World Cup Betting Tips

To many football fans, the World Cup presents an irresistible chance to place bets and make money. Aside from all of the regular wagers, there are also plenty of prop bets and live wagering opportunities too. So if you're already into football betting, the Cup seems like the perfect event, right?

Well, yes and no, because some inexperienced bettors have the tendency to make far too many wagers without fully understanding the strategy behind the matter. And there certainly is plenty of strategy to learn in order to be successful in football wagering. This being said, let's look at some important World Cup betting tips that'll help you get off to a good start.

Tip #1: Pay Attention to Results from the Different Leagues

Qualification matches for the World Cup are a nice way to gauge how teams are rounding into form. However, these take place over a four-year period, so qualification contests aren't always the best indication of how a country is doing immediately before the Cup.

This being the case, it's also smart to look at how some of the top players from each team are doing in their leagues. Some of the leagues that you'll want to focus on include the English Premier League, Germany's Bundesliga, Spain's La Liga, Spain's Serie A, Brazil's Serie A, Mexico's Liga LX and the USA's MLS. Of course, there are even more leagues where you could check out individual stats and player performances, but all of these leagues are enough work for the average bettor.

Tip #2: Look for Upsets in Pool Play

Once the World Cup enters the Round of 16, it always seems like the cream rises to the top and favorites win most games. But pool play, where all 32 teams square off against their respective four-team pool, features a lot of upsets and strong underdog bets.

Every time the Cup happens, there are always a few mediocre teams that grab huge victories and advance to the Round of 16. Many times, this includes a team from Africa or Asia beating a heavily-favored opponent from Europe or South America, where soccer is huge. And the more research that you've done prior to the Cup, the better chance you'll have of picking some of these underdogs and winning major money.

Tip #3: Keep tabs on Injuries

As with betting on any sport, it's critical that you pay attention to injuries as they mount throughout the World Cup. Few teams make it deep into the tournament without at least a couple of key injuries, and these can have a huge impact on how countries perform on a match-by-match basis.

Imagine Argentina without Lionel Messi or Portugal without Cristiano Ronaldo. There are plenty of other teams throughout the World Cup that heavily lean on their stars. And when they don't have these players going, it can certainly be detrimental to their chances of winning.

Tip #4: The Elite stay Elite

The list of World Cup champions is a pretty small one. In fact, only eight teams have stood in the winner's circle over the course of 19 World Cups. And of these, just five countries have managed to captured the Cup multiple times. They include: Brazil (5 titles), Italy (4), Germany (3), Argentina (2) and Uruguay (2).

You could probably drop Uruguay out of this elite group because they haven't won since 1950. This leaves four teams that have done very well in Cup play over the past few decades. So if you're looking at World Cup futures bets - or just regular match wagers - you can rarely go wrong by putting money down on Brazil, Italy, Germany and Argentina.

Tip #5: Few Repeats

As something of a counter towards our previous point about elite teams dominating, it's also worth mentioning that no team has repeated as a Cup champion since 1962 (Brazil in '58 and '62). Italy is the only other repeat champion in history, as they pulled off this feat in '38 and '34. So at the time of this writing (2014), history doesn't favor Spain heading into the 2014 World Cup.