years. Copa America is held the same year as the Euros with 12 or 16 teams taking part depending on how many teams are invited.
Similar to The Euros, the 2020 tournament has been postponed until 2021.
The current champions, Brazil, have won the tournament 9 times. However, the most successful team is Uruguay with 15 titles.
Just like the World Cup and the Euros, punters love placing footy bets on Copa America making it another tournament you should consider in your betting strategy.
Football betting tips
Beating the bookies and winning big is the aim of every football punter. Yet thousands of bettors lose money at the hands of the bookmakers on a regular basis. We aim to change that today with our football betting tips.
More football betting tips
Here are some key football betting tips that you should consider using in your strategy today.
Know football inside out
One of the most important football betting tips is to do your research. If you’re going to beat the bookmakers you need to know what you’re betting on. The more you know about football, the more likely you are to place winning bets. So the question you’re probably asking is what should you research? Here are some things to consider:
- The current form of a team
- Recent results and performances
- Team injuries and selections
This is a great place to get started but there’s plenty more knowledge and information you can find out about football teams, fixtures etc.
There are plenty of websites and media outlets where you can find this information from. You can even subscribe to various football YouTube channels. The opportunities are endless…
Keep a betting record
Another tip that is vital if you want to succeed with football betting is keeping a record of your bets. You might think this sounds a little over the top and not really worth it. I mean who enjoys keeping records anyway? But this makes a significant difference to how much profit you’ll make.
If you track which bets are performing well, it’s easy to continue placing similar wagers in the future to keep the profit rolling in. So how far should you go when it comes to keeping a betting record? Here are certain things to consider:
- What bets you win and lose
- The stake and outcome of each bet
- Which bookmakers you use
This is a great place to start with your record keeping. However, you can always add more information if you want. All in all, the more data you record the more you’ll learn about your football betting and what works. The more analytical you are, the more profit you’ll make with your football betting.
Football betting odds
One of the most important aspects of successful football betting is accessing the best odds. Stating the obvious, but the higher the odds, the more profit you’ll make from a winning bet. It’s as simple as that!
This might sound simple in theory but you’d be surprised at the number of punters who don’t bet with the highest value odds. What’s more, the process of checking odds is incredibly easy nowadays. There are various websites such as Oddschecker and OddsPortal which scan bookmakers’ odds for you.
Simply enter the market you’re after and you’re all set to go. The odds checking software highlights which bookmaker offers the best odds and you can even place your bets within these websites. There’s no excuse for not betting with the highest value odds.
If you really want to succeed with football betting, this is a strategy you’ll need to perfect.
Football betting offers and promotions
Another aspect of football betting is taking advantage of bookmakers betting offers, free bets and other promotions. With hundreds of online bookies all vying for your business, they offer generous incentives to both new and existing customers.
What does this mean for you? There’s plenty of free money on the table waiting for you to take advantage of. Therefore you should sign up to as many bookmakers as possible just to access these free bets and promotions. As we looked at earlier, it’s also possible to make a guaranteed profit using matched betting.
Various bookies also run football-specific promotions. For example, Skybet offers a price boost every weekend during the Premier League season. So Skybet will boost the odds of certain teams winning which increases the amount of profit you’ll make.