Football Leagues – Odds, Betting Guide & Best Markets

Most Popular Football Leagues

Take a look at the table below to find the most popular football leagues to bet on:

Compare Football Leagues for Betting

What makes each of the above leagues the most popular for betting? We’ve highlighted what they are ‘best for’ regarding the football league odds and value that can be had:

Football Betting Markets by League

There is a wide range of betting markets in league football, and each country has its own nuances which lend themselves to each market and thus attract different types of bettors. Below, we will discuss each major market, and which leagues are the best football leagues for betting

Match Winner (1X2)

This is the classic football league bet, very popular within the gambling community. It asks the gambler to bet on a home win, an away win, or a draw. The draw is the most significant feature which sets leagues apart from other types of competitions, such as cups, although most bettors avoid the draw, since draws only occur between 20% and 40% of the time, depending on the league.  

Over/Under Goals

This bet looks at the total number of goals in a game (scored by both sides, so a 2-1 win for either side, for example, would be over 2.5 goals. A 1-0 win would be under 1.5 goals. Leagues with lots of goals are attractive for over markets, and these markets tend to draw bettors who have a positive outlook on league football. 

Both Teams to Score (BTTS)

Similar to the over market, but BTTS asks the bettor if they want to wager on both teams to get amongst the goals. You can bet BTTS = yes and BTTS = no, depending on what you believe the outcome will be. Typical examples include 1-1, 2-1, 2-2, 3-1, etc. This is a popular bet and works well in leagues like the Premier League and the German Bundesliga.

Handicap Betting

This market allows bettors to bet on underdogs, who might not be expected to win or even draw against stronger opponents, but can frustrate them for long stretches.

If you feel that Arsenal will not score a massive amount of goals against Wolves, for example, then a handicap bet might be the best bet. A handicap of +1 to Wolves means that if they only lose by one goal to Arsenal, then Wolves win the bet, since they start a goal ahead.

Outright Winner / Futures

This wager requires the bettor to take a longer-term view, and bet on which team will win the overall league competition. This is a popular bet for customers and bookmakers. Bookmakers love it because the margin (i.e. house edge) is much bigger than the other bets we discuss here. Typically, a 1X2 bet margin would be 5%, but the outright winner/future would be over 10%. Professional bettors avoid futures for this reason!

Football League Calendar

The European football season mostly lasts from late summer to late spring. This includes the top national leagues and the major European competitions like the Champions League. That said, most countries have a winter break over Christmas, and in Germany, this even lasts around 4-6 weeks. The summer break between May and August leaves space for the big international tournaments like the World Cup and the Euros.

How Betting Differs by League

Betting can vary from league to league, and it’s wise to experiment to see which league suits your betting personality.

Here’s a brief description of what each major league is known for. 

• Premier League – this is the most exciting and competitive league in Europe. It’s great for watching, but can be frustrating for bettors who wager that favourites always win. For this reason, we recommend betting on surprises. They don’t hit too often but the odds are very rewarding when it happens.
• Serie A – a slow, technical league full of skill but lacks the physicality of the Premier League. This means favourites tend to win more often, with fewer surprises. This makes Serie A perfect for accumulator (ACCA) betting, since teams are more reliable.
• Bundesliga - an exciting league with lots of goals, and it is dominated most years by the giants of Bayern Munich. Although a Bayern win is always the most reliable bet in Europe, this inevitably means lower odds. Many bettors find success betting on handicap wagers as well as the over goals markets
• La Liga - Spain’s top division is the most glamorous league in the world, and El Clasico meetings between Real Madrid and Barcelona are massive TV spectacles. They tend to see a lot of goals too, and bettors enjoy wagering on the over goals markets in such games.
• Ligue 1 - although the least popular of the major European leagues, the French first division is growing into the spotlight thanks to the exploits of Paris St Germain, who is a reliable bet in the same way that Bayern is in Germany. The rest of the league? It’s fairly reliable for favourites as well as featuring plenty of goals. Particularly good for BTTS bettors.

Football Betting Bonuses

Most bookmakers offer bonuses for new and existing customers to help stimulate betting demand. Here are some bonus types you will often see when on a bookmaker site.

• Welcome bonus – this is the bonus you receive after signing up with a bookmaker. This may be in the form of cash or bet credits and comes with some qualifying conditions.
• Free bets - these may come as part of the welcome bonus or during an ongoing promotion. Free bets allow bettors to place a bet risk free, although there may be some conditions on receiving any winnings.
• Accumulator bonuses - accumulators, or ACCAs are very popular ways of combining multiple bets to produce better over all odds. They have the disadvantage of multiplying the house edge, but an accumulator bonus may go some way to combatting this by adding 10% or more to winning ACCA bets.
• Cash out - this bonus allows gamblers who are sitting on a winning but open bet to close part or all of the bet and receive a percentage of the value of that bet. This is advantageous when your team is ahead by one goal with just a few minutes left.

Explore More Football Guides

This guide can only give a taster of football league betting. Other aspects of football betting which we encourage you to explore include the process of opening and closing bets during the game (known as live betting), and if you want inspiration on what to bet on, check out our football betting tips guide.

FAQs