I recently wrote a blog post about how to bet on football games, but it’s written from a distinctly American perspective. In most countries throughout the world, when someone says football, they mean soccer. This post about how to bet on soccer games is also written from an American perspective.
Sorry about that. I’m an American, so I can only write from that perspective. I know plenty of Americans who love soccer, although it’s not as common to be a soccer fan as it is to be a fan of gridiron football. The only thing I know of that makes watching a soccer game more fun, though, is betting and winning money on the soccer games you’re watching.
This post will get you started in 7 easy steps. It doesn’t matter if you want to be a recreational soccer bettor or try your hand at advantage gambling—you’ll follow most of the same steps.
One area in which betting on soccer differs from betting on American football or baseball is in terms of the number of soccer leagues you can bet. When it comes to American football, you basically have just one professional league to bet on and then all the college games. With baseball, you have a couple of professional leagues in the United States, college games, and then there are a handful of other countries where baseball is popular.
Soccer, though, is popular throughout the world. In fact, almost every country has at least one soccer league. Since there are over 200 countries in the world, that’s a lot of soccer leagues to choose from. If you spend much time online, you might choose an online sportsbook at which to bet. (You’ll find more information about that in section 5 of this post.) When you look through the options there, you’ll find the higher-profile soccer games and leagues.
It’s worth spending some time looking at which soccer leagues are available to bet on and comparing that with which soccer leagues are on television in your area. I wouldn’t want to spend much time betting on soccer games I couldn’t watch. I suspect you’re the same way. Also, the higher-profile soccer leagues are going to be the ones where you can find the most information and analysis which you can use to inform your betting decisions.
Some of the leagues you have to choose from include:
But you’re by no means limited to just those leagues. They’re just the biggest and most common soccer leagues I can think of for you to bet on.
The most common kind of soccer bet is on the full time result. The traditional way to bet on the full time result for a soccer game is the win-draw-win market. Those are the 3 choices available to you for betting on a game. You can bet on one team to win, you can bet on a draw, or you can bet on the other team to win.
I should point out to those people who are less familiar with soccer that games ending in a draw are more common in soccer than in other sports. When you look at such a bet, the odds will be listed in that order. Also, these bets are based on regular time—which means the score after 90 minutes. If there’s overtime, it doesn’t count toward the results for this bet.
A moneyline for a full time result might look like this:
The favorite is the team with the -129, and the underdog is the team with the +325. This means if you want to win $100, you must risk $129 on the favorite. But if you bet $100 on the underdog, you win $325. This is the standard way moneylines work regardless of sport.
You can also place a “double chance” wager. This is where you pick 2 of the 3 options. You might bet that Team A will win OR that there will be a draw. In this case, the payoffs aren’t as great, because you have 2 ways to win. “Draw no bet” is another option. With this option, you bet on one of the teams to win, but you don’t lost if there’s a draw. Your bet is treated as a push, which means it’s returned to you in the event of a draw. You don’t get any winnings with it, though.
Handicap betting is also available in soccer betting. This is the same thing as point spread betting in American football. In other words, you get an even money payout if you win, but the underdog gets to add points to their final score to determine whether the wager wins. Or the favorite has to subtract the handicap to determine whether that wager wins.
The bets aren’t always even money, but for handicap betting, there’s always a point spread in play. The favorite is the team with the -1 (or -2, or -3) next to its name. If you bet on that team, they have to subtract that number from their score before being counted as a win. The underdog, on the other hand, is the team with the +1 (or +2 or +3) next to their name. When determining whether your bet on them wins, you add that number to the final score.
One of the more interesting wagers available in soccer is called the “correct score.” This is a bet on what the final score of the game will be. For example, you might be able to bet that Team A will win the match 2-0. Usually you’ll have several options to choose from for a correct score wager. You can also place half time and half time/full time wagers. A half time wager is just a bet on what the score will be at half time. A half time/full time wager is a wager on BOTH the half time score and the final score for the game.
Soccer also has proposition bets available, the most common of which are the first goal scorer and the last goalscorer bets. These are just bets on which player will make the 1st goal or the last goal. These bets usually pay off well, but they’re not good candidates for advantage gamblers. They’re just wild guesses.
You can also bet on totals, which is the same thing as an over/under bet in American football. It’s a bet on whether the total scores of both teams will exceed (or come in under) a specified total. This can be a source of value, and some soccer bettors do very well betting on totals.
The 1st decision point is how serious you are about betting on soccer. Is your goal to become a professional sports bettor? 90% of the people who bet on sports lose money in the long run, so becoming a professional sports bettor is a worthy goal.
I think it’s fine to bet on soccer recreationally. If that’s the case, you’re willing to accept losses throughout the season and throughout your career as a soccer bettor. You should still try to win as often as you can and to limit your losses. Having a strategy will help you do that.
On the other hand, if you want to bet on soccer professionally, you’ll need to take it more seriously. The 1st thing you’ll need to do is decide what kind of bankroll you’ll need and set that money aside. For professional sports bettors, I recommend having between 20X and 100X the size of your average bet in your bankroll. This means if you’re betting $100 per game, you should have a bankroll of between $2000 and $10,000.
The lower the size of your bankroll, the likelier it is that you’ll go broke, even if you have an edge over the book. That’s because of variance. Who wins a soccer game is still uncertain, even when you’ve gauged carefully who the favorite and who the underdog is.
If you’re a committed recreational gambler, the size of your bankroll is less relevant. That’s because if you’re losing, you’ll eventually lose all your money. It’s just a question of how long it takes. Obviously, the more money you have compared to the size of your bets, the longer it will take.
The other thing to remember about your soccer betting bankroll is that it should be money you don’t need for other commitments. You shouldn’t be gambling money you need for the rent on a soccer game no matter how confident you are that you’re going to win that bet.
Once you’ve settled on your goals and your bankroll, you can start to look into how you make your picks each week. This is usually going to involve finding value where you can. I wrote about that at a little bit in the last section of this post, but there’s a lot to learn, especially if you want to bet professionally. The internet is your friend when it comes to this.
I suggest spending a lot of time discussing your soccer betting strategies on forums with other bettors who are also interested in getting an edge while betting on soccer. You’ll find that writing about a subject clarifies your thinking on that subject. This is as true of soccer betting as it is of any other activity.
If you’re in the United States, your options for betting on soccer are limited—unless you live in or near Las Vegas. This is going to change rapidly, but at the time of this writing, most of the states don’t have legal, regulated sportsbooks for you to deal with.
This means you have 2 options:
There are advantages and disadvantages to both types of operations. Strictly speaking, though, both types of bookmakers are operating outside the law. You’re unlikely to be arrested or prosecuted, especially if you’re the customer, but you should be aware of what’s happening. I suspect most of my readers aren’t too worried about that aspect of it, anyway.
To find a local neighborhood bookie who takes action on soccer games, find a local bar where people actually pay attention to soccer games. In the United States, this might be more challenging than you think—especially if you don’t live in a city. Americans are far more interested in football than soccer, even though the rest of the world seems to think soccer IS football.
Once you do find such an establishment, spend a little time there. It takes less time than you think to become a regular at a bar. If you tip well and behave appropriately, the bartenders and waitresses should eventually get friendlier. It won’t take long for the regulars to get friendly, too. Some of the regulars at the bar might be willing to place small bets with you on the spur of the moment. If this is enough action to suit you, then great—you’re all set.
Most of my readers are probably looking to put more money into action than this, though. If that’s the case, you might start asking—in hushed tones, of course—if they know someone who might be willing to handle some of your larger bets. It won’t take long before they refer you to their bookie.
If that’s too social for you, finding an online sportsbook might be a better option for you. Sportsbooks on the internet that take action from bettors in the United States are operating outside the law, so it’s important that you find a legitimate outfit. You’ll want to investigate reputations thoroughly. Whatever you do, don’t just sign up at the 1st sportsbook you find in Google or Bing. Many of these offshore companies make it hard to withdraw your money when you’re winning. That’s not the kind of experience you’re looking for.
One of the best ways to find an online sportsbook that accepts bets on soccer game is to look at a reputable site like this one for recommendations. A good information portal will have vetted the books they list based on their reputations for integrity and fairness. We’re confident you’ll have a good experience at any of the books we recommend.
On the other hand, you can also find information portals which are less than honest. You can usually tell from the quality of the writing on the site how poor an experience you’ll have with sites they recommend. One thing to watch out for is the sportsbook review that’s not really a review at all. If it’s a glowing review that mentions no downside to the operation, move on. That’s just an ad. Many offshore sports books are honest operations. Let a site like this one help you find one.
I mention in almost every gambling blog post I write the importance of keeping written records. I believe this is a critical life skill in every respect, not just gambling. Did you start an exercise program? Keep a written record of your activities. Dating someone new that you really like? Keep a diary of where you’ve gone together and what you’ve done. Just started betting on soccer? Record your results.
The reason you want to write things down is because the human mind is bad at remembering things. Confirmation bias is a huge problem for everyone, regardless of how smart they are. I know countless gamblers who are convinced they break even when I’m sure they have a losing record.
The only real way to know how well you’re doing when betting on soccer is by keeping records. You can’t assume that your short-term results are indicative of your overall skill level, either. The long run is always longer than you think. Anyone can get lucky and win a few sports bets early in their career. Written records provide clarity, especially when it comes to betting on soccer.
Once you understand the most common types of bets, you can get started right away. It’s just a matter of finding a bookmaker who’s willing to accept your bets. This can be a neighborhood bookie or an offshore bookie, but if you’re lucky enough to live near Las Vegas, you can use a legal sportsbook there.
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