Qatar will be a World Cup like we have never seen before. The best soccer teams on the planet arrive for a month-long festival of sport with the top players, coaches and officials involved. 2022 is the first time FIFA’s flagship competition has visited the Arab World, and due to the region’s searing summer temperatures, the play was postponed for five months. Usually held in June and July, the games will be staged in November and December.
The World Cup final will occur exactly a week before Christmas, and for many, that will be a strange situation. Gone are the big outdoor screens, fan zones, and cheap lager.
Substituted in is watching matches on your phone while Christmas shopping and celebrating your team’s victory with a hot chocolate or even some mulled wine. Yes, World Cup 2022 will be miles away from what is considered the norm with this competition, but there’s little normal about the teams involved. It promises to be a competitive month ending in a grandstand finish.
The fixture list is out, coaches like England’s Gareth Southgate have finalized their squads, and the TV broadcasters are on standby.
Now all that’s left is for you to get sorted. The World Cup will be exciting, dramatic, and unpredictable, making it perfect for online betting. You’ve selected the team you expect to lift the trophy, and you’re confident about your pick. But do you know how to bet on the World Cup? There is plenty more than the simple outright winner, with the top betting apps offering eye-catching markets and promotions.
The markets that matter
Your first step should be registering an account with an online sportsbook that is legal and licensed in your region. Choose a bookie that gives new players a free bet of $10 or more. If the sportsbook you are looking at doesn’t have a welcome bonus, it’s time to find one that does. The best are free bets handed to all new players who sign up, make a deposit, and place a wager.
Look back at the majority of bets placed on the World Cup when we arrive in January, and you’ll see they are match winner or outright winner. It’s a straight bet for a team to be victorious after 90 minutes. If your team wins, you land the profits, but if it loses, the bookie keeps your stake. It’s simple and popular, but other markets might improve your chances of making a profit on games.
Read on for three World Cup betting markets that are underused and undervalued. These are the options that could see you exit Qatar with handsome profits.
Outright
The outright betting market is the most popular as it’s simple, exciting, and has the potential to keep you entertained for the entire tournament. Choose well, and you could even bag a winner at great odds.
But how do you make a good World Cup outright bet? By researching fully, you make a good bet on any of the markets listed on this page. You must have as much information as possible, including form, squad, fixtures, group, a potential path to the final, and more. Don’t cut corners when making predictions and placing bets. You can be sure the bookies’ traders are up to speed on the stats.
An outright bet is a wager on a team to win the World Cup. It is also known in some apps as “to lift the trophy.” It’s a simple win-or-lose bet with no middle ground, meaning you know exactly where you stand. Back a favorite like Brazil at short odds, or go for an outsider like Germany with great odds attached.
Top goalscorer
Similar to the above market, you’re backing a player rather than a team here. Someone like Harry Kane is expected to score goals and challenge for the golden boot, but others are available.
When backing Kane, it doesn’t matter how England performs in Qatar as long as he scores more goals than any other player.
Group winners
Choose a team to win their group. It could be England to secure Group B, holding off attention from the USA, Wales, and Iran. It doesn’t matter if they win the World Cup; your gamble is already a winner after three games or less.
