Football is arguably the most popular sport on the planet and it is not a surprise why it is the most developed market in bookies’ websites with countless options to bet on. If by any chance you have never heard of it – it is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players. Football, or also known as Soccer in the United States, is played in more than 200 countries by 250 million players.

Money in Football

American magazine Forbes annually ranks the world’s most valuable sports teams including football, American football, baseball and basketball teams. It there is of no surprise that there are 3 football teams in the top five – Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid with estimated value of £2,8bn, £2,76bn and £2,71bn respectively. FIFA’s Best Player for 2017 Cristiano Ronaldo has reportedly earned £71 million during the year, £42 million of which are from his salary as a Real Madrid player, and the rest coming from sponsorship deals and his own “CR7” branded products. The next in line is Barcelona’s star Lionel Messi with approximately £62 million in annual earnings.

Betting on Football

Betting on football games is believed to has started nearly 100 years ago with people filling coupons trying to predict Saturday’s results with a hope to win some money. Thanks to the modern technologies – satellite television, increased match coverage, internet and mobile access, football betting is currently a worldwide phenomenon with an estimated worth of approximately £800bn a year. People around the globe can bet on nearly 200 different markets before the matches, some of them being – full-time winner, first/last goalscorer, half-time score, number of corner kicks, number of goals scored, number of yellow/red cards, a hat-trick hero, correct score and many more. Punters can also place bets live “in-play” as the action happens – i.e, who will score the next goal or how many goals will be scored during the first or second half of the game. Some of the markets are timebound – offering the chance to predict whether there will be a goal, corner kick, yellow/red card in given time frames of the game.
    126559
    stars
    Visitors have already used a bonus
    11482
    stars
    Visitors have subscribed to the newsletter