Champions League Betting
When it comes to continental competitions, one of the largest throughout any sport is the UEFA Champions League. This leg-based tournament begins with a set of group-stage matches to determine who goes through to the knockout round. Teams who participate in the 32-team tournament have to qualify the season beforehand by either winning domestic competitions or finishing among the top teams. Consequently, this competition sees the best of the best face off against each other in order to determine who is the best team across Europe, and therefore, the level of football is amongst the highest due to its format. In this OddsMonkey Champions League Betting Guide, we will be breaking down everything regarding this tournament, as well as any corresponding betting options.
History of the Champions League
The Champions League tournament as we know it today was formed back in 1955, initially referred to as the European Cup. The tournament was conceptualised as an annual tournament, seeing Europe’s finest and best teams from all different leagues play against one another to distinguish who was the best. The first tournament occurred in 1955, with just 16 teams participating. Each team that took part was the champion of their respective country or region at the time.
Throughout the years, the torment doubled in size, with 32 teams preceding to take part. The European Cup would remain relatively the same until 1969/1970, during which some new rules would be introduced. Firstly, penalty shootouts were introduced in order to replace the golden goal rule, which stood beforehand. In addition to this, the away goals rule was also brought in and was utilised in all group games and knockouts, besides the ultimate final game.
1991 was a big year for the tournament as this was the first ever official UEFA Champions League. This was the first year in which its iconic star branding was brought into place across its logo and its balls, which soon became a staple of the tournament. Not only this, but the iconic and instantaneously recognisable Champions League anthem was brought in. The chorus has since become synonymous with the competition and accompanies all television and radio broadcasts before and after games.
Past Champions
When looking to bet on the UEFA Champions League, one good place to start is by simply taking a look at the previous champions of the tournament.
The inaugural tournament saw superstars Real Madrid face off against then French undergods Stade de Reims, in which the Spanish giants took home the title, winning the game in a close 4-3 match, which saw the team containing alfredo di Stefano come back from behind. Since then, Real Madrid have gone on to win another 13 titles, taking their grand total to 14, which is the largest amount of times a team has won it since its inception. They also hold the record for the most consecutive wins, as following their first trophy, they went on to win it in 5 consecutive years, a feat that has still yet to be accomplished by another team.
Italian giants Milan hold claim to the second most number of titles in the tournament’s history, winning on 7 separate occasions. They were the 3rd ever winners to take home the prestigious trophy, dethroning Portuguese side Benfica back in the 1962/63 season. Since then, Milan somewhat had an era of dominance, winning 3 times in the space of 5 years in the late 80s and early 90s, with a team filled with greats, including Ruud Gullit and Marco Van Basten.
Some English sides who have won the UEFA Champions League on multiple occasions include Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea. Liverpool holds claim to 6 individual titles, whilst the other two teams have 5 between them. In addition to this, Nottingham Forrest also won it two consecutive seasons back in the late 70s under Brian Clough’s management.
Champions League Betting Tips
When it comes to actually placing bets on the UEFA Champions League, there are a host of different options you could choose between. Beginning with the most common and straightforward of these, outright match result betting denotes placing a bet on the outcome of the match. In this, you have 3 simple options, win, lose or draw, all of which will have specific odds correlating to a team’s form and overall chances of winning the match.
Another popular form of Champions League Betting is outright winner betting. This can involve placing stakes on teams you think will win their respective groups or even the tournament. What’s more, is that these types of bets can also be placed on players winning certain accolades during the tournament. You can place bets on a player to win the golden boot, golden glove or even to make the team of the tournament. Due to the vast number of players and the quality of teams, the odds for this can be high simply down to the high standard of the competition, making it difficult to predict. You can also compile multiple of these bets into a singular bet builder, which are commonly referred to as football accas or accumulators. Consequently, you could use our free football acca calculator in order to determine the potential odds you could get on one of these.
Furthermore, In-Play betting is another form of bet that you can utilise for Champions League betting. These types of bets allow you to get more involved with the game, as they are placed during a match being played. This gives you the option of placing bets on outcomes to happen in a shorter period of time, and depending on the current results, the odds could be much higher based on certain outcomes.
Best Betting Offers for the Champions League
Due to the precedent of the tournament, many different bookmakers subsequently make some great offers available to bettors. Free bets up to specific amounts are often handed out to players, allowing them to place a bet of their choice on specific matches in the tournament.
Another popular form of Champions League betting offers that are frequently offered to players are the cashback offers. For example, the ‘Bet £5, get £15 in free bets’ type of offer. These can be great as they give additional funds to play with should you stake or deposit a certain amount to play with.
In addition to these free bets that are commonly handed outs, many bookies also do special boosts for betting odds the Champions League. Whether it is a certain team to win, a specific player to score, or an overall number of goals in a match week, the odds can be significantly increased by bookies, which is a great offer to potentially take advantage of. Therefore, a useful tool related to this and football betting as a whole could be our OddsMatcher.
Summary
The Champions League is one of the most prestigious tournaments any European domestic team can take part in. Seeing some of the best teams be pitted against each other can prove an exciting matchup. However, even seeing the undogs play can be a spectacle due to the frequent upsets that happen, both in the group stages as well as the knockout rounds. Each year we get to see new teams brought into the fold based on their domestic performances, meaning no two tournaments are the same. If this overall breakdown has been useful, check out our more generalised Football Betting Guide for some additional information and potential insight.
