Introduction to the EuroLeague

The 18 teams play in a double robin round format for the regular season, meaning each team will play 34 games. The 8 teams who place highest in the league table at the end of the regular season then qualify for the playoffs. These teams are paired and then play in an intense 5 game playoff series, and the winners of this round advance to the Final Four. The Final Four is a semi-finals round where the teams play in a single game knockout format, and the semi-finals and finals are played over a single weekend, the last of the season. The action at the end of the season can be incredibly fast paced and there is definitely no shortage of excitement as any of the Final Four can become the new champions of Europe.

The EuroLeague is organised by FIBA Europe, the International Basketball Federation that includes all 50 national European associations. The competition was first established in 1958, and has been held continuously ever since, with the exception of the 2020 season that was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Spanish club Real Madrid has won the competition the most times, and they are followed by CSKA Moscow, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Panathinaikos and Varese. There are many more top teams who play in the league, such as FC Barcelona, Olympiacos, as well as Turkish clubs who have won the competition recently: Anadolu Efes and Fenerbahce.

EuroLeague Betting Guide

When it comes to betting on the EuroLeague, there are many types of bets available. However, it is probably best to start with the simplest bets. These standard bets are quite straightforward and therefore are easier to research for fans who are not familiar with all the teams in the competition or for those who have not bet on basketball games before.

Basketball Bets

Full Time Result

Full time result bets are the most straightforward bets, as the bettor needs to do is predict which of the two teams will win in a game. In a EuroLeague basketball game between Olympiacos and Real Madrid for example, there will be odds offered on Olympiacos to win and odds offered on Real Madrid to win. The team with the shorter odds will be the favourite to win.

Handicaps

Point handicaps are the same as full time result bets; only a team can be given a positive or negative handicap that will alter their odds and also either elevate or reduce the risk. Handicaps can be used when there is a game between two teams where one team is clearly the favourite. In a EuroLeague regular season game between Valencia Basket and Real Madrid, where Real Madrid is tipped to win, a bettor can bet on Madrid with a negative handicap, or they can choose to bet on Valencia with a positive handicap.

A punter may choose to give Real Madrid a handicap of -9.5 points, which will make betting on Madrid riskier as they will have to win by at least 10 points, but their odds will be significantly lengthened. Alternatively, if a bet was set on Valencia to win with +9.5 points, it would make betting on them less risky but also reduce the odds of betting on them.

There will be numerous handicaps to pick from such as -8.5, -9.5, -10.5, and the positive equivalent as well. This gives bettors some variety and they can pick the bet with the odds and level of risk that is preferable.

Total Points

Punters can choose to place bets on how many points they think will be scored during a game with point totals. This bet has no relation to which team will win the game or whether one team scores all the points or not.

Total points are over/under bets. Bettors can choose from a number of betting lines and bet on whether the game will end with over or under the number of point specified by the line. For example, it may be possible to bet on there being over or under 163.5 points scored in the game.

Halves or Quarters

There may be additional bets that relate to individual halves or quarters. These will include bets such as the result, total points and point handicaps. When betting on a particular quarter or half, then only the result or points scored in that quarter or half alone count. There may also be a bet for winner at the end of the third quarter, which will allow bettors to bet on the winner at each stage of the game: winner of the first quarter, winner of the first half, winner at the third quarter, and winner at the end of the game.