Football is one of the most popular sports worldwide, and each year millions of fans tune in to watch their favorite teams and players compete against one another. Football is also one of the few sports with several leagues, such as La Liga, Premier League, and UEFA, in addition to the FIFA championship.
With so much hype and betting potential, it’s no wonder that football is also a popular sport among punters. Unlike regular fans who only turn in to watch their favorite league or teams, sports bettors capitalize on every betting opportunity they get. This is why most major online sportsbooks have football betting options.
However, just because a website allows punters to bet on football doesn’t mean they’ll get a chance to win. There are certain strategies and tricks novice punters need to learn before they can start betting online. Here are our top strategies to help you master football betting in no time.
Additionally, if you’re interested in finding top football betting sites, check out the list at Betting Sites Ranking’s website.
What You Need To Learn About Football
How Do The Leagues And World Cup Work?
The leagues are composed of players from all over the world. These players don’t play in country-specific teams. Instead, they’re recruited in leagues and play in teams. Depending on the league, each one can have several teams. For example, La Liga has 20 teams that compete against each other to win the title.
How do Leagues Choose Winners?
Each league conducts a succession of games, including qualifier rounds which determine which teams will play and in what order. Generally, the teams have to qualify for each round to stay in the tournament. Some leagues even have pre-qualifying rounds where only the top teams are selected to play in the league.
How Are The Players Chosen?
The recruiting process for the players is based heavily on their stats and fitness. In some cases, clubs might recruit popular players like Ronaldo to increase their sponsorship. That’s because big names bring in more sponsorship and viewership, allowing the team to gain more popularity over time. The player’s salary is the primary factor in joining a new team.
Clubs might be unable to afford the player’s salary increments, so the players move over to other clubs that can match their demands. This shuffling can happen before or during the start of the league.
Some Basic Information On The Top Leagues
UEFA Champions League
UEFA Champion’s league is perhaps the most popular annual club competition. The Union of European Football Associations organizes it. The league has a three-stage format that begins with a double round-robin group stage. In this stage, 32 teams participate in qualifying for the group stage. In the group stage, the seeding method is used to group the teams who then compete with each other.
This stage is held from September to December. The teams that qualify in this round are moved to the knockout round held in February. The knockout round leads to the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals, where one team has crowned the winner.
Premier League
The English Premier League is held from August to May and includes 20 clubs. Each club plays 38 matches on both home and away grounds. Each team receives 3 points if they win a match and 2 if it’s a draw. The team with the most points at the season’s end is declared the Premier League’s winner.
However, if two or more clubs tie for the same points, the position is determined by the goal difference, the number of goals, and the most points collected for head-to-head matches. Some top clubs in the Premier League are Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Arsenal.
La Liga
La Liga, known as Primera Division in Spain, is a Spanish Football league hosting 20 teams each season. Like the Champions League, La Liga also uses the round-robin format, with each club playing each other twice, once home and once away. The team with the most points at the end of the season is declared the winner.
The season lasts all year round, and the matches are played each weekend except for breaks for international matches. The point system for La Liga is the same as the English Premier League. The only difference is the method for tie-breaking. Only goal differences are used in La Liga.
UEFA Europa League
UEFA Europa League follows a similar format as the UEFA Champions League. However, more successful teams are offered better entrance rounds, making it easier for them to enter the final rounds. A total of 32 teams enter the group stage.
The teams are divided into 12 groups with 4 teams each. Twelve winners and runners-up move to the knockout stage, where one team wins the title. The season starts in August and ends in May, but the final is always held 10 days before the Champions League final.
UEFA Nations League
The UEFA Nations League hosts all 48 UEFA member association nations. The teams are divided into four leagues, A, B, C, and D, with 16 teams in the first three leagues and 7 in League D. each team plays all of their group’s opponents once at home and once away. Teams that finish 4th in leagues A and B are relegated, while for League C, the teams enter the payouts. Only the four winners of League A get a chance to play in the finals.
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup is an international football championship held every four years in the members of FIFA’s governing body enter the championship. This championship isn’t limited to European nations, and teams from all over the world participate in it. The format includes a qualification phase that lasts three years. Teams that pass this phase qualify for the tournament stage. Thirty-two teams compete in the tournament phase.
The tournament phase has a group stage and a knockout stage. For the group stage, eight groups are made with 4 teams each. Top two teams from each group advance to the knockout stage. The knockout stage follows the single-elimination method in which teams play each other in one-off matches. In case of a tie, additional time or penalty shootouts are used to determine the winners. According to FIFA, this format will change in 2026.
Football Betting Lines
1×2 Bet
This is a three-way match bet in which you have to determine the result of a match. The bet refers to the home team, the draw, and the away team. These bets are great for matches where the possibility of a draw is high. It doesn’t matter what the match’s outcome is; you’ll still get to win.
The bet settlement in group stages includes the full game time, including any injury time. But it gets tougher in the knockout rounds. It doesn’t include the penalty shootout time, which might decrease your chances of winning.
Asian Handicap Bet
Handicap bets favor the underdogs. The bet gives the favorite team a weighted handicap which makes the match even on both ends. This means the underdog gets equal chances of winning the game on the online bookmaker.
For example, if a favorite team has a chance to win by 1 or 2 goals, the Asian handicap bet allocated the underdog a 1.5-goal headstart. If you pick the favorites, the team must win by a number higher than the handicap. In this instance, the teams must win by 3 goals to beat the handicap. If they win by 2 goals, the bet is a draw, and the money is refunded.
Double Chance Bet
If a game has more than 2 possible outcomes, the double chance bet allows you to bet on 2 out of 3 outcomes. This way, you get more chances to win the bet. The three combinations are home team wins, or it’s a draw. The away team wins, or it’s a draw. Either the home or the away team wins.
If you’re sure about the performance of one team, you can easily win by picking the 2 possible outcomes. This bet is ideal for novice bettors who want a professional betting experience. If either of your chosen possibility happens, you’ll win the bet.
Moneyline Bet
Moneyline bets are outright bets that are one of the easiest to master. All you need to do is determine the winner of a match, and if your choice is correct, you’ll win the bet. This bet is also popular among new bettors who don’t fully understand the betting market.
You get two options, the favorites (the team with the higher winning probability) and the underdogs (the team with a lower winning probability). Usually, the favorites win the match, so they are also popular with punters. However, picking the underdog isn’t a bad idea if a favorite team has performed poorly in the season.
Points Spread Bet
Point spread bets are another popular football bet. The odds are denoted by (+) for favorites and (-) for the underdogs. The odds are assigned a number, and you have to pick one side to bet on. If you pick the favorites on a +2.5 bet, then the team needs to win outright or lose by more than 2.5 points for you to win the bet.
These bets are a bit tricky, and you must understand the teams’ performance and stats before picking a side. Sometimes, underdogs offer you better chances to win the bet if the underdog team has shown better performance in the previous matches.
Bet Builder
These days many online gambling sites offer bet builder options. This allows you to build a custom game multiplier. These bets behave like accumulator bets, but you don’t have to pick from the same betting line to build a bet. The bet focuses on an individual player’s performance, and you’ll find better odds.
You’ll need experience utilizing the bet builder option, but once you master this, it’ll be easier for you to make large profits from smaller stakes. Additionally, you can build multiple bets simultaneously if you’re confident about your picks.
Parlay Bets
Just like bet builders, parlay betsare also accumulator bets. But instead of letting you build a bet, parlays come pre-planned. You’ll also need to win all of the bets to win the parlay, and these bets can span the entire length of the tournament. The longer the parlay bets are, the higher payouts you get. However, it’s not wise for beginners to go for longer parlay bets. Instead, you should focus more on smaller bets for higher winning chances.
Teaser Bets
Another accumulator bet, the teaser bet, connect multiple bets in one but behaves as a single wager instead of multiple ones. This means that you’ll only need to wager a small amount. These bets behave like point spread bets in the sense that you’ll win the bet if your chosen side wins outright or loses by certain goals. But you must bet on multiple teams and would need to win all individual bets to win the teaser.
Over/Under Bet
Also known as totals bets, the over/under bets depend on the total points in a match. For football bets, the points are goals. You’ll have to pick a side of the bet, either over or under. If you bet on over, the team must score goals over the chosen number.
For example, if you bet on over at 2.5, the team needs to score 3 goals for you to win the bet. Usually, totals bets are easy, but since football has lower points, the bet can get tougher.
Draw-No-Bet
Draw-no-bet is another type of Moneyline bet, but this bet doesn’t consider the draw option, hence the name. You have to bet on the winner or the loser to win the bet, and the wager is canceled if there’s a draw.
This bet doesn’t consider penalty shoots, so even if your chosen team wins after the penalty, you’ll still lose the bet. Since there are only two options for the bet, the payout is lower. But these bets are good for new bettors and offer better odds than other similar outright bets.
Prop Bets
Prop betsdon’t follow the outcome of the match. Instead, these bets are made on events within the match. For example, in football, prop bets can be for the number of goals scored by a single player, which player is most likely to get injured, or at which point in the game, an injury might occur. These bets are also good for beginners because they don’t require a higher wager or a detailed betting strategy.
Live Betting
Live betting is relatively new, and leading online bookmakers have started offering it, unlike regular bets, which can e placed in advance on online betting sites. Live bets are placed during the match. These bets are quite tricky but offer higher payouts.
They aren’t beginner friendly because the odds constantly change, and you need a quick response time to make the right bet. Live betting odds are available during the streaming, and since the betting sites didn’t have time to analyze the odds, they might not be so accurate. This is why live betting isn’t reliable, and even experienced bettors struggle to master it.
Some Top Tips To Master Football Betting
Take A Look At The Expert Predictions
Online sportsbooks don’t always have accurate odds, especially regarding live football betting. On the other hand, if you follow expert predictions, you can get a better idea of how matches will progress and which teams are more likely to reach the top. Expert predictions are available online on news sites, or you can look at player analysis to decide whether a player is worth the wager or not.
Maintain A Betting Record
Maintaining a betting record will help you perfect your skills and increase your winning chances. Keep a list of the bets you’ve won, and lost, the total bets you’ve made, the profits and losses, and the bookmaker used. Once you’re done betting, you can analyze each point to understand where you’re lacking and use the record to improve your betting skills.
Use Multiple Bookmakers
Sticking to one football betting site will decrease your chances of winning more bets. However, you can’t just create an account with every gambling site. The key is to maintain accounts with 2 or 3 bookmakers and pick the best football betsfrom them to wager on. This increases your chances of winning bets, and you can utilize bonuses from different betting sites.
Learn About Football
Traditional gamblers would tell you that you don’t need to learn about the sport if you want to bet. But with online sports betting, this doesn’t cut it. You don’t have to be a die-hard football fan to nail the bets, but you still need some knowledge of how the leagues work and which teams perform better to properly understand online football odds.
Most of the odds are created based on player and team stats. Moreover, different football leagues have different formats, and you can’t make winning bets if you don’t understand how the leagues work.
Pick Your Betting Markets
Football offers several betting lines, each with its own set of rules. If you mindlessly pick betting markets, you might not win as much as you can. Instead, a better idea is to pick a few bets you thoroughly understand and wager on them for maximum wins. If you’re completely new, you should stick to outright betting markets like Moneyline bets or draw-no-bets. You can also go for prop bets if you want a lighthearted betting experience.
Don’t Always Go For Big Wins
As a newbie, higher payouts sound amazing, but they’re equally tricky to master. Bets with higher payouts have unreliable odds, putting online bookmakers at an advantage and increasing their profits. This is why it’s harder to win these bets.
Moreover, you’ll need to have some experience in properly analyzing the predictions and odds before you can make bigger bets. So starting small is a better idea. You not only get the required experience but also get to increase your winnings.
Maintain Your Bank
Most new bettors have trouble controlling their emotions, leading to spending more money than they should. It’s a common issue with online gambling, which can lead to gambling addiction if not controlled.
The easiest way to avoid this is by maintaining your bank. Note it down each time you make a bet, win it, or lose it. This will give you a detailed perspective of your wins and losses. If you’re constantly losing money, it’s better to stop and save what you have left than to keep making poor bets. A detailed log of your betting outcomes will help put things in perspective.
Use The Bonuses
Because of the game’s popularity, almost all online bookmakers offer bonuses for football matches. These bonuses can be anything from free bets to deposit matches. You can use them to your advantage and reduce your spending. Even if the free bets don’t apply to your preferred betting line, you can still use them to make profits. Just make sure you read the terms and conditions properly before using any bonus.
Start Betting During The Middle Matches
If you’re a novice punter, you might want to wait for the tournaments to reach the middle stages before you start betting. You’ll get a chance to analyze the teams’ performances and determine which teams are worth the bets.
Additionally, the weaker teams will be disqualified in the earlier rounds, and you’ll get a chance to narrow down your picks. If you’re also new to football, observing the initial matches will give you an overview of the game so you can broaden your betting lines and make tougher bets with higher payouts.
Learn More About Sport-Specific Betting With Betting Sites Ranking
With Betting Sites Ranking, you can find helpful guides and blogs for betting on different sporting events. The website lists detailed guides on various betting formats, including betting types and sports-specific betting lines. The website is great for novice punters as it also contains several beginner-betting guides to help them get started.
Not just that, but the Betting Sites Ranking also lists the top online sportsbooks from all over the world. You’ll find a list of the top casino betting sites, crypto betting sites, and many more. You can even find the besting sites for different sports in different regions.
For those interested in casino gambling, the website hosts a large collection of casino gambling sites with great casino games, including roulette, poker, blackjack, and more. You can even read detailed reviews of online sports betting sites to get information about the banking options, signup process, sports catalog, and bonuses.
If you can’t decide which betting site to pick, Betting Sites Ranking has a comparison option where you can compare three different sites simultaneously to find one that fits you best. Moreover, if you’re hesitant to share your personal information on online gambling sites, the website has a list of no-verification betting sites that lets you bet anonymously.
Besides that, bettors can also find sport-specific bets for upcoming games, such as golf bets, UEFA bets, cricket bets, and NBA bets. You can also check the top daily bets for different sporting events happening the next day. So what are you waiting for? Head over to the website and start betting today!
