Soccer

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Soccer Betting Information

Soccer is the most popular sport in the world, as fans from around the world watch the biggest matches from all over the globe regularly. The modern version of the game was said to have been created in the 1800s, though its origins go much further back than that. Today, there are dozens of top-flight soccer leagues around the world where fans can watch the beautiful game in their home countries or abroad.

The biggest club soccer leagues in the world tend to be in Europe, South America, and Mexico. Europe has the biggest leagues on the planet, thanks to the presence of the Premier League, La Liga, and Serie A among others. And the best clubs from Europe’s top leagues regularly meet in the biggest club competition in the world of soccer: the UEFA Champions League.

Outside of Europe, there are prominent leagues in South America and Mexico. Liga MX is one of the better club competitions in the sport, while South America is home to more than respectable leagues in Argentina and Brazil. And the United States has its league to enjoy in the form of MLS, which features teams from throughout the United States.

Soccer Betting games consist of two 45-minute halves, with regulation time spanning 90 minutes plus any additional time to be added on due to stoppages in the action. During regular season matches in soccer, the game is called a draw if one team does not outscore the other during regulation time. But in elimination tournaments, extra time or penalty shootouts are used to break any ties.

There are 11 players on the field for each team at the start of each soccer match, with 10 outfield players and a goalkeeper on each side. If any of the players on the pitch are given a red card, they are removed from play without the ability for a substitute to take their place. This means that a red card can reduce the number of players on the field for either team, giving their opponent an advantage if one or more are sent off.

In soccer, the different leagues rarely interact with one another, so it can be difficult to determine which leagues are the best. But competitions like the Champions League in each confederation can at least help to settle some of those debates, as the best teams from each continent play in their own Champions Leagues to determine the best clubs in the world.

Soccer Picks

In soccer, the most common types of Soccer Betting Picks are single-game markets like the over/under, moneyline and goal line markets. The over/under allows bettors to wager on how many goals they think will be scored, while the goal line market serves as a point spread for soccer matches. The moneyline allows bettors to determine if they think that one team will win over the other, or if they think the match will end in a draw.

There are other single game markets available to bet on when wagering on soccer, thanks to the presence of prop bets. Prop bets are intricate wagers where bettors are placing bets on small details in each match that pertain to individual performance or the flow of each match itself. Things like whether or not a player will score a goal or which team will have the most yellow cards are common prop betting options.

Outside of single game wagers, futures bets are another way to wager on soccer with predictions that last for entire seasons. Bettors can wager on which team will win a specific league, whether or not a team will be relegated, or how many points a team will earn during a full season. Perhaps the most famous futures wager of all time was on Leicester City to win the Premier League at 5,000/1 odds, which they did in the 2015-2016 season.

Before each season, bettors can wager on futures that don’t have anything to do with team performance also. There are individual-focused futures markets that can be wagered on, such as which player will lead the Premier League in goals scored. These markets are great for bettors who have an in-depth knowledge of one league or another and can pinpoint where the value is in betting on that league’s futures.

Soccer Odds

The most important thing to notice when it comes to soccer betting odds is just how many there are. With there being so many soccer leagues around the world, bettors will notice that there are tons of markets available on tons of matches, much more than they are used to seeing when betting on leagues like the NFL or NBA. Because of this, bettors have to be careful to look for the best odds and not get blinded by simply finding something to bet on among all of the odds out there.

Bettors should also understand what the odds mean for each soccer game. Soccer Betting Odds with a minus sign indicates the amount a sports bettor has to wager to win $100, while odds with a plus sign signify the amount a bettor would win on a $100 bet. For example, betting on a soccer team at -110 odds would require a $110 bet to win $100, while betting on a team at +200 odds would yield a $200 profit on a $100 bet.

When betting on soccer, bettors should be sure to avoid getting into odds that aren’t going to be profitable in the long run. This can be especially challenging when dealing with teams that are heavy favorites going into each match. On one hand, those teams are typically the best in the world and exceedingly likely to win each game, but they are also a poor value given that even the best teams in the world drop points at least a quarter of the time.

Instead, bettors should look for odds that have some upside, in the form of an undervalued underdog or a favorite that should be a heavier favorite based on their chances of winning. Bettors can also wager on spread wagers instead of moneylines to offset some of the vig they would have to pay by simply backing a team to win.

Soccer Betting Stats

Statistics in soccer aren’t quite as elaborate as they are in sports like baseball and basketball, where there are volumes of data for bettors to pay attention to. But stats are still an important part of the soccer betting experience, and there are still some stats worth paying attention to when wagering on it. These statistics in particular are worth thinking about when getting ready to bet on the beautiful game.

Expected goals is one of the great soccer stats out there, as it allows bettors to see how a team has performed relative to its expectations on a given day. Based on where teams are taking shots from and the kind of chances they are generating, they are assigned an expected goals number for each match. This metric tells bettors how many goals a team should have scored based on where they possessed the ball all game, which can be compared to their actual score to see who is living up to expectations.

Possession is another stat worth keeping a constant eye on while betting on soccer. This is displayed as a percentage of the game where one team had possession of the ball, with their opponent taking up the rest of the 100% of time for the game. Obviously it is imperative to have possession of the ball to score in soccer, and the teams that do the best job of dominating the ball are the teams that often generate the most chances in a match.

Finally, the number of shots that a team is taking each game should be taken into consideration when handicapping soccer. All of the possession in the world doesn’t mean much when a team can’t turn that possession into shots on goal. The best teams turn their possessions into shots, which they turn into goals. It is up to bettors to evaluate these metrics to determine when that is taking place.

Soccer Betting Trends

Soccer Betting trends are often discussed as a reason for betting on one team over another in sports, and soccer is no exception. There are plenty of times when trends are useful in helping a bettor decide when to pull the trigger on a wager. But there are also times where trends can be overrated, and bettors should be able to identify these times both positively and negatively when they wager on soccer.

Trends can sometimes be useful when dealing with how successful one team is against another in their history. For example, a team could be 10-0-1 against an opponent over their last 11 meetings, which would suggest that they have been dominant over that opponent and worth betting on to beat them again this time around. But there are some things to think about before accepting that a soccer betting trend as an immediate sign to place a wager on that team.

First, bettors should consider the sample size involved with such a trend. Maybe that team went 10-0-1 over that opponent over a 30 year period when the entire sport of soccer was played differently than it is now. Or it could be over a five-year time period, which would be much more useful when using that trend to predict a game taking place in the modern era of the sport.

Sports Bettors should also factor in the degree to which coaches and personnel are changed over in the game of soccer. Some teams change managers every couple of seasons, at which point they could completely change their style of play. It is up to bettors who decide to use these trends to determine when a team has played a consistent style and when they have changed their approach to determining how effective a trend is.

How to Bet on Soccer

The most important key to betting on soccer is to understand that no two leagues are the same. Different leagues have different styles of play and different traits that make them unique from the others around the world. Because of that, bettors cannot handicap any two soccer leagues the same way, and they have to instead take every bet on a match-by-match basis to properly handicap the sport.

Also important when betting on soccer is the understanding of different situational spots within the sport. Some leagues require teams to play the occasional game on a weekday, which could see the teams involved play some reserves. Understanding when a team is rotating its lineup and the impact those rotations have on them will be key to understanding when teams should be bet on and against in this sport.

Finally, bettors have to be unafraid to bet on a draw to take place when it is called for. Motivations change for teams throughout each season in the world of soccer, and sometimes that means teams playing conservatively to earn a draw. At the very least, bettors shouldn’t assume that there is going to be a winner in every soccer game that they watch and wager on.

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