Euro 2008 Betting Glossary

Overall Tournament Winner

The tournament this year will be a hard fought battle as the better footballing nation’s are evenly matched this time around. The teams that I think will be up there when the trophy is handed out are Portugal, France, Italy and Spain.

To be honest I can’t see a team outside those four that will be challenging for a place in the final come summertime but it would be fascinating stuff if an underdog does manage to go all the way. The rest of the teams could still cause an upset but out of the remaining teams I believe the only ones that could do it are Holland, Croatia and maybe Germany.

Germany are the bookies favourite to win the tournament but I can’t see why? Their team is looking weak in comparison to yesteryear plus their main stars are ageing somewhat and at 4/1 the price is terrible.

The best price you will find I think is Croatia at 13/1 which is great value when considering their squad and the fact the progressed top of there group In qualifying beating England twice in doing so!

The Top Scorers

Who’s going to be Euro 2008’stop scorer? It’s a good question and there are a few contenders in Cristiano Ronaldo, Luca Toni and Fernando Torres. In my view I think the top scorer will be David villa and at 14/1 you get a worthwhile bet as he is perfectly suited to the international game in the way in which he only need 1 chance to score rather than a hatful, and in international football chances are far and few between.

Group Betting

Group betting seems like a good bet as in some cases it can be quite easy to pick who will qualify in a group if there is an outstanding team and three others that are not at the same level but in some cases it can be difficult.

The odds you get won’t be half as good as you would get when picking a team to win the tournament but you do still get good enough odds to make a tidy profit for example Romania to qualify at 10/1. If you are going to bet on a favourite the best odds you are likely to get will be around 2/1 so you will be better off having a flutter on an outsider like Turkey at 6/1 which is a good price when looking at their group.

Win Tournament/Top Goal Scorer

The odds bookies are giving away at present regarding team winning the tournament combined with a top scorer are brilliant! You can get odds as high as 25/1 on Italy winning with Luca Toni being top scorer and 28/1 for Spain to win with David villa getting the golden boot not bad eh!

Full Time Result (also called 1x2)

This is the most common 'win' bet, where you bet on either the home team(1) to win, they draw (x) or the away team(2) wins.

First Goalscorer

Pretty self-explanatory. For those dull mid-table clashes for teams with a poor scoring records, you can even bet on 'no goalscorer'.

Correct Score

A bit of research will reveal just how frequently 0-0 results occur in football, and also how often the home team wins 2-1.

Scorecast

Is a combination of the first goalscorer and correct score bets.

Half Time/Full Time (Also called Double Result)

In this bet, you predict the outcome of the two halves of the match separately.

Half Time Result

A straightforward bet on who will be winning or the draw at half time. The odds are often short.

Number of Goals (Also Called Under/Over)

With this bet, you either have two or three options to pick for example;

Under 2 goals, 2-3 goals, 3 goals or more.

Alternatively, you can bet on whether there will be fewer than 2.5 goals or over 2.5 goals. Odds can be quite short for this betting market.

Other Betting Markets

These can include 'number of corners', 'score at half time', 'last goalscorer', 'time of first goal' etc... The likes of Bet365 and SportingOdds.com are well known for offering the largest number of football betting markets.

Multiple (a.k.a. Parlay, Combo)

A multiple is a bet that combines two or more bets together. Multiples have bigger returns, but come with more risk since every bet in your multiple has to win. The most popular types of multiples are doubles and trebles.

Double

A double is made up of two bets. Both must win for you to win.
For example, you place a £100 double bet on Portugal and Croatia:
Portugal 1.77 to beat Greece
Croatia 1.64 to beat Sweden

If Portugal and Croatia both win, you get back your £100 stake back, plus your winnings (£100 x 1.77 x 1.64) = £290
You make a profit of £190

Treble

A treble is made up of three bets. All three must win for you to win. For example, you place a £100 treble bet on Portugal, Croatia and Turkey:

Portugal 1.77 to beat Greece
Croatia 1.64 to beat Sweden
Turkey 1.45 to beat Poland
If Portugal, Croatia and Turkey all win, you get back your £100 stake, plus your winnings (£100 x 1.77 x 1.64 x 1.45) = £420
You make a profit of £320

Accumulator

If a multiple includes four or more bets, it's called an accumulator. Don't forget, all bets in a multiple must win, otherwise it loses.

Last Goalscorer

Pick which player, from either team, will score the last goal of the match.

Anytime Goalscorer

Pick which player, from either team, will score a goal at anytime during the match.

Asian Handicap Betting (AH)

Each team is given a goals handicap and you bet on the match result after that handicap. Because of the variations in the handicaps given and the different types of handicap, this can at first appear confusing. However there are good value bets to be found as the bookies margins are often a lot lower than in normal full time betting markets.