Advantages/Disadvantages of Major Domestic Leagues
Soccer Betting Basics: Choosing What to Bet On
Please note that we’re not saying that other domestic leagues aren’t as important as the ones we’ve listed here. Please don’t be offended if your favorite league isn’t included. It’s just that these leagues have the most coverage on a global scale. We could easily have included other leagues too. There’s a case for the Australian A-League for example, or some of the South American leagues.
Having established a vague definition for the major domestic soccer leagues, let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of betting on them.
Advantages of Major Domestic Leagues
Although there are no precise figures available, we think it’s safe to assume that the major domestic leagues account for a sizable percentage of all soccer betting activity. The simple fact that they are some of the most popular soccer competitions would surely back this assumption up. Plus, they offer several advantages to soccer bettors including the ones listed below.
Attacking players in good form.
Set piece specialists.
Defenders who like to get forward at set pieces.
As we mentioned earlier, these leagues receive the most coverage. For most games, you’ll be able to watch them in their entirety on TV. For the others, you’ll be able to watch their highlights. This will not only help you gain insight into the overall quality of the teams but to the overall quality of the individual players as well. This insight will help you make educated betting decisions, especially if you’re able to properly analyze them and draw conclusions from what you see.
There’s also a wealth of information and statistics available on the major domestic leagues. Again, this is useful for assessing the quality of teams and players. The more data you’re able to research and analyze, the better you’ll be able to make informed judgements about probable outcomes. This in turn will make it easier to find value in the betting markets, which should lead to greater projects.
Of course, this assumes that you know what to look for and how to analyze it. You might want to take a look at our article on important soccer betting factors for some help with this. Additional information is always valuable when it comes to sports betting, but you do need to know how to utilize it effectively.
The final advantage to mention here is the betting options available. The popularity of these major domestic leagues means that most bookmakers and betting sites offer a wider variety of related betting markets. Trust us when we say that this is a good thing; more options equal more opportunities to find good wagers to place.
Disadvantages of Major Domestic Leagues
There aren’t really any significant disadvantages to betting on the major domestic leagues. Although you do have to consider that the popularity of these competitions means the bookmakers and betting sites take in a lot of wagers on them. They work diligently to ensure that the odds and lines they set are very tight, which makes it very hard to find value. You have to really know what you’re doing to make regular and consistent profits.
The only other disadvantage to mention is the unpredictable nature of these leagues. Any soccer competition is unpredictable to some extent, but games in the major domestic leagues are especially hard to call. Although the better teams do tend to win more often than not, they are still susceptible to the occasional upset. So there are few, if any, games that are genuinely easy to predict.
Predicting the winner of these leagues can be a challenge too. While some of the leagues have one or two dominant teams that are expected to compete for the title, there’s still no guarantee who’ll actually be crowned champions. A “lesser” team could easily come out of nowhere and win the whole league.
Take Leicester, for example, in the English Premier League. They narrowly avoided relegation in 2015 and were tipped to be among the bottom clubs the following season. Then they went and finished top of the league, in one of the biggest soccer upsets ever.
So, all things considered, betting on the major domestic leagues is a challenge. Making money from sports betting is NEVER easy though, so don’t let this discourage you.
Other Domestic Leagues
The leagues discussed above only represent a fraction of all the domestic leagues around the world. We would go as far as to say that most countries offer some sort of soccer league. Although these leagues aren’t as popular as the major ones already mentioned, they still tend to have a loyal following. Since most of them are covered by bookmakers and betting sites, there’s even more betting opportunities to look forward to.
Here are some other soccer leagues from around the world.
Even now, we haven’t listed them all. We feel it’s also important to point out that some nations have “lower tier leagues.” In England, for example, you have the Championship, League 1 and League 2. In Italy there is Serie B, and in Spain there is the Segunda Division. We’ve never calculated just how many leagues there are in total, but it’s safe to say that there’s a lot.
Let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of betting on these lower profile leagues.
Advantages & Disadvantages
The main advantage of these leagues is that it’s easier to find value in the betting markets. Bookmakers take a lot less wagers on them, so they don’t give them quite the same amount of attention. They’ll typically hire several experts on the major leagues to help set the odds and lines, but they may not employ any for the smaller leagues. This means their odds and lines aren’t quite so tight. If you know these leagues well, you’ll probably know more than the bookmakers. That puts you in a very strong position to make some money.
Another advantage is also linked to the fact that less people bet on these leagues. With the most popular leagues, any value in the betting markets is usually snapped up very quickly. As soon as a good wager is available, there are plenty of smart bettors who will get their money down as soon as they can. The bookmakers then adjust their odds accordingly, and the value soon disappears. This happens far less frequently with the lower profile leagues.
The two big disadvantages of betting on these leagues are that it’s not as easy to find coverage of the games and there isn’t as much readily accessible data. While this isn’t ideal, it just means that you’ll have to work a little harder on research and analysis.
Club Cup Competitions
Most countries have domestic cup competitions as well as league competitions. These are knockout contests that take place throughout the course of a regular season. They typically involve teams from all the leagues within a single country, although that’s not always the case. Some countries have cup competitions that are exclusively for teams from a specific league.
Here are a few examples of the biggest and best-known domestic cup competitions, all of which are covered by most bookmakers and betting sites.
It’s hard to predict the winner of a cup competition, so we wouldn’t recommend spending a lot of time on it. The individual games often present some excellent betting opportunities though. Cup games are relatively easy to predict. Although you’ll have to take lower odds, these can still be very profitable wagers in the long run. You just need to be selective about which ones you bet on.
Cup games present excellent opportunities for predicting upsets. Since surprise results are so common, it’s possible to find spots that offer real value in backing an underdog. As long as you’re willing to be selective and wait for those opportunities to come up, you’ll definitely stand a good chance of making some money.
Not all club competitions are played at a domestic level, as there are some continental cup competitions too. These are usually contested by the top teams from each country within the relevant continent. The most well known examples are the Champion’s League and the Europa League of Europe.
