Euro 2020 Betting Guide

How Does Euro 2020 Work?

Euro 2020 is a pan-European soccer competition involving 24 teams. It begins with a Group Stage in which teams play other teams within their group to see which will proceed to the Knockout Phase. The Knockout phase then whittles the teams down, match by match, until there are just left. Those teams then play in the Euro 2020 Final on Sunday, July 11, to determine which one will win the Euro 2020 Championship. As you can imagine, all of this means that there are plenty of Euro 2020 betting opportunities to be had.

Group Stage

The 24 teams participating in Euro 2020 are divided into 6 groups of 4 teams each. The Groups and teams involved are as follows:

Each team in a group plays every other team in that same group. When all group matches have been played, the top two teams from each Group will proceed straight to the Knockout Phase of the competition. The four best teams that finished in third place in their groups will also progress to the Knockout Phase.

Knockout Phase

In the Knockout Phase, the teams that remain in the competition play one match each in something called the Round of 16. The winners of those matches progress to the Quarter-Finals, which take place on 2 and 3 July. The four winners of the Quarter-Finals will then progress to the Semi-Finals, which take place on 6 and 7 July. The two winners of the Semi-Finals will then face each other in the Euro 2020 Final.

Euro2020 Final

The Euro 2020 Final is the jewel in the crown of this competition. It will take place at Wembley Stadium, in London, at 20:00 UTC (21:00 BST) on Sunday, July 11. 

Where is Euro 2020 Taking Place?

Euro 2020 is being played in 11 host countries. The same host city and stadium will be used for each match in a given country, as follows:

Euro 2020 Betting Markets

There are plenty of soccer betting markets available for Euro 2020, and plenty of things to bet on. The main opportunities that are worth taking a look at are as follows:

Euro 2020 Winner

This is the most popular betting market with casual soccer fans who don't get involved in the game very often. Your task here is to pick the team that you think will win the tournament as a whole, and if your chosen team succeeds, so will your bet.

The odds available for a team to win only tend to shorten as progress is made, so if you want the best odds for your selected team, it can pay to bet earlier rather than later. Of course, if your chosen team doesn't fare so well, the odds will drift, along with their chances of winning.

You can bet on just one team, or if you want to increase your chances you can bet on several teams in the hope that one of them will go all the way. 

Euro 2020 Group Betting

Another popular set of betting markets are those that allow you to bet on how teams will perform in their assigned groups. You can bet on a team to win a group or simply to qualify and progress to the Knockout Phase. You can also bet on a Straight Forecast, which involves predicting the two teams that will finish in first and second place, in that order, while a Dual Forecast market will pay out if you name the first- and second-placed teams in either order.

Betting on the Group Winner tends to be most popular, and it isn't hard to see why. Because there are just four teams in each group, it is much easier to correctly pick a Group Winner than the winner of the Euro 2020 competition as a whole. Of course, the odds are more modest, but if you want to try and win more you can always have a go at betting on the winner of each group.

Euro 2020 Match Betting

Serious sports bettors also enjoy betting on individual matches. If you do this then you'll have dozens of opportunities to win over the course of the competition. In fact, you'll often have several different matches to bet on each day, especially in the first half of the tournament.

There are several ways in which you can bet on an individual soccer game, so let's take a look at each of the main ones in turn:

Euro 2020 Match Result

This market requires you to predict the outcome of the match in question. As with all soccer matches, there are three possible results: a win for one team, a win for the other team, or a draw. Odds will be presented in a moneyline format that will look something like this:

Note that the result you are betting on here is the result at the end of 90 minutes. Your bet will therefore be settled on the 90-minute score, even if extra time is played after a draw in order for a winner to be determined.

Total Goals Scored

This is an Over/Under market in which you are required to bet on whether the total number of goals scored in a match will be over or under the total posted by the sportsbook. Consider the following example:

Here the sportsbook has set a total of 2.5 goals. If you think that there will be more than that (3 goals or more) you would bet Over. If you think that there will be fewer (2 goals or less) you would bet Under.

Handicap Betting

This is a spread that assigns - solely for the purpose of betting in this particular market - an artificial goal advantage to the underdog and a similar goal disadvantage to the favorite. The purpose of this is to even things out a little so that the favorite can be bet at higher odds and the underdog can be bet with a greater chance of the bet succeeding. Here's an example:

If you bet on Team A in this market, they will have 1.5 goals added to their score before your bet is settled. Your bet will therefore win if Team A wins the match or loses by no more than 1 goal.

Should you bet on Team B, they will have 1.5 goals deducted from their score before your bet is settled. Your bet will therefore win if Team B wins the match by 2 goals or more. Anything less and the bet will lose.

Prop Betting

In addition to the main betting markets already described, you can take your pick of numerous prop betting markets. Some of these are tied to the overall result of the match (such as the correct score market) but others can be won regardless of how the match results. Here are some of the most popular prop bets you're likely to come across for Euro 2020:

• What will the final score of the game be?
• Which team will be the first to score?
• How many yellow cards will be awarded in the game?
• Which player will score a goal?
• How many corners will be awarded?
• Will there be a red card awarded?
• What will the result be at half-time?

The odds offered for prop bets tend to be much more generous than for simply predicting the overall result of the game. However, that's because prop bets can be a lot more difficult to win with. (If you think that predicting the result is tricky, just have a go at predicting the actual final score!) For this reason, most bettors only use small stakes when prop betting, and save their serious betting for the main markets mentioned earlier.

Live Betting

Before we move on to discuss other aspects of Euro 2020 betting, we should also mention that you'll have plenty of opportunities to participate in Live Betting. This is where you bet on the match as it is being played, which means that you can take all previous developments into consideration.

For example, if you have previously bet on Team A winning and the score is 0-0 after 30 minutes, you might want to bet on that result again at larger odds. Or, if Team B is leading by 1 goal, you might want to bet on Team B or the Draw to reduce your exposure on Team A.

We'll share one of our favorite strategies for Live Betting a little later, but for now, it's good for you to simply be aware that it's available at most sportsbooks.

Where to Bet on Euro 2020

Having discussed the various ways in which you can bet, we now need to address the question of where to bet on Euro 2020. The good news is that almost all of the online sportsbooks operating in the United States will offer at least a few Euro 2020 betting markets. Of course, because this is a European competition, you will tend to find the widest range of betting markets at sportsbooks with a heavy European presence, such as William Hill.

Of course, if you live in the United States you'll be aware that online sports betting isn't legal in all states. You'll therefore need to check the situation and see which sportsbooks are operating - if any - in your particular state, for example on our Pennsylvania page you can find a wide list of the best online sportsbooks PA, but on other states like Oregon, none of those brands are allowed. With that caveat in mind, some of our recommended sportsbooks for Euro 2020 betting can be found in the table below. Simply click on any one that interests you to see what's available.

Stats to Note

You could place a bet in any market based on nothing more than a hunch or whim. However, that kind of approach isn't likely to be as effective as you might want it to be. A more rational way to select teams to bet on is to look at how they have fared in the competition thus far. Some of the statistics that are most useful to note are as follows:

• Win Percentage - The percentage of games won in the tournament.
• Draw Percentage - The percentage of games drawn in the tournament.
• Goals Scored - The average number of goals scored per match.
• Goals Conceded - The average number of goals conceded per match.
• Penalties Conceded - The total number of penalties conceded in the tournament.

Taking these stats into account when considering a match can help you to see which team has an advantage. Not according to your own views, but according to their past performance. That doesn't mean that the statistically favored team is sure to win, of course, but it does mean that you have a perfectly rational reason to bet on them.

Euro 2020 Betting Strategies

Part of the fun of betting on Euro 2020 is coming up with your own strategies. That said, here are some ready-to-go Euro 2020 betting strategies for those of you who are new to soccer betting but would still like to bet in a strategic manner.

The Match Prediction Formula

This is a simple formula that you can use to predict the most probable scoreline of any given match, based on previous results. For each team, simply divide the total number of goals they have scored by the total number of games they have played in the tournament. The result is the predicted number of goals the team could score in the next game. Consider the following:

In this example scenario, Team A could be expected to score 2 goals in the match, while Team B could be expected to score 1 goal. The Match Prediction Formula therefore predicts a 2-1 win for Team A.

Trust the Bookies

Another simple strategy that can be useful for Euro 2020 betting is to look to the expertise of the sportsbooks for guidance. The analysts and algorithms that enable the bookies to price up each match take a great deal of data into consideration, so it is always worth paying attention to the odds when a market initially opens.

If a sportsbook has one team as the firm favorite then you would need to have a very good reason to take an opposing view. Not all games result as the sportsbook expects, of course, but bookies don't remain in business year after year by any kind of fluke. Their opinion is valuable, and if a sportsbook agrees with your opinion (or with a prediction given by the Match Prediction Formula) then the favored team could be worth betting on.

The Bet in Play Strategy

Our third strategy is for those of you who might want to bet as a game is unfolding - perhaps as you watch it live on TV. This strategy focuses on goals scored rather than on which team will win.

Start by placing a bet before the match begins on Over 0.5 goals being scored in the first half of the match. Then, if a goal is scored within the first 45 minutes, place half of your profit on there being Over 1.5 goals in the whole match. If another goal is scored you will win twice, and if no subsequent goal is scored you will still have half of your original profit left intact.

Those of you who feel a bit more ambitious could bet on both Over 1.5 and Over 2.5 goals if a first goal is scored within the first 15 minutes of the game starting. This is obviously riskier, but if the Match Prediction Formula suggests that there will be three goals or more it could be well worth considering.

The UEFA European Championships: A Brief History

The competition that is now referred to as the UEFA European Championships was originally known as the European Nations' Cup. Founded in 1958, the first competition took place in 1960 and was hosted in France. 17 teams played for a place in the final tournament, which accommodated just 4 of them. Those four were Czechoslovakia, France, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia. The Soviet Union won that first competition 2-1 and scored the deciding goal in extra time.

Four teams in the final tournament remained the format for the next four competitions, which were held every four years. This format was expanded to eight teams for the 1980 tournament, and it was doubled again for the 1996 competition, which was known as UEFA Euro 1996.

The format remained unchanged for several years until the number of teams involved was increased to 24. As stated earlier, Euro 2020 was postponed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which is why it is taking place in 2021. The next competition, Euro 2024 will be held in Germany from 14 June.