HomeGalera BlogFootball NewsAn Introduction to UEFA Champions League Betting

An Introduction to UEFA Champions League Betting

Each year Europe’s top football teams compete in the UEFA Champions League. In total, 80 teams take part in the tournament, but just 32 make it through to the final rounds.

These 32 teams are split into eight groups of four and each team in a group plays the others twice, once home and once away. When the group stage is over, the top two teams from each group go through to the round of 16. In that round, teams who finished first play against teams that finished second in a different group. The winners then go onto the quarterfinals and the tournament progresses in a knockout format through to the finals.

The Champions League is one of the most popular football competitions in the world, and in recent years, the Champions League final has been the most watched sporting. In 2013, when Borussia Dortmund played Bayern Munich in the final, more than 230 million people watched it on TV.

The tournament’s popularity is due to the fact that some of the biggest clubs in the world take part including Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Juventus amongst many more. Each of Europe’s leagues receives a number of Champions League places and Europa League places, depending on the league’s position in the UEFA rankings.

Often, the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Italian Serie A and the German Bundesliga, are given four Champions League places each. These places are given to the clubs who finish in the top four of each of the leagues. These are followed by the French Ligue One and Portuguese Primeira League, who each receive two places for the Champions League and one for the Qualifying rounds. They are followed by the Dutch Eredvisie, which has one Champions League place and one Qualifying round place.

Betting on the Champions League

You can bet on every match of the Champions League as well as the tournament as a whole. Here we will explain some of the most popular types of bets that you can make at Galera.

Champions League Outrights

These are bets on the tournament as a whole. The simplest is just a bet on which team will win, e.g. Manchester City. You can also bet on teams to reach the final. Another popular bet is on which player will score the most goals throughout the entire tournament. If you don’t want to pick a particular team to win, you could bet on the nationality of the winning team.

Match Result

This is just a bet on a team to win a match, e.g. Bayern Munich to beat Red Bull Salzburg. Depending on the stage of the tournament, you may be able to bet on a draw as well.

To Qualify

This is similar to betting on the match result. However, it is a bet on a team to qualify for the next stage of the tournament. In the group stage you will be able to bet on teams to make it to the knockout tournament. In the latest stages of the tournament, you can bet on a team to reach the next stage.

Double Chance

There are three possible outcomes to a football match, either team can win or there may be a draw. This allows you to bet on two out of the three. For example, if Bayern Munich were playing Red Bull Salzburg, you could bet on Bayern to win or a draw, Salzburg to win or a draw, or Bayern or Salzburg to win.

Total Goals

As the name suggests, this is a bet on how many goals there will be in a match. For example, if Real Madrid is playing Paris Saint-Germain, then you could bet on their being more or less than 1.5 goals scored in the match. You can also bet on the number of goals each team will score.

Goal Handicap

If you want to bet on a team but the odds are not very large, then you could try a goal handicap bet. It gives the favourite team a handicap that they have to overcome. For example:

Real Madrid -1.5 Paris Saint-German +1.5

If you wanted to bet on Real Madrid to win, then you would win your bet if they win by at least 2 goals. If you bet on PSG, then you will win the bet if they win or if they lose by no more than 1 goal.

Half-Time/Full-Time

This gives you the option on betting on what the result will be at halftime. You can also bet on a team to win the first half and a team to win the second half. For example, you could bet on Real Madrid to beat PSG 2-1. You could bet that PSG wins the first half and that Real Madrid wins the second half and the match.

Player and Game Prop Bets

Proposition bets are bets on things beyond the match result. For example, you can bet on whether a winning goal will be scored in extra time. You could bet on whether there will be any penalties, whether a player will receive a yellow or red card, whether a player will score, whether both teams will score in both halves and far more.

Many More Options

We bring you hundreds of ways to bet on every Champions League match. This way you can cover every aspect of the game and develop advanced betting strategies. Take the time to explore the bets, most are similar to those described above, and you are sure to spot many possibilities.