Football Betting Tips: Quick Beginner’s Guide To Football Betting

Watched regularly by millions of fans across the globe, football is the most popular sport on the planet. With major professional leagues in almost every continent, football is universally liked due to its exciting and unpredictable nature. Matches last 90 minutes and that enables punters to take full advantage of inplay odds, with up-to-date football betting tips and offers available during high-profile fixtures.

If you’re looking for sport betting options, football is definitely the sport to focus on. With a wide range of markets available pre-match, during the match and post-match, traders are constantly updating football betting odds for punters. In Europe, the football season usually lasts from August to May but occasionally laps into June for showpiece events, such as the Champions League final.

First and foremost, reading and understanding the odds. With 888, there are three options for punters to choose from – fractional, decimal or American. Here is a quick guide to all three types of odds format:

• Fractional – e.g 6/1. This is the most popular odds format for sports betting users in the United Kingdom. If you place a £10 bet on Arsenal to beat Chelsea at 6/1 and it wins, you will be paid out at six times your initial stake as well as well as receiving that £10 back. So a £10 wager at 6/1 would equal a return of £70. It is as simple as that!

• Decimal – e.g 3.5. Typically used in mainland Europe, decimal odds are also easy to get to grips with. Again, if you place a £10 bet on Arsenal to beat Chelsea at 7.0 and it wins, you will be paid out at seven times your initial stake.

• American – e.g -225. Popular in North America, the American odds format is slightly more difficult. If the value is positive, i.e +200, simply divide the figure by 100 and then multiply that by your stake (and then add the stake) to calculate your payout. If the value is negative, i.e -200, divide the figure by 100 and then divide that by your stake (and then add the stake) to calculate your payout.

 

This is the most popular type of football bet. Essentially, a punter can place a bet for Team A or Team B to win or for the match to end as a draw. For example, if we have Liverpool facing Everton, customers can choose whether to back Liverpool to win, Everton to win or for the draw.

One of the main reasons why 888sport customers enjoy placing outright football bets is due to the simplicity of the market. Punters know where they stand with this type of bet – it is as simple as that. If you place £10 on Manchester City to win at 2/1, you know that you are just waiting on the result of one football match. Outright match bets are easy to follow and the latest inplay odds are available via the 888sport website.

With so many football betting opportunities on specific matches, punters can also combine singles to form multiple wagers – otherwise known as accumulators. For example, you could place a bet on Manchester United, Southampton and West Ham United all to win and you will win a heftier sum of money than placing three separate single football bets on.

 

Another very common football wager is for the total goals in any given game. Punters have a little more control – there is the option to choose whether to back over a certain number of goals or to bet on under a certain number of goals. The line for most games will be set at over/under 2.5 goals in a game but 888sport are just one of a number of betting sites that allows customers to set their own totals.

At the time of writing, the 2019 Copa America semi-final market shows over 2.5 goals priced at 6/4. With Brazil and Argentina going up against each other, punters may be tempted to back the overs due to so much attacking talent on the pitch. Weighing up these bets can be fun and exciting, especially as they often go right down to the final whistle.

 

Some punters prefer to place a wager at the beginning of a campaign for a certain team to win the title. With outright football odds available on a range of competitions, including but not limited to the Premier League, Champions League and Championship, punters can back their favourite teams to finish the season at the top of their respective league tables.

As with match betting, punters can combine season long wagers to create multiples with most high street bookmakers. For example, 888sport will let customers place a bet on the Premier League winner, La Liga winner and Serie A winner as a treble. Outright season bets tend to offer high payouts but the chances of winning are obviously quite slim.

‘Each way’ betting is a term often used in horse racing but outright season bets sometimes allow punters to place a bet this way. While you must place a higher stake, each way betting gives customers the chance to make some money back if their selection is placed. Here is a case study example below:

Ahead of the 2019/20 Premier League season, Tottenham Hotspur are 16/1 to win the title. If you place a £5 each way bet on Tottenham to finish first, it will cost you £10 to place the wager. This is essentially split into two bets; one on Tottenham to win the league and the other on Tottenham to finish in the top 2. With place terms at 1/3, it is can easy to calculate the each way part of the bet.

 

Another selection that continues to grow is ‘both teams to score’. Again, this is one of the simpler bets available with betting sites and that is one of the main reasons why it is so popular with punters across the world. In recent years, bookmakers have allowed punters to select ‘no’ as an option – your bet wins if only one teams scores or if no teams score.

Keep an eye out for both teams to score odds in certain leagues; some divisions are more profitable than others. For example, Major League Soccer is one of the more rewarding for punters in the both teams to score market. Meanwhile, it is often wise to steer clear of the both teams to score picks in the Premier League, particularly with the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool dominating in 2018/19.

 

With the Copa America, Africa Cup of Nations and Women’s World Cup taking place in the summer of 2019, football betting punters will be wary of tournament betting rules. With extra-time coming into play for knockout matches, it can often prove prudent to bet on a team to qualify rather than backing a team to win the match.

For example, Brazil were red hot favourites to get the better of Paraguay in their last-16 Copa America fixture. The five-time World Cup winners struggled to take their chances in front of goal but eventually went through via a penalty shootout. Any bets on Brazil to win in 90 minutes were settled as losing bets but ‘to qualify’ wagers were successful.

Furthermore, teams often compete over two legs in some competitions. The Champions League and Europa League are both very popular with football betting users and it is worth bearing that in mind. Liverpool and Tottenham both came from behind to qualify despite losing in the first leg of their respective Champions League semi-finals in 2018/19 so keep an eye out for any favourable odds for these double headers.