After a 12-month delay, anticipation levels are nearly through the roof for Euro 2020 with less than a month to go before the tournament kicks off. The fight to be Europe’s top international side is usually an intense and closely fought affair, and the 16th edition of the championships should be no different.
England, Germany, France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands will all consider themselves contenders and will attract plenty of attention when it comes to picking the Euro 2020 champion. However, betting on who the winner will be is just one of numerous options for those who fancy a punt on this summer’s tournament.
Here’s our guide for betting on the European Championships.
England Hold Sway in Outright Market
Betting on a major tournament is big business, with FIFA estimating a turnover of €136 billion from the 2018 World Cup in Russia. A lot of that money will have gone on backing who will win the tournament. Backing the winner of the Euros is known as an outright bet, meaning it will run for the entire tournament, if your selection gets that far.
England and France are currently joint-favourites at 5/1 to win Euro 2020, just ahead of Belgium at 11/2 in the market. All three of those teams did well at the World Cup, the last big international tournament, with the French claiming the title.
England are looking for their first tournament success since the 1966 World Cup and have never won the European Championships. Gareth Southgate’s men impressed at the last World Cup, though, reaching the semi-finals and cruised through qualifying for the Euros. They are likely to be a popular choice with patriotic punters and football aficionados alike.
However, with this season having been a long one for Europe’s top players, it might be worth looking beyond the usual suspects. The European Championships has seen a few surprise winners in the past, with Denmark triumphing in 1992, while Greece were 150/1 outsiders when they won in 2004. That might give some hope to 500/1 hopefuls North Macedonia this summer.
Picking the winning team isn’t the only popular outright market with finalists and top goalscorer also likely to attract attention. In the top goalscorer market, England again leads the way with captain Harry Kane the 6/1 favourite. The Tottenham striker won the Golden Boot at the 2018 World Cup, having scored six times and has been red-hot for his club this season, netting 31 times for Spurs.
ONE MONTH TO GO
#ThreeLions
Croatia
@wembleystadium
#EURO2020
Sunday 13 June
We can't wait!pic.twitter.com/mZsx3J4npn
— England (@England) May 13, 2021
Acca Crackers
With three games a day during the group stages of the Euros, accumulators are likely to prove popular at this summer’s tournament. An accumulator, or acca, is when you select a series of outcomes that are then combined into a single wager, usually at a big price. They offer the chance to win big from a small wager.
According to Goal.com, the biggest ever football bet that landed was an accumulator featuring 15 selections which earned the lucky punter a £500,000 windfall from a 30p wager, so they are worth considering. While the Euros are unpredictable at times, the expansion to 24 teams has made it slightly easier to put together a winning acca.
Singletons Have Plenty of Options
Betting on an individual match has become more popular over time, thanks to the introduction of so many different markets. Fifa reported that the average global betting turnover for a single game at the 2018 World Cup was €2.1 billion, and it’s no wonder with so many ways to enhance your enjoyment of a game.
It is no longer just about selecting the winner of a particular game. You can now bet on the correct score of a game, which is when you back what the final score of a game could be. For example, the last time England faced Croatia, the game finished 2-1 to the Three Lions. If you think England will repeat that scoreline in their opening games of the Euros on June 13, you can back that selection at 25/4.
Betting on how many goals there will be in a game and who will score them are also crowd-pleasers. The total goals over/under market lets you back whether there will be more or less goals than a certain number in a game. So if you think there will be three or more goals in England’s clash with Croatia, for example, you would select over 2.5 goals at 11/10. On the other hand, if the form suggested two goals or less, you could back under 2.5 goals at 20/27.
There’s also plenty of special markets to take a look at, such as win to nil, where you back one side to win without conceding a goal, or backing there to be an own goal in a game.
With so many choices, there’s a market to suit all punters looking to have a bet on the Euros.
*All odds correct at time of writing.