The UEFA Champions League is the most prestigious achievement in the world of domestic soccer. Qualifying teams from across European football leagues compete in this annual soccer competition to win the UCL trophy, and it’s also one of the most popular tournaments with some of the biggest games for betting sites.
Below we’ll explain how you can read Champions League odds, the major soccer clubs involved, the most popular UCL betting markets, and how you can get involved in the wagering goodness this elite soccer tournament has to offer.
The top divisions from across Europe typically allow the top four placed teams from their domestic league to enter the Champions League. The group stage of the Champions League begins in September. The top two qualifying teams from each group will compete in the round of 16 knock-out stage starting in February, with the final matchup taking place on May 28th. The best sportsbooks will provide betting markets for all the previously mentioned stages of the UCL tournament, whether you’re looking to bet on Real Madrid, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, or any other of the top-tier teams competing.
A betting favorite for the scheduled Champions League fixtures can be determined by looking for the minus symbol (-) alongside the team’s name. The betting underdog will be labeled with a (+) symbol. Whatever betting choice you make will determine how much profit you can potentially make.
Example: If Manchester City is competing against AC Milan, the available odds could be -150 on Manchester City. This would require a $150 stake to return $100 profit or $15 to return $10, depending on how much you’d like to wager. As the betting underdogs, AC Milan could have odds of +150, a $100 stake on this price would return $150 profit.
You can simply calculate your Champions League betting returns using a betting calculator.
Picking a winner is one of many available Champions League offerings from the top online sportsbooks, such as FanDuel Sportsbook, BetMGM Sportsbook and DraftKings Sportsbook. You will find betting odds on various popular markets, such as prop bets, totals, and futures.
These top sportsbooks also often provide various betting bonuses and promotions. Finding a good betting bonus or deposit bonus can help you to get more bang for your buck, particularly when there are so many individual games to bet on during the Champions League, allowing many chances per match to score a payout.
Moneyline bets are one of the most popular forms of betting. UCL moneyline wagers involve picking the outright winner of a game. Sportsbook will line each game appropriately, but as the competition consists of the greatest teams in Europe, you’ll often find great value in the winner odds. The critical difference between soccer moneyline markets and typical moneyline wagers found in other major sports leagues is that a club can win, lose, or draw (tie game). This is often referred to as a 3-way moneyline.
Betting opportunities can also be found in the totals betting market. This is where you can bet for or against the total number of goals in any given matchup. Known as the Over/Under, the most common total set by the sportsbooks is over 2.5 or under 2.5. If three or more goals are scored by both teams, you win an over bet. If two or fewer goals are netted, you win the under bet.
The Champions League futures market is where you pull out the crystal ball and make a bold prediction on who you believe can win the tournament. These odds are usually released months before the group stage begins, and they can provide highly lucrative odds the earlier you place a bet. There are various other future betting markets, such as group stage winners and top goal scorers.
The 2022/23 UEFA Champions League has just completed its group stage. The teams who’ve qualified for the round of 16 bracket playoffs are as follows:
Real Madrid is the defending Champions League title holder. Still, sportsbooks have placed Manchester City (+140), Bayern Munich (+700), Liverpool (+900), and PSG (+900) as the top four favorites to win the UCL final in 2023. These Championship betting favorites were calculated using each site’s internal betting calculator tool and oddsmakers.
The Champions League final usually takes place in May, but an alternative date of Saturday, 10 June 2023, is the scheduled date for this year’s UCL final. Key dates have been pushed back due to the 2022 Qatar World Cup putting domestic schedules on hold.