What World Cup bets are there in 2022?

As a bettor, you must be aware that there is never as much betting as during the World Cup. During major events, even amateur bettors who otherwise never bet will place bets. Accordingly, the bookies offer a wide variety of bets.

We give you an overview and tell you which betting forms are the most promising and what you should keep your hands off.

Basically, all common betting forms are offered during the World Cup. From the number of throw-ins to match outcomes, goal scorers, over/under bets to the number of goals. Of course, all live bets are also offered. There you can easily get an overview.

But of course there are other betting offers. The bookmakers show their best side during the big event and stock up their bulging program again with the following bets:

Who will be world champion?

The classic and the mother of all bets. There is hardly a workplace or regulars’ table that doesn’t bet on who will win the World Cup. Our analysis of the favorites will help you with this bet.

Group winner (Group A to H)

Here you bet on who will be at the top of their group after the preliminary round. For you as a sports bettor, this option has a big advantage. A favorite, on which you bet, can also become group winner, if he only plays a draw against a bravely defending outsider.

Your risk is therefore minimized. The more games you bet on, the better the chances of the favorites. A similar situation can be observed in the Bundesliga and DFB Cup. It is much easier for Bayern Munich to win the championship than the cup.

Analyze all the groups carefully, take a close look at all the teams from the group you want to bet on and type through the entire preliminary round. Groups with one favorite and three similarly strong teams behind are especially appealing. If the chasers take points from each other, the strongest team will benefit from this.

Reach the World Cup Round of 16 (Group A to H)

Here you have to bet on the two teams that will advance. It doesn’t matter who qualifies first and second in the group.

We recommend this type of betting whenever there is no clear favorite in a group. In addition, there are many more teams in the World Cup that almost certainly have no chance of advancing than in the European Championship. So this type of betting is never as attractive for you as it is at the World Cup.

However, two teams can also let you down. It happens again and again that teams simply do not find into a tournament and surprisingly pack their bags after the preliminary round. The Germans at the 2018 World Cup are just one example of this.

Betting on the Round of 16 (Team XY)

This bet is the safety variant of the group winner bet. The team you bet on will bring you a profit as group winner and group runner-up. Here, of course, the odds are not particularly high with the favorites.

But it is also one of the safest bets of the tournament. This bet is especially interesting in the so-called groups of death. Here, we advise against betting on group winners or two teams advancing. Instead, you can pick one nation and bet on it. And the best part is that in such hammer groups, the odds are also relatively high.

Betting on the number of points a team will score:

You have to predict the exact number of points. We advise you against this bet. Here, it is luck and not expertise that decides. Too many variables influence whether a team will advance with a draw or a win on the last matchday. Sometimes coaches can even spare their regulars because their team is already determined as the group winner. Predicting the exact score means predicting three games of a team correctly. Very risky.

Bet on three group wins (team XY)

Here, a nation must walk through the preliminary round without a blemish. Of course we trust teams like Brazil, France or England to win three games, but the same applies here: The darn third game with regulars spared carries imponderables that the odds do not reflect. Moreover, a minor slip-up against a passionately defending underdog is always possible.

Keep in mind what recent major events have taught us: There are far more surprises than at club level! With fighting spirit, the right tactics and a bit of luck, even the very big ones can be toppled.

Bet on a winless group stage (team XY):

You’re probably wondering how likely it is that a team will go winless. Let’s take a look at the statistics. At the 2021 European Championship, five of the six last-place teams in the group were winless, and at the 2018 World Cup, two of the eight last-place teams in the group failed to win a game. Incidentally, the third-place team can only remain winless if it draws against the last-place team in the group and fails to win against the other teams, but does better than the fourth-place team. A rather unlikely scenario. This “feat” was last achieved by Russia at the 2014 World Cup.

So, in summary, we can state about this bet: Teams are more likely to finish last in the group with three wins than third in the group with no wins.

Out in the group stage

The lower-risk variant of the winless bet is a bet on the elimination of a team. Of course, you must be aware that you can only get small odds with exotic teams and outsiders with this bet. This option is more attractive if you are convinced that a major soccer nation will be eliminated.

World Cup top scorer

The bet on the most accurate player is one of the most popular bets of the World Cup. No wonder, there are several candidates that seem much more likely than all the other players. We have compiled the favorites for you:

  • Cristiano Ronaldo
  • Kylian Mbappe
  • Harry Kane
  • Romelu Lukaku
  • Neymar
  • Lionel Messi
  • Antoine Griezmann
  • Memphis Depay
  • Karim Benzema

But the bet is not as simple as it seems at first glance. A player is usually only as good as the team he plays for. A successful team not only scores more goals, but will also play more games.

An example: even if the Polish game is fully focused on Robert Lewandowski, the team does not have enough quality to make their center forward a serious candidate for the Golden Boot.

Here, it helps to take a look at the best strikers of the last World Cups:

  • 2018: Harry Kane
  • 2014: James Rodriguez
  • 2010: Thomas Müller
  • 2006: Miroslav Klose
  • 2002: Ronaldo
  • 1998: Davor Suker

Four things stand out in this list:

  1. All of the top scorers reached at least the semifinals with their teams
  2. It’s a list of world-class strikers without exception
  3. Müller and Rodriguez were the top scorers, two players who are not classic strikers.
  4. Four of the six winners were their team’s regular penalty takers

The last real dark horse to win the goalscoring crown was Oleg Salenko. Nobody would have expected him in 1994.

Our tip: first think about which teams you expect in the semifinals and then take a close look at the offensive department of these teams.

Do not place your bet before the tournament starts. If your bet gets injured before the tournament starts, it will be fatal.

Betting on the most/least World Cup goals

Here you bet your money on the team that will score the most goals during the tournament. Of course, this bet is also available in a modified form and you can bet on the least dangerous nation.

We recommend only the variant with the fewest goals. Why? The most goals are scored by a team that goes very far and therefore has many games. Teams that make it to the semifinals have two more games than all quarterfinalists in any case. So two predictions have to come true. Your pick must go far and also win at least one game high. A risky venture.

However, the team with the fewest goals will in any case be a team that is eliminated in the preliminary round. Here, few games result from the few goals scored. Thus, only one condition must occur. Still, it’s a gamble as one goal can blow your bet. In the 2014 World Cup, there were three teams that scored only one goal.

World Cup Final: Prediction

The most difficult and risky bet is betting on the final pairing. Not only do two teams have to excel and make it to the final, they must not meet during the tournament. Since the ways to the final depend on the preliminary round placement, so you need to correctly predict the group stage placements as well. Even though the odds are high and a final pairing between France and Brazil sounds likely, this bet comes with many imponderables and is not easy money.

Group with the future world champion

Here we don’t recommend betting on the group, but on one team right away. The odds are then higher and the probabilities are not really lower, because in few groups there will be more than one serious title contender playing.

Betting on a new world champion

In this bet, a country must win the World Cup that has never managed to do so. So you bet against Brazil, Germany, Italy, France, Argentina, Uruguay, England and Spain. From the narrow circle of favorites, that leaves Portugal, Belgium and the Netherlands. Of course, you will also win your bet with any underdog. But betting against eight major soccer nations is of course a very risky venture.

How far will Germany go?

Of course, you can also bet on how far Germany or any other nation will go in the tournament. Here you should only bet on teams that you know very well. Only then you can estimate how much potential there is in a team and what difficulties they might face during the tournament.

But again, the tournament tree, which is difficult to predict, is the big problem. If Germany plays England in the round of 16, as it did at the EURO, an elimination there is suddenly much more likely than if the national team meets Qatar in the first knockout game. So it’s also crucial how all the other teams play.