Where to Find World Cup Betting Odds

Some online sportsbooks are already carrying odds on the outright winner of the FIFA World Cup, with many more options to follow. Looking ahead to the tournament, the one thing we can be certain of is that you will need at least one online betting account before you can start placing wagers on the greatest soccer competition on the planet.

Once you have an online betting account, you’re then in position to start placing bets on the World Cup. When the tournament gets underway, there will be opportunities to back individual matches, the various group stage winners/runners up and the market for the top-scoring Golden Boot winner.

Betting Markets Available for World Cup

One area an alert bettor can capitalize during a World Cup is by looking at games pitting one of the traditional favorites against a minor nation. While picking the winner of such a clash is straightforward, it will not be well-priced, but those looking a little deeper will still be able to find good value.

• Goals: Choosing a correct score is immensely difficult, but the Over/Under Goals market is a great option. When it comes to an Over/Under bet, the World Cup may prove slightly easier to predict than one of the major domestic leagues as the difference in standard should punters identify opportunities where there are going to be large score margins.
• Corners: Another avenue to explore with that in mind is the Corners Market because when there is an extreme favorite for a particular clash, it's always worth checking out the odds in the corners market. If one of the big teams is about to face a weaker team in the FIFA World Cup, the chances of there being more corners are higher.
• Top Scorer: If it goes without saying that a player’s chances of scoring the most goals in the FIFA World Cup depend on their respective team going deep in the competition, then looking at the strikers of the team or teams you expect to go far is a good place to start when it comes to picking a Golden Boot winner.

You will, of course, need to understand which strikers are most likely to play for the leading nations, as well as analyzing their respective paths to the final or at least latter stages. Then, armed with that information, picking a potential Golden Boot winner suddenly becomes much easier and you’ll have a stronger idea of who to back.

World Cup Live Betting

Many soccer fans have found that waiting for a match to kick off gives them an advantage when they finally place bets on the action. Doing so will allow you to gauge the pattern of play and whether a particular side is dominating the match before deciding which way to bet on the FIFA World Cup.

Every bookmaker will offer in-game betting on the World Cup and many of the markets on offer are the same as you’ll find before kick-off, albeit at slightly different odds. The 1 X 2 market will be available until one team goes a few goals ahead of course, while you can also expect to find markets such as Next Team to Score, Over / Under Cards, Over / Under Goals and Next Player to Score opening up once the game is underway.

Tips for Betting on the World Cup

As with any major sporting competition, the unpredictable nature of the World Cup group stage can make the outright winner of the competition particularly difficult to bet on. Top online sportsbooks offer group betting, an option that allows betters to pick the country you believe will win a group and the countries you believe will qualify from each group.

When betting on the opening rounds, it is important to look at the condition of each team and in particular how they performed in the World Cup qualifiers – or other tournaments – in the preceding years. Every World Cup tends to see one or two big surprises in the early stages, so these options might be better than looking at individual matches.

However, once the competition progresses, the stakes go up and picking outright winners occasionally becomes easier as a team who advanced against the odds suddenly reverts to form against an established powerhouse of international soccer.

Given that the field will have narrowed and the stronger teams will have shown their quality, betting on the outright winner may prove a little more manageable at this stage too. In addition, many sportsbooks will offer ‘each-way’ bets that allows a bettor to predict two bets, one that the country will win the tournament and one for them to reach the final.

Placing a bet via that method might be the way to go if you are still finding it difficult to distinguish an outright winner.

How Does the World Cup Work?

FIFA's six continental confederations organize their own qualifying competitions, with all 211 FIFA member associations are eligible to enter qualification. The reigning World Cup champions France will also go through qualifying stages as normal, but host Qatar are given an automatic berth in the Group Stage.
Eventually, the 32 teams who qualify will be placed into eight groups of four teams, who will then play each other in a round-robin format. The top two teams in each group will advance to the last 16, from which point the 2022 World Cup will become a straight knockout tournament with extra time and, if needed, penalties to decide the winners should a match be drawn after 90 minutes.

Places per confederation:

• CAF (Africa): 5
• AFC (Asia): 4.5 (not including host nation)
• UEFA (Europe): 13
• CONCACAF (North and Central America and Caribbean): 3.5
• OFC (Oceania): 0.5
• CONMEBOL (South America): 4.5

FIFA World Cup Tournament Awards

The following awards are presented at the conclusion of a World Cup:

• The Golden Ball: This award is presented to the best player of the competition. A shortlist is created by FIFA and the winner is voted for by representatives of the media. 
• The Golden Glove: This award is given to the best goalkeeper.
• The Golden Boot: The Golden Boot is awarded to the player who scores the most goals throughout the World Cup. If there is a tie, the player with the highest number of assists wins. If there is still a tie the player with the least amount of minutes spent on the pitch wins. Bronze and Silver awards are given to the players who finish second and third.
• The FIFA Fair Play Trophy: This award is given to the team with the best record of fair play at the World Cup. Each player and team official receives a fair play medal, while $50,000 of equipment is also awarded for youth soccer development in that country.
• The MVP of the Final Match Trophy: This trophy is presented to the player who did best in the final of the World Cup and is decided by experts from the FIFA Technical Study Group.