3 Alternative Betting Strategies to Win Soccer Bets

The majority of football betting tips and strategies you’ll run into tell you to play it safe. There’s sound reasoning behind this – statistics are the cornerstone of all expert betting, and the stats support short-odds bets. Sticking to what you know is also generally a good idea.

But the fact everyone does this quickly drifts the odds into poor value bets, though. And any betting strategy that works always keeps value in mind. So what can we do about this?

Creating Successful Soccer Betting Strategies

If you want to take your soccer betting predictions to the next level, the obvious answers aren’t enough. You’ll need to learn to think creatively and spot opportunities others don’t. Knowing all the tools at your disposal is step number one. For instance, a smart punter can lay down BTTS or Outright bets as easily as those 1×2’s.

However, at a certain point, you’ll want to form out-of-the-box tactics to get the most out of the bookies. It’s hard to discuss these in a soccer betting guide – they usually vary on a case-by-case basis. Instead, we’ll give you a few examples of atypical betting strategies that work. Note that these aren’t intended for beginners or those looking to learn the ropes. This short guide was written with the intermediate punter in mind – someone who knows the basics but wants to improve.

Corners and Spread Betting 

Always keep in mind that the score isn’t the only thing you should be keeping track of. Because betting on corners in football is often overlooked, it can offer great value. However, betting on corners may require some creative spreadsheet work. Why? Well, you can find head-to-head statistics and detailed records for scores easily. An aggregate stat page on corners is kind of hard to find, though.

Essentially, you’ll want to keep track of how many corners a team concedes in a typical match. Though guessing something like this seems to be up to chance, it’s easy to spot a few patterns. Firstly, teams that use wide attacking formations tend to register high corner counts.

Similarly, try to observe a team’s approach to defence. This can be tricky, though – a deep defence doesn’t necessarily mean fewer corners. Some teams with a deep defence tend to quickly kick the ball out rather than risk corners, for instance. The devil is in the details when it comes to corner spread betting in soccer.

Bookings and Card Betting

Here’s another market you probably never gave the time of day – bookings. Some online bookmakers name these differently, so just to be clear – we’re talking about the number of Yellow and Red cards issued during a game.

There’s a reason most punters avoid this market. Most of the time, it feels like a complete coin toss. Generally, there’s very little you can latch on to for predicting these. For example, players which have a heavy record of bookings for the season will tend to be more careful. This seems counterintuitive for soccer betting, which is usually based around using previous information to determine future outcomes.

Therein lies the beauty of betting on bookings, however. Even bookmakers rely mostly on previous performance to price these markets. However, the most important factor for these is actually match importance. Think about it – every season of every league is rife with so-called “dead” matches towards the end. The games whose score won’t affect the standings in any meaningful way. These contain an exceedingly low number of bookings because no player wants to risk disqualification.

Of course, this is just one example of how you can use small football betting markets to find interesting opportunities. Remember – be creative!

Alternative Betting on Underdogs

In the soccer betting community, backing underdogs is often seen as a quick way to lose your money. However, there are ways of turning this to your advantage. First of all, the odds tend to drift even more in the stronger team’s favour. This means that betting late is actually an advantage.

That’s not the point we’re trying to make, though. There are some things in online soccer betting that are out of your control. Most things, in fact – you can never directly impact a team’s chance to win. However, you can minimize risks. With underdog betting, the returns aren’t the problem – the odds are longer than for favourites anyway. You just want a better shot at not losing.

There are several ways you can go about this. Some people like to use live betting to get a better picture of the match after the first half. Other methods include alternative betting markets such as Double Chance or Draw No Bet. Statistically speaking, eliminating the possibility of a draw improves your chances much more than the odds might imply.

Just remember that a bet on the underdog is not necessarily a longshot. The best soccer betting strategies for underdogs consider minimizing risks a priority and large returns a distant second.