Welcome to the Major Leagues

Our team of expert football writers and professional bettors at BetFootball.com extends a warm welcome to betting and football fans. We’ve upgraded and updated the site in time for the brand-new football season. 

So, you love football? Well then, you’re amongst friends here. Whether you follow one of Europe’s major divisions, such as the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A or the French Ligue 1, we’ve got you covered. Perhaps you prefer to target profits in less popular divisions, such as the Scottish Championship? We can help with that, too.

Football leagues come in all shapes and sizes, with every sports-loving nation worldwide having at least one division. Some are professional, some amateur and some a mixture of the two. The blockbuster leagues are followed by millions of fans, where the best players raise millions of pounds in wages yearly. Then, there’s the smaller competition where players compete for the love of the sport, juggling their careers alongside a day job.

We all know the top European leagues—the Power Five—but the lower divisions enjoy a healthy following, too. Thousands turn out to support their favourite team every week, and there’s the same passion in the Champions League.

  • Leagues can have any number of teams, with the most famous formations in Europe ranging from 10 to 20. 
  • Each team plays each other at least twice, once at their home ground and once at their opponent’s stadium. 
  • In modern football, three points are awarded for a win, with one for a draw and zero for a defeat. 
  • At the end of the agreed number of games, the team with the most points is declared champion. In most cases, the team with the fewest points finishes bottom of the ladder and is demoted, trading places with the best-performing team from the tier below.

Football leagues can last anywhere between a few weeks to a year. They are exciting to follow, with the leading clubs battling for pole position and the prizes while the weaker members aim to avoid relegation and the pain of finishing bottom.

Betting Methods 

Antepost Betting

Antepost betting is exciting and incredibly popular during pre-season, although most bookies allow you to make predictions throughout the year, thanks to in-play betting. Predicting which team will win a league title before the first matchday gives you an interest in the entire campaign and is seen as a value-for-money bet. When selecting a club to win their division, you aren’t just invested in the results of your chosen team and their main challengers. Cheer on every victory for your pick and every point dropped by the competition!

Outright winner is the most popular market for ante-post bettors, but it’s not the only one. You can also seek out a team you expect to struggle with and back them to be relegated or finish bottom at the end of the fixture list. This is just as exciting as trying to pick a champion because you are interested in every match played throughout the campaign. 

Other bets

Other popular bets on leagues include a team to finish in the top-four, top-six, or top-10, the division’s top goalscorer, player of the year, or young player of the year, the one-two-three finishing positions, and match bets. The latter allows you to choose two teams—often derby rivals or neighbours—and pair them against each other, predicting which side will finish higher at the table at the end of the season.

The most popular leagues – Power Five

There are hundreds of leagues spread across planet football, and to followers of each, their division is the most important. However, five European divisions are widely accepted as the best, and these are known as the Power Five. The cream of the crop. They are, in no particular order, as follows:

  1. English Premier League
  2. Spanish La Liga
  3. Italian Serie A
  4. German Bundesliga
  5. French Ligue 1

The Premier League in England ranks as the most-watched and most bet-on football competition in the world. Games are broadcast to followers across the globe, with supporters from clubs teams such as Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool popping up in some weird and wonderful places

Click here to learn more about the best football betting sites in the UK. Or, Alternatively, to discover more about the best betting apps in the UK for a more on-the-move experience, click here! 

The Premier League tops the stats, but there’s strong support for La Liga being the best in the world. With the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid competing, the outright betting market during pre-season is often competitive. Some of the best-loved players have appeared in La Liga over the years, including Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who gave their best years to Spanish football.

The other three leagues listed are also competitive. Still, over the last decade, Juventus has won the majority of titles in Italy, while Bayern Munich has ruled the top tier of German football, and PSG has a stranglehold over French football.

How to Beat the Bookies While Betting on Leagues – Hints & Tips

Any site or bettor that tells you that they have a guaranteed way to beat the bookies and make easy cash betting on football is lying—plain and simple. There is no guaranteed way to win at football or sure-fire way to beat the bookies and earn an easy income from gambling. Trying to do so has resulted in many bettors losing. 

However, there may not be a guaranteed way to make a winning bet on football, but there are things you can do to improve your chances of placing more winning than losing bets. You’ll find some of our best and most useful hints and tips below:

  • Research as much as possible. The more you know about a game, the more chance there is of you beating the bookies. Find out the head-to-head stats, injury news, weather conditions, the recent performances of the referee, transfer news and anything else you can get your hands on.
  • Explore the betting markets available to you. Many football gamblers stick to the markets they have always bet on, even if those gambles have been unsuccessful. Find out what’s available on your chosen fixture. There are often over 100 pre-match markets, and some could improve your chances of making a profit.
  • Take advantage of in-play betting. The top betting apps offer odds and markets before kick-off and keep many of those alive throughout a match or a season. The odds are updated to reflect results and scores. In-play betting allows you to bide your time and better understand how the teams and players perform.
  • Getting the best possible odds is vital. Higher odds mean more cash in your balance when you back a winner. The difference in odds offered by the leading online bookies may seem small, but those slight differences soon add up and significantly impact your profit/loss. So, seek out the best market price on every bet you place!
  • Follow a trustworthy tipster. If you don’t have the time to conduct hours of research before placing every bet, you can trust an expert tipster. But be careful who you trust.
  • The predictions and betting advice you find at BetFootball are reliable, researched and free to follow.

Responsible Gambling

We understand that gambling can be fun, but it’s important to gamble responsibly. If you are struggling with a gambling problem, please don’t hesitate to ask for help. There are people who can help you get on the road to recovery.

Here are some resources that can help you: