The football season is back and with that comes the betting season as well. While we all appreciate the Scandinavian leagues keeping us entertained during the break, the dip in quality against the top five leagues is simply too great.
With the Premier League, Ligue 1, and La Liga back, among others, we cannot wait to jumpstart the football betting season!
But what sort of betting are you hopeful for? Will you back the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City, Barcelona, and Real Madrid in games? Or are you hoping to catch a glimpse of an underdog win?
If you’re having a hard time finding a good bet, then we’re here to tell you why you should be betting on the underdog this season.
So, without wasting too much of your precious time, let’s start.
1. The Surprise Win
It’s safe to say that there was a heck of a lot of underdogs wins last season. Manchester City, for example, had 9 losses last season! A few of those came from an underdog such as Norwich City, Newcastle, and Wolverhampton.
Real Madrid went on a rampant streak after the COVID break, but they weren’t that good before that. The case is the same for Bayern Munich and the rest of the big teams across Europe.
Everyone apart from Liverpool had pretty poor seasons, even by their standards. Juventus did win the league in Seria A but it was done in a very uncharacteristic way.
So what this all tells us is that teams are getting more and more overconfident and the surprise win is good for the backing.
But the reason why you should be betting on the underdog isn’t because of the odd win; it’s because of the odds!
2. The Odds
Every fan of football betting loves a good odds bet! There isn’t anything in the world quite fun as hitting a 10/1 odds on an underdog.
For example, Liverpool met with Leeds in game week one of the 2024/2024 Premier League. Liverpool was 3/10 to win and Leeds was 12/1.
The game ended 4-3 in favor of Liverpool, but the odds certainly didn’t show that! This might have been a bad example of a good odds win, but it is a sign that this season might be different after all.
This model of betting is very popular and used by many punters across the world. These people look for a potential underdog win, they study the odds, and win big!
While there isn’t a real recipe for success when betting on an underdog, the payout is much bigger than betting on the favorite.
3. In-Play Betting Is More Fun
In-play betting is the formula for success if you ask some punters. And these people have certainly figured out the winning formula. Not only is live in-play betting better, but it’s also way more exciting.
What you do in in-play betting is you bet on a live game. Usually, punters like to focus on the second half of the game after successfully assessing the first.
What they would then do is place a bet on who would win, next goal, over/under, etc. And a very popular full-time bet is to bet on the underdog.
As the match progresses, if the game is still a draw, then the underdog will see their odds drastically rise. This all depends on the game, but it’s the case in 99.9% of all matches.
Online football betting services all give the same odds on an underdog win. They odds mostly range in the 12/1 or 13/1 range. If you’re interested in a great service that provides the best odds, then make sure to visit sbo360.com.
4. The Anti-Stat Bet
It goes without saying that betting on the underdog means going against the stats in football. While this rule can be applied in any sport, it is most prominent in football.
The reason why this is the case is that football is quite a stat-heavy game. Stats mean more here and tams create whole strategies around it.
Those that have favorable statistics have lower odds. These teams are called favorites. But that doesn’t mean that the favorite will always win.
5. Big Teams Can Be Complacent
Complacency is an issue that plagues every big team. Let’s take, again, Liverpool as an example. They’ve won the league and they concede three goals to a newly promoted team.
Luckily for them, they had the quality to get them over the line, but that performance is a clean example of complacency and overconfidence.
When a big team is complacent, then there isn’t a better time to lose a game. Complacency and overconfidence are what kills title challenges, hopes, and dreams.
And that is the factor we’re looking for when betting on the underdog.
6. Everyone Loves an Underdog Story
It’s safe to say that football is a divisive sport. Not only do you have fans from the entire world cheering for different teams, but there is also international football.
But what bands every football fan together is the underdog story. When Leicester won the league in 2015, it was the biggest underdog story ever.
If you’d bet $10 on Leicester winning the league back then, you would have won $50,000! Being an underdog is a scary thought for the other team.
That’s because every big team plays under pressure when paired against a good but ultimately weak side.
And we’ve seen it in many cases before. An underdog can and will beat a bigger team if the cards are all set in motion.
7. Go Big Or Go Home
And lastly, betting on an underdog is such an excitement that you know the odds is well worth it. We talked about odds earlier, but imagine winning an accumulator with several underdogs on it.
Conclusion
There is nothing that guarantees you will win a bet by betting on the weaker team in football. In most cases than often, your bet will fail and you will lose your money. But through careful research, we can find fixtures where betting on the underdog is well worth it.