Football Bets: How to Bet on Football

Here are some of the most popular football bets you can place on the biggest matches such as those in the Premier League or the World Cup. We give you a brief explanation of each and an example of the likely odds you might encounter for your average football game.

Match Result

The match result market is also known as the outright winner, 1X2 or 90 minute market and is simply betting on the result of a given game of football. You have three options:

  1. Home team to win
  2. Draw
  3. Away team to win

In a relatively even-matched game, for example Manchester United versus Liverpool, the odds might be something around 13/8 for the home win, 9/5 for the away win and 23/10 for the draw.

Correct Score

Betting on the correct score market gives you the chance to earn very good betting odds by predicting the exact score of the game. Of course, higher odds reflect the fact that it is a lot more difficult to pick out the correct score than to predict, for instance, just which side will win.

We can help you with this though as we post regular Correct Score Betting Tips with some well thought out predictions that we think offer good betting value.

Some scores are statistically more likely to occur than others, with the odds reflecting that. Going back to our example game of Man United versus Liverpool, here are some correct scores and the corresponding example betting odds:

  1. Draw 1-1 – 6/1
  2. Man United 1-0 – 9/1
  3. Liverpool 1-0 – 9/1
  4. Liverpool 2-1 – 10/1
  5. Man United 2-1 – 10/1
  6. Draw 0-0 – 10/1
  7. Draw 2-2 – 14/1
  8. Liverpool 2-0 – 14/1
  9. Man United 2-0 – 14/1
  10. Liverpool 3-1 – 22/1
  11. Man United 3-1 – 22/1
  12. Liverpool 5-0 – 300/1
  13. Man United 7-1 – 500/1

As you can see, the odds can become pretty attractive when you start getting into the less likely scorelines, but of course, you don’t see that many 7-1 games, so the chances of your bet coming in are slim.

First/Last/Anytime Goalscorer

The scorer markets are self-explanatory: the bet wins if your player scores first/last/anytime (depending on which specific bet you have placed).

You can back a specific player to score the first goal of the game. Alternatively – at similar odds – you can back a player to score the last goal of a given game. If you want a slightly less risky bet, backing a player to score at anytime in the game means that it doesn’t matter whether it’s the first, last or only goal of the game.

You can also bet on ‘no goalscorer’ which is like betting on a 0-0 correct score, except that if there are goals in the game that have come only from own goals, the no goalscorer bet will still pay out.

Note that own goals will not count in this market unless specified otherwise. In-form strikers will have shorter odds in these markets than defenders who rarely score. Here are some examples of the odds for the first goalscorer market in a match between, you’ve guessed it, Man United and Liverpool.

  1. Mohamed Salah – 4/1
  2. Romelu Lukaku – 5/1
  3. Roberto Firmino – 6/1
  4. Alexis Sanchez – 6/1
  5. Adam Lallana – 12/1
  6. Nemanja Matic – 33/1
  7. No Goalscorer – 10/1

Both Teams to Score

Betting on both teams to score has become a popular bet in recent times. We’ve got regular Both Teams to Score Tips to help you pick out the best options.

This is another market that is self-explanatory: the bet wins if both teams score at least one goal each in a game. These goals can come from own goals. You can bet on both teams to score, or indeed you can bet against both teams scoring, which pays out if either (or both) the sides fail to score in the game. Example odds for this market for Man United v Liverpool:

  1. Both teams to score – 7/10
  2. Both team NOT to score – 13/10

Half Time/Full Time

The half time/full time market allows you to bet on the situation in the game at half time and full time. This gives better odds than backing the outcome at the final whistle alone, especially if you land a bet on one side winning at half time and the other winning by the final whistle.

When writing down, Man United/Man United would mean you are betting on Man United to be winning at half time and at full time. Whereas Man United/Draw would be for United to be winning at the break and the game to be level at the final whistle.

See our example odds for Man United v Liverpool:

  1. Man United/Man United – 7/2
  2. Liverpool/Liverpool – 15/4
  3. Liverpool/Man United – 30/1
  4. Man United/Liverpool – 33/1
  5. Man United/Draw – 14/1
  6. Liverpool/Draw – 14/1
  7. Draw/Liverpool – 11/2
  8. Draw/Man United – 11/2
  9. Draw/Draw – 9/2

Over/Under 2.5 Goals

Betting on the over/under 2.5 goal market allows you predict whether there will be fewer than three goals (under 2.5) or three or more goals (over 2.5 goals) in the game. Over/under 2.5 goals is the more popular of the goal markets as the odds tend to be somewhere around the evens mark with either option often similarly likely.

However, you can also bet on over/under just about any number of goals, with the 0.5 added to ensure there are just two outcomes. Here are some examples of the odds for a Man United v Liverpool match.

  1. Over 0.5 – 1/16
  2. Under 0.5 – 11/1
  3. Over 1.5 – 3/10
  4. Under 1.5 – 29/10
  5. Over 2.5 – 9/10
  6. Under 2.5 – 9/10
  7. Over 3.5 – 12/5
  8. Under 3.5 – 4/11
  9. Over 7.5 – 90/1
  10. Under 7.5 – 1/500

Note that there are plenty of other goal-related betting markets, including betting on the exact number of goals you think will be scored in a given game.