Soccer is the most widely-bet sport in the world. There are now thousands of different methods to bet on an individual game. It can be daunting.
There are also different types of competitions with different rules, such as domestic leagues vs. tournaments in which games can be extended to an additional time.
We’ll cover eight types of bets and how they function in the following paragraphs.
How do you bet on soccer?
1. The 3-Way Moneyline
Like the name suggests that there are three choices for betting on the three-way cashline:
Team A wins
Team B wins
Draw
The three-way results of moneyline bets are rated only on 90 minutes of game, which is also known in the field as “Regular Time.” That means betting on a team to win and
This is inclusive of any injury or delay time that is added at the referee’s discretion, but is not inclusive of overtimes or penalty shootouts.
For instance, Argentina played Germany in the 2014 World Cup Final and the closing three-way moneyline was:
Germany: +130
Argentina: +255
Draw: +230
Argentina And Germany were tied at in the 90th minute of regulation, meaning the Draw +230 was cashed. Bets in Germany (+130) or Argentina (+255) did not pay off, even though the Germans ended up winning in overtime.
2. The 2-Way Moneyline
Another way of betting soccer is to use the two-way moneyline, which can be accessed in two straightforward methods: Double Chance and draw No Bet. Both are graded based solely on 90 minutes of play.
Double Chance implies that you’re betting on a particular team to draw or win or for either team to win. Three possible outcomes are:
Team A that wins or draws
Team B draws or wins
Team A wins, or Team B wins
Let’s look at an instance:
Germany triumphs or it’s draw -215
Argentina has a chance to win or draw. draw -165
Germany or Argentina wins -200
Every time you place a bet, it’s basically eliminating one of the results.
Draw No Bet at เว็บแทงบอล is a wager that eliminates the possibility of a draw entirely and refunds bets if it ends in a draw, so the only two possible outcomes are:
Team A wins
Team B takes home the win
Since the draw is removed of the equation, and bets could result in a push these odds are exaggerated on the underdog, and you’ll pay more for the underdog.
For instance:
Germany 200
Argentina +150
If the game is an unresolved draw, then all bets are returned and are deemed “No Inaction”. This was the case in the 2021 Euro final between England and Italy as it was tied in the final 90 minutes.
3. Goal Lines (aka Spreads)
Spreads or goal lines are like puck lines in hockey and point spreads in football or basketball.
A goal line or spread could have any number, depending on the performance of each team. For the World Cup, you’ll mostly be seeing -0.5 and +0.5 when the teams are evenly-matched. However, you may see -1.5 and +1.5 in the event of a huge gap. In the Women’s World Cup, where there’s an enormous gap in the talent between teams that are top and bottom You can expect to see the goal line as -3.5 or greater.
Let’s take a look at USA vs. Wales. The target line is priced by United States -0.5 (+150) and Wales +0.5 (-200).
To cover this spread, for the spread to be covered, U.S. needs to win by a minimum of 1 goal. If you choose to bet it, you’ll be paid $1.5 for every $1 you bet. If you wager on Wales, they can either win or draw, but you’ll have to risk $2 for every $1 you’d like to win.
Now take a look at an even more unbalanced match of Argentina and Saudi Arabia in the 2022 World Cup:
Argentina -1.5 (-185)
Saudi Arabia +1.5 (+145)
Bookmakers have predicted Argentina to win by 2plus goals (covering the -1.5 spread) because that’s priced at -185. If you want to back Argentina by 2+goals, you’ll need to bet $1.85 to take home $1. If you place a bet on Saudi Arabia at +1.5, you’re betting they’ll either lose one point, draw or win. In addition, you’ll get $1.45 per $1 of risk.
When it comes to spreads or goal lines, there’s always juice associated with them, similar to an NFL spread, or NBA spread.
4. Totals & Over/Unders
Conceptually, totals are identical in soccer and other sports. But because there’s such little scoring, sportsbooks have to shift the juice around only a few numbers.
Let’s look at two examples where the total is 2.5 However, the scoring environment is expected to be very different, so the juice will be different.
USA vs. Wales
For USA vs. Wales the total at 2.5 is priced at +155/205 (which means that you’ll have to pay more to bet on the less than over. That’s because there are expected to be fewer goals than 2.5 goals.
Brazil vs. Serbia
Brazil Vs. Serbia is projected to be a much more high-scoring match, so the over 2.5 could be priced around -135/+100. So, you’ll need to risk more to bet the over than the under. The implied total, based on the juice states that there is greater than 2.5 goals.
5. Asian Handicaps
In some sportsbooks, there are numbers like +1.25 and -1.75. What’s the reason when you don’t have a fractional goal?
It’s known as The Asian Handicap, and it’s simply a method of splitting your bet into two.
If you’re betting on U.S. +0.75 against England, you’re betting half of your stake on the US +0.5 and the other half on the US +1.
If the US triumphs, we win both sides.
If the US draws, you win both.
When the US loses by 1 you push the +1 button and you lose the +0.5, so you’ll lose half your bet amount.
In the event that US loses by 2 or more You lose both
This idea can also be applied to totals — if you bet over 2.25 it means you’re placing half of your stake on 2 and half on 2.5.
6. Parlays and exotics based on Spreads and Totals
Sportsbooks are known to offer 1000 betting options, however they’re actually all created from the primary moneyline and the totals, and then priced accordingly.
Things like:
Exact margin of winning (Brazil by precisely 1 goal more than Serbia equals +210)
Exact score (Brazil beating Serbia 2-1 pays +800)
Team winning at halftime and at full-time
One team that wins and more than 1.5 goals
The list of possibilities goes on and on. Any derivative of the final result you could think of, you can probably bet.
7. Each Team to Score
Some of the more well-known game props in soccer is the ability of both teams to score — yes or not.
If you believe that the teams are evenly matched and have an offensive potential this is a good opportunity to bet it.
For USA against. Wales, BTTS is listed at yes +100, there is no -130 on FanDuel. The book states that it’s much more probable that the two teams fail to score than both teams score.
For Serbia-Brazil, one the most anticipated games with the highest score in the first round of group stage matches, there’s a 105 in the game and a 0 is -120. This is so similar to the USA-Wales game despite the different projections for scoring because Brazil is the more powerful side.
For Portugal-Ghana, yes is +135 and no is -175.
8. Other Popular Props
There are many other props available, but especially to be used for World Cup.
Things such as:
Over/under corners
Bookings or yellow cards for bookings
Over/under
Anytime goalscorer (pick the player)
First goalscorer (individual player)
Team to take the win in a shutout
Team to take the win after trailing