Long-Term Football Betting
Long-Term Football Betting

Why long-term betting on football, despite not having widespread appeal, can be attractive because of the better odds on offer.
Long term betting is one of the least popular ways of betting on football because most players prefer the thrill of betting live or earning winnings in the short-term. For many, long-term betting is just too protracted a process.
Furthermore, it is not easy to identify a winning strategy either just because of the sheer number of future variables at stake, and the extended timeframe for new factors or unforeseen events to occur that could affect the possible outcome. Nevertheless, for those with the necessary patience and application, the potential rewards of betting on football in this way can be high.
In terms of strategy, long term football betting involves placing a bet on a future event, two, three or, in the case of a league, up to ten months before the result is known. This can mean placing a bet on who will win a league, domestic or European cups, and who might be involved in promotion or relegation battles.
The attraction of such betting lies in the odds at the start of a season or cup competition being much more attractive than if you choose to place your bet when most of the season has been played, or a number of rounds of a Cup competition have taken place. That is because there are so many factors that can play a part – suspensions, injuries, loss of form, or even off-the-field problems which can affect even the firmest of favourites.
In fact, the same logic can apply to other team sports, like basketball, and baseball, as well as more individual events like tennis. Long-term betting on the winner of the NBA, or next year’s French Open tennis offers good odds because there are so many unknowns at this stage.
Arguably, though, football, by its nature, takes some of the element of chance out of the equation because, depending on the country, the league is dominated by one, or only a handful of top teams. In Italy, for example, Juventus have won the last seven Serie A titles. Equally it has been seven seasons since any team other than Bayern Munich won the Bundesliga. PSG, with their enormous budget, can be expected to dominate French football, whilst the trio of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid will all be likely to compete for La Liga each year.
However, even given this information, never bet on a league which you do not know. If you are not familiar with the major clubs and their relative strengths and weaknesses, stay away from betting on them. For example, a strong team last season might be facing financial problems, which might impact on their ability to compete at the same level this season.
And then there are always surprises. Even though the French league appears to be dominated by PSG, it was actually Monaco who won the title two years ago. And then there is the case of Leicester City. In the 2014 – 2015 season they narrowly escaped relegation from the English Premier League, and were amongst the favourites to go down at the start of the next season. Instead, against all the odds, they surged through the season, and emerged the most unlikely of champions, beating the likes of Manchester City, United, Arsenal and Chelsea in the process. Anybody who had a long-term bet on them to achieve that feat was either a dyed-in-the-wool Leicester fan, or a fantasist.
Betting on football with the long-term in mind can be appealing because of the odds on offer, but it requires patience and a deep knowledge of the league or cup competition on which you are choosing to bet.