Updated: 2024Every four years the world’s most exciting football event takes place and brings the world to a standstill. Nations from all over the globe gather in the hosting country and battle it out for that golden prize, the Jules Rimet, or otherwise known as the World Cup. It’s a showcase of the very best football talent and it always comes with plenty of drama and entertainment…which means plenty of betting opportunities for you!
Many football legends have lifted the World Cup yet many of the current greats are still chasing it. Arguably two of football’s greatest ever talents, Messi and Ronaldo, both have this trophy missing from their list of achievements.
The World Cup is renowned as an unpredictable tournament where anything can happen and because of this, you should find plenty of value bets.
Millions of betting fans around the world flock to their favourite online sportsbooks and back their home countries as passion will often overcome sense. However, do your World Cup homework and you should find plenty of profitable bets throughout the tournament.
Continue reading for all the best FIFA World Cup betting tips!
Bet on FIFA World Cup 2024:
World Cup 2024 Winner Odds
Betting on FIFA World Cup 2024 is now open and here are the latests odds from Skybet:
| Brazil | 11/2 |
| France | 11/2 |
| Germany | 8/1 |
| Spain | 9/1 |
| England | 10/1 |
| Argentina | 12/1 |
| Belgium | 12/1 |
| Italy | 16/1 |
| Netherlands | 16/1 |
| Portugal | 20/1 |
Place a Free Bet on World Cup 2024
Qatar World Cup 2024 Details| How Does it Work?
Qatar will be hosting World Cup 2024 and we’ll be witnessing the tournament being played in its first ever winter edition. The main reason behind this change in season is due to Qatar’s infamous hot and humid summer which would affect travelling fans and player performances.
Football fans around the world gave a mixed response to this change as the tournament will be interrupting many leagues halfway through the football season, however, the Qatar World Cup Finals are set to start on the 21st of November and will finish up on the 18th December 2024.
This means that one country will be celebrating an early Christmas present, but for those of us who are looking to put some money on the tournament, the opportunities start a lot earlier than November 2024.
- Dates: 21 November – 18 December
- Host country: Qatar
- Teams: 32 (from 5 or 6 confederations)
- Venue(s): 8 (in 5 host cities)
World Cup Qualifying Details
The World Cup officially starts with the qualifying stages. The majority of these matches give you a perfect chance to follow each country and pick out any potential winners and star players. Although a lot can change within a national squad during that time, it should be enough to give you an overall view of who the favourites are and which of the outsider teams are going to offer value.
World Cup Finals Details
The finals last for one month. It’s non-stop football for the first two weeks and then it slows down for the all-important head-to-head knockout stage. It’s all or nothing in the knockouts and these matches attract a huge number of bets from fans across the world. One thing you can predict is that the World Cup finals will be unpredictable! Be on the lookout for any value bets, boosted odds and free bets backing outsiders to make a run to the quarters or beyond.
When is the best time to bet on the World Cup? The best World Cup betting offers are found and placed early on when you can take advantage of the higher odds. Obviously, these bets need to be planned and not just thrown down on a hunch, so some knowledge is required.
FIFA World Cup 2024 – Types of Betting Available
The World Cup not only brings the world together over a love of football but it also provides the fans with a month of money-making opportunities and in-play betting excitement. You’ll find the best football World Cup betting odds months or years before the actual final is played. However, we aren’t fortune tellers and so placing any bets this far in advance is only ever going to be a long-shot.
For now, we’ll focus on the main betting markets that you’ll come across on the run-up to and during the finals. We’ll also point out where to find the best World Cup betting odds for maximum profitability, read on:
World Cup Group Stage Bets
Betting for World Cup winners is difficult because easy groups do not exist in the World Cup. No team can be guaranteed to progress. Due to the seeding process, two strong teams line up in every group but a slip up in the first game can spell disaster for anyone.
Finishing first or second is a big deal, group winners play a runner-up from another group in the first knockout stage, giving them an early advantage to progress further into the tournament. However, finishing top doesn’t always offer the easier game because upsets in other groups can happen. All teams should aim for a strong start to confirm their name in the knockouts. Anything less is dangerous.
- Group Winner – The simple group stage bet of predicting the group winner. Consider combining a handful of group winners together in an accumulator to increase the odds.
- Group Qualification – Choose a team you think will progress through to the knockout stages. A 50/50 chance makes this easier to predict as first and second placed teams both go through.
- Group Loser – Choose the team who you think will finish last in the group. You can usually cut this bet down to two teams and a look at their qualifying form might show some useful information.
- Group Straight Forecast & Tricast – Two profitable bets if you can get them right. Predict the correct order of 1st-2nd for the Forecast and 1st-2nd-3rd for the Tricast. Not an easy bet to predict but payouts can be lucrative.
World Cup Outright Bets
Study the groups and work out possible paths to the final for each of the favourites. Are there any potential clashes in the quarters or semi-finals? You can’t say for sure how the groups will pan out but you can make more of an informed bet with a little extra research. Placing outright bets before the World Cup begins will give you the best odds but there is potential to wait and place them after the group matches, albeit with less favourable odds.
- In The Final – Predict one team to reach the final from a total of 32. The odds don’t seem too great at first but if you take into account that each World Cup comes with two or three nations that are tipped to win, the chances of one them reaching the final are likely.
- Quarter-Finals – Pick any team that you think will make it to the quarter-finals. Calculate how the groups might end up and who will play who in the first knockout stage. You should then be able to work out the likely path of a team and therefore make an intelligent bet on if they can make it to the quarters or not.
- To Reach the Semi-finals – Similar to the bet above but you have another round of the knockout stages to predict. World Cups can produce miracles and it’s not unheard of to see an outsider make it to the semi-finals. Take South Korea in 2002, nobody expected them to reach further than the last 16 but they found themselves up against Germany in the last four!
- Name the Two Finalists – Being able to name both finalists is one of the more difficult bets to predict. The world-class quality throughout the tournament makes it hard to pinpoint two teams when there is usually at least three or four firm favourites. Choosing at least one of these favourites is a good start, from there you’ll need to evaluate recent form and look for any injuries in the other teams that might affect their overall chances.
Other World Cup Betting Markets
- In The Squad – Predict the players who will make the final World Cup squad. Many teenagers have been taken to the World Cup tournaments on the back of a good run of form at club level.
- Number Of Assists – Pick the player who you think will be setting up most of the goals during the tournament. Keep an eye out for any attacking combinations who play together at club level as they could easily replicate that chemistry for their country as well.
- Top European Team – If you’re struggling to pick out a World Cup winner then why not try picking out the top European nation? Europe does hold some of the very best footballing countries in the world but this type of bet does improve your chances of finding a winner.
World Cup Award Bets
The World Cup is the biggest stage to perform for any footballer and although their obvious goal is to get their hands on the trophy, there are one or two individual awards that players can aim for as well:
- The Golden Boot – Presented to the player who scores the most goals during the tournament and it’s not always a player who reaches the final. Players can bag a handful of goals in the group stage and get knocked out early-on and still win the Golden Boot. Keep an eye out for any potentially high-scoring matches where top attacking players can run riot!
- The Golden Ball – Awarded to the best player in the tournament and usually found in the winning team. A string of world-class performances throughout the group and knockout stages, and of course, a shining display in the final is often required to win this award.
- FIFA Fair Play Trophy – The team with the best ‘fair play’ record lands this award. You can write off a handful of teams at the start of the tournament, especially those who have the fiery players in their squads who always seem to pick up a card or two!
World Cup Betting Tips
The world’s best teams and players all in one tournament can create an unpredictable nature when it comes to betting on the World Cup, but there are betting markets to take advantage of. Check out our top betting tips to help you find the best World Cup odds to win and profit from:
World Cup Group Betting Tips
✅ Look at how each team came through the qualifiers and pick out group winners and possible forecast bets where you select 1st and 2nd in the correct order. You can find some good odds backing strong teams with this type of bet.
✅ Study the domestic season before the tournament, in this case, you’ll only have half a season to base recent performances on, but you can still take note of players coming into the tournament hot on form and who look to be in a goal-scoring mood.
✅ Pick out any group matches that show potential for a high-scoring game and see if you can predict a player getting a quick rush of goals early on. This type of high-scoring game can do wonders for an attacker looking to win the Golden Boot!
World Cup Knockout & Final Betting Tips
✅ Placing each-way bets on any of the stronger nations can be profitable as they head into the knockout stage because you’ve seen exactly what kind of form they are in. Betting each way on a team at this stage, to either win or at least reach the final is a popular bet for many World Cup bettors.
✅ The World Cup final is a huge time for bookmakers as they lay out a full list of betting markets and in-play options like the first corner, first card, how many goals in the second half, will it go to penalties? If you can think it, you can likely place a bet on it! One of the best World Cup bets you can make at this stage is the outright market and in a game as big as this, sometimes you just need to go with your gut!
