5 things to know when Betting on European Football

When there is a clear unbalance between the two teams, it’s always the stronger one that wins, right? Well, no, things are not this simple. There are plenty of cases when the general rules of football don’t apply to European football betting. Here are five things you have to know when you bet on European football:

When emotions run high

The national football leagues of Europe are full of historic rivalries. Some of them are world-famous, like El Clásico, the century-long rivalry between Barcelona and Real Madrid, the Northwest Derby between Manchester United and Liverpool, and Der Klassiker, between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, but even lower-profile national leagues have them.

When playing against their nemeses, players can get emotional - usually angry or determined - and this can influence their performance. Whether it’s for the better or for the worse is impossible to predict.

Internationals are exhausting

Aside from playing in the national leagues, players are often called up to play with their national teams as well. And quite often, international appearances overlap with league games. As the top players are usually called up, and the competition can be fierce - especially in high-profile competitions - players can suffer injuries or simply be exhausted when returning to their day-to-day service. And this, as you might expect, affects their performance on the turf.

Home advantage doesn’t always work

In betting, it is seen as a general rule that teams perform better on their home turf. Well, this is not always true. There are many teams, even in the top European leagues, with a truly dismal home record.

In the Premier League, teams get 3 points for a victory, 1 point for a draw, and zero for a loss. In a season, each team plays 38 games - 19 at home. In the 2005-2006 season, Sunderland had the worst home record in Premier League history, with just 7 points (the equivalent of 7 draws) collected. Aston Villa earned just 11 home points in the 2015-2016 season, and so did Crystal Palace in 1997-1998. Even Manchester City, the defending champion, had a season when it only gathered 15 home points - and relegated to the Championship.

Cup competitions come with surprises

Domestic cup competitions like the Tingo Cup are usually knockout tournaments, which means that each participating team has one shot at staying in the game. A single loss means elimination. The top clubs usually don’t give these cups too much importance, because they don’t count toward their promotion toward European leagues. But smaller teams do - they do it for the prestige.

In domestic cups, upsets can happen quite often. In 2013, for example, when the fifth-league Oldham Athletic beat Liverpool 3-2, or when the second-league Wigan Athletic beat Manchester City in the FA Cup.

Changes are very impactful

Finally, here’s something that happens behind the scenes but has a major impact on the performance of European football teams: a change in leadership. Leeds United hired Marcelo Bielsa as a manager ahead of the 2018-2019 season to help the team promote to the Premier League. And he did. But in 2020-2021, the team suffered four consecutive losses, so Bielsa was sacked. Leeds finished the season in 9th place that season, 17th in the next, then 19th, then fell off the table and returned to the Championship.

Changes in the coaching staff, but also in the ownership, have a serious impact on the performance of the teams - they tend to be disoriented, unorganized, and prone to losses. While this passes in time, it can seriously impact the performance of a team - and the outcome of the bets you place on them.

In European football, there are a few rules of thumb - but there are too many exceptions as well. So, instead of following them, make sure to do your research before every match you bet on, so you won’t have any surprises because of a piece of news you missed.

And always make sure you place your bets responsibly and within your means!

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