Football Tips

Unless you find yourself here by mistake, you came to this page looking for tips on making money (or more money) when betting on football. If you’re looking to gain a basic understanding of the game from a betting perspective, we suggest you start by reading our beginner betting article: How to Bet on Football.

Once you’ve digested that, and any other articles from our betting guide, you’re ready to begin down the road to beating the bookmakers. This page offers a large number of free football betting tips, laying the groundwork for creating your very own football betting system.

If you’d rather leave the tipping to the professionals we also offer a number of professional football tipster services at the bottom of the page.

Football Betting Tip #1: Consume Information

While luck will always play a role in any form of gambling, the more information you can acquire about the match (and all of its variables), the more likely you are to have success on your efforts.

Unless you’re betting on a betting exchange such as Betfair, when you put a bet down with a bookmaker you’re actually betting on your knowledge being more astute than theirs. Since neither you nor the bookmakers have any control over how the match unfolds the person with the most accurate information (and interpretation) wins.

This all translates into one simple point of advice: the more football news, blogs, tips, reports and interviews you consume before making your bet, the more likely you are to have success.

Football Betting Tip #2: Narrow Your Focus

Football betting is as simple or complex as you make it. While it’s possible to simply bet on the winner of a match, there are typically dozens of unique markets for any given match or season. You can bet on everything from the total number of corners, to who’s going to score the first goal.

Since consuming every piece of information published about a match is a full-time job in itself, you should almost always begin by taking a look at the markets available, narrowing your focus to the ones which offer the greatest chance of producing a return.

Often the basic odds, such as the outright winner, will be too slim to return any sort of decent return barring a massive upset. When this is the case you need to turn to the other markets, such as first goal-scorer. This will allow you to narrow your focus to information on the striker’s form ensuring you maximize your information, and minimise time spent on information considerably less relevant.

Football Betting Tip #3: Look at the Whole Picture

You need to examine each match for the past, present and future.

Past: What’s happened when these two teams have faced off previously? You need to understand the details of what happened in the matches, not just the scores. The scores can often be misleading, since they don’t take into account home-field, injuries, trades, trends or momentum. While the scores are a great place to start, make sure you find out how the games progressed as well.

Present: What form is your club currently in? Who’s injured, who’s starting (or rumoured to be starting), who’s been hot and who’s been cold? This is typically the easiest information to find.

Future: The future almost always has an effect on the present’s match. A club on the verge of relegation will show up in a completely different emotional state than a club content with a draw. Look into what the team is trying to achieve, and what each player is seeing down the road.

You need to look into which players have things such as trades, contracts or retirement on their mind. If a player’s in a slump will that make him play worse or stronger in the next match?

Look at the whole picture, and fill in the missing gaps with credible information.

Football Betting Tip #4: Examine the Odds

Bookmakers are run by humans, and humans make mistakes. Be sure to examine the odds extensively, looking for any poorly drawn lines. If you feel Team A has about a 50% chance of winning the match but the bookies have them at 3-1, you’ve just found yourself a very strong bet.

In addition to looking for value in the odds, you’ll want to shop around. Thanks to betting volume and the human element you’ll almost always find different odds at different bookmakers for the same markets. Open multiple accounts and search for the best odds on the bet you want to make, ensuring maximum value.

Football Betting Tip #5: Exploit Passion

The majority of punters bet exclusively on their favourite teams and players. These bets will move the line, increasing the odds for anyone wishing to bet on the other side. To exploit this weakness you’ll need to consider the timing and location when making your bet.

The majority of people who only bet on the favourites will do so in the final lead-up to the match, giving you the best odds on the underdog immediately before the match starts. Find out where fans of a club like to place their bets, and that’s where you’ll almost always find the best odds against that very team.

This is especially useful during international competitions. For example, you should almost always bet against an Irish team or player on Paddy Power, as the majority of their bettors will be Irish; betting on the home-town favourite.

If you still can’t figure out the best market to put your money on, or you simply don’t have the time to do the research, take a look into our list of football tipsters below. These companies do nothing but sift through information to compile world-class tips, letting you spend your time on something else.