14 minutes
Last Updated: April 3, 2022
Pick The Best Football Betting Sites
In most of the world, sports betting is often associated with betting on football. This is because, unlike other sports that might be popular in certain regions only, football is globally recognized and followed.
Today, it is impossible to find an online sportsbook that doesn’t have football competitions in its portfolio.
While you won't have any trouble finding a football betting site, finding a great one might be a challenge.
So, to help you with this task, our team has created a guide that explains all of the important aspects of a great online football betting site.
What To Consider When Selecting Best Betting Sites For Football
Before we start researching features that will directly impact the quality of your football betting experience, we must go through some general considerations about online football betting sites.
To do this, we will implement the criteria we use to evaluate online betting sites.
What Are The Most Popular Football Betting Markets?
One thing that makes football a popular choice for bettors is the number of betting markets available for football matches.
Football features more betting markets than other popular sports, including pre-match and in-play betting.
Let’s cover some of the most popular football betting options.
Full-time Result
Bettors love betting on the full-time result of football matches because it is straightforward and doesn’t require additional knowledge or calculations like some of the other markets bookmakers offer.
Betting on the full-time results means that you are predicting how a football match will end after 90 minutes of play.
This means you have three options to choose from – the home team win, the away team win, and a draw.
Draw No Bet
The draw no bet football market is popular for the same reasons as the full-time result market.
The one major difference is that this football betting market gives players only two options to choose from.
Away team and the home team.
All bets will be voided if the game finishes in a draw.
According to the rules of the bet, the odds are adjusted accordingly, which means that the odds on the home team and the away team will be lower than with the full-time result market.
Asian Handicap
The Asian handicap football betting market has become increasingly popular in the last decade, especially with Asian bookmakers.
This is because this market has a lot of variations, making it a great choice for bettors who looks for small but consistent edges.
The Asian handicap market is so versatile that it covers both betting markets that we mentioned before.
This means that bettor can bet both on the full-time result market and the draw no bet market using specific Asian handicap markets.
We won’t explain this market any further because it would take too much of the article, but you can find more about the Asian handicap in our other blog.
Over/Under
The over/under football betting market refers to the number of goals scored in a football match.
It is one of the most exciting and intense markets because even a single goal can make a difference between a winning and a losing bet.
The over/under market can be displayed in two formats.
The first format is the two-way number of goals, and the second is the three-way number of goals.
Bookmakers adjust the three-way number of goals market into the two-way number of goals market by adding a simple 0.5 decimal and thus removing the “exact number of goals option.”
First Team To Score/Next Team To Score
One of the most adrenalin-packed markets for football betting is the first team to score or the next team to score because teams don’t get a second chance.
From the first sound of the whistle, the bet can win or lose at any moment.
We mention both markets because the first one is used for pre-match betting, and the second is for in-play betting.
Corners and Cards
Betting on corners and cards is a great way to add incentive to watching football matches. It makes the games even more interesting for the bettors when they must pay attention during the whole match.
These markets are a great source of value for the season bettors because they are not an exact science, and things like the quality of the pitch and weather conditions can influence them.
The Most Popular Football Betting Leagues
Football might be popular all over the world, but the biggest reason for this is the European football leagues.
The top European football leagues are also known as the “Big Five.”
All reputable bookmakers must have these leagues in the offer, and it's not negotiable.
The Premier League
The English Premier League is considered the number one national football league globally.
Many football fans consider it to be tougher than even the Champions League.
For bettors, the Premiership is an endless source of fun and excitement.
Apart from having more derbies than any other league, it also has a schedule that allows bettors to wager even on holidays.
In many cases, the sheer amount of media coverage allows sites to offer some betting markets for the EPL that they usually don't offer for other leagues.
The Bundesliga
In the last couple of years, the competition in the Bundesliga is not on the level that it used to be. It is mostly a battle of two big names while the rest of the clubs try to secure a ticket to European club competitions.
However, this doesn't mean that it is not a great competition for punters.
The Bundesliga is one of the competitions with the highest number of goals when it comes to the “Big Five.”
The weekend schedule of the Bundesliga allows punters to put together some great parlays with matches only from this league.
La Liga
Spain’s La Liga was home to the world's best football players for a large part of the last decade. This and the fact that it is one of the most passionate competitions on the continent secures its place in the conversation about the top European football leagues.
Thanks to the mentioned passion on the field, for bettors, La Liga is a great league to place bets on card markets.
Another great betting market is the over/under on goals, especially in the big derbies between Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Serie A
No football discussion would be complete without mentioning Serie A. The Italians have always been famous for knowing their way around a football pitch, and the top tier of their football is another proof of that.
Over the years, the Italian football philosophy has shifted from being all about defense to being attacking orientated.
This shift has resulted in Serie A averaging more goals and more bookings.
Betting on the number of yellow cards is a specially attractive option for derbies between Roma and Lazio, also known as the Derby della Capitale.
Ligue 1
Ligue 1 is often considered the weakest of the five, mostly because clubs from France did not have great achievements on the international stage.
Regarding the betting aspect, Ligue 1 is the opposite of the Bundesliga.
At the moment, the league has a pretty low goal average.
For all bettors that prefer betting the under on the goal market, Ligue 1 is a pretty tempting competition.
The Champions League
The Champions League is the top football competition in Europe.
Each year it is home to the teams that achieved the best results in their domestic leagues the previous season.
Thanks to the fact that the best of the best clash in every round, the odds for Champions League matches are much more leveled and allow bettors to create parlays with good cumulative odds with just a few picks.
Football Betting Sites In Europe
Most European bookmakers target football bettors and fans as their preferred customers. Because of this, European bookmakers have adapted their sites to offer the biggest number of football markets.
When it comes to the top five football leagues in Europe, the top betting sites regularly offer over 500 markets per match.
These include everything from the most popular bet types like the full-time result, the over/under, and the handicaps to the more exotic ones such as the time of the first goal, correct score, or the number of cards in the next ten minutes.
But, we also must mention that most European bookmakers are quick to limit serious bettors. They are not the best choice if you plan to place big bets, especially on lower leagues.
Football Betting Sites In The UK
Online betting sites that specialize in the UK market are not much different than other European bookmakers. In fact, in most cases, the best UK betting sites offer the same betting options for both the UK and European players.
The small differences can be in the way how the odds are displayed and in the number of markets for lower UK leagues.
Football Betting Sites In Asia
There are two things that Asian bookies are most known for, the number of football betting markets and high limits.
Betting in Asia mostly revolves around pre-match and in-play football betting.
While Asian bookmakers fail to offer some of the more exotic football markets, they more than makeup for it with the number of Asian in-play markets and high limits.
The differences in limits between European and Asian bookmakers are so big that the word “Asian” has become synonymous with high limits in the betting world.
Finally, Asian betting sites offer lower Asian leagues that are rarely found on European bookies, thanks to the fact that news from those leagues is hard to find.
What Bonuses To Expect From Top Football Betting Sites
In the online world of football betting, the competition is fierce, and bookmakers use benefits such as bonuses and promotions to incentives players to join their sites.
Thanks to the hundreds of betting sites that our experts reviewed, we have a clear picture of what to expect from the best betting sites regarding promotions.
Deposit Bonus
A good deposit bonus has become the norm with online bookmakers. Nowadays, all respectable online betting sites offer new players some kind of deposit bonus.
Deposit bonuses can range from bet credits to welcome packages that include multiple benefits.
In most cases, bookmakers offer a so-called matched deposit bonus. This type of deposit bonus means that the site will match the amount of money that the player deposits with their first deposit on the site.
Deposit bonuses are a great way for players to boost their bankroll with bonus money or get a couple of free bets. For this reason, our team gives its best to find online bookmakers that offer generous deposit bonuses under fair conditions.
Reload Bonus
Our experience in the betting industry has taught us that all players go through some rough stretches at some stage of their betting career.
We know that a good reload bonus can help in times of bad variance.
Because of this, we do our best to find bookmakers that offer reload bonuses for their customers.
And even though the competition has never been tougher, there still aren't many football betting sites that offer this bonus. For this reason, we make sure to give extra points to the sites that do not shy away from giving extra value to regular bettors.
Free Bets
From time to time, online betting sites reward players by awarding a certain amount of money to the account, which can be used only to place a bet. This bonus is called a free bet.
Free bets are not a game-changer but more of a nice addition to other perks.
Even if you never receive one, it will mean little to your bottom line, so if an online bookmaker doesn't reward players with free bets, we won't hold it too much against them.
Risk-free Bets
Bookmakers that run risk-free bets allow players to place a bet that essential has insurance.
If the bet wins, they can collect the winning, but the bookmaker will return the stake to the player if the bets lose.
To take advantage of this bonus, the player must have funds in their account.
This makes this bonus, in a way, even less important than the free bet bonus.
Boosted Odds
When bookmakers want to promote a certain league, a market, or a bet type, they will give players a boost in odds.
This means that the odds for that particular pick will be higher than usual.
A boost in odds can also be applied to parlay bets. After the player adds a certain number of picks to the parlay, this promotion is applied to make the cumulative odds much higher than they would be in normal circumstances.
How To Start With Football Betting Websites
If you are new to football betting or sports betting in general, you should first learn how to bet on sports online in the right way. There are a few steps that you should follow to improve your chances of success:
- Set aside a bankroll for betting
- Choose one or multiple football betting sites from our list
- Concentrate on the leagues that you are most familiar with
- Get used to the most common football betting markets
Manage Your Betting Bankroll
Setting aside an amount of money that you will use only for betting will help you avoid spending money meant for other things. It will also allow you to track your results more efficiently.
Choose The Best Football Betting Site
The good news is that you already made the right first step by visiting our site, which means that you won't make a mistake with whichever betting site you pick from our list.
Our experts ensured that only the best football betting sites make it onto our website.
Of course, you don't have to pick only one bookmaker, you can always go with multiple ones and take advantage of various bonuses.
Using more than one football betting site to place your bets is the way to go. By doing this, you will always have more options available.
Don’t Bet On A Lot Of Markets
We know that you might be tempted to try out as many football betting markets as possible, but trust us, this is not a good idea.
If you are new to football betting, you should start with one or two markets, get familiar with them, and then gradually add other options.
A good place to start is the most common football betting markets like full-time results or other options we mentioned above in the text.
