Outright Betting in Football Explained

Some punters prefer to stick to quick-and-easy wagers like live bets, while others appreciate the wait. If you’re one of the latter, outright betting on football is the thing for you. It will take a whole season to find out the results, but it can be more than worth the wait.

If you’re confused about what outright betting means or how to make the most of it, keep reading. For the benefit of beginners, we’ll start with the basics and move up from there.

What does Outright Betting mean?

Outright bets are simply wagers made on the result of an entire competition. For example, if you wanted to make an Outright Winner Premier League bet, you would predict which team will take the title that season. That’s all there is to it as far as the outright bet meaning goes. Now, different sports and competitions come with different options. You can bet on results of cups, tournaments, or entire leagues.

The most common and arguably popular form of this bet is Outright Winner. As the name implies, this market is all about guessing the final winner. Bear in mind, however, that things can be complicated in some competitions. For example, many top-flight national football leagues also feature playoffs or different stages. Before you place such an outright bet, make sure to read the fine print. For example, sometimes outright bets are made on the top-placed team of the standard season, with no account for playoffs. In essence, just make sure you know exactly what you’re betting on before putting up any money.

Outright Bet Markets and Odds

The term ‘outright betting’ covers a range of different markets. For smaller competitions, top online bookmakers generally only price Outright Winner odds. However, large events such as for Champions League betting can feature different options. The most common outright betting markets in football include:

• To Win Outright Without – doesn’t take into account one or more teams. These are often useful for competitions with 1 or 2 very hard favourites. Betting against such teams is futile – backing them is boring and pointless. To keep things interesting, this market ignores such teams. The entire table adjusts to accommodate this. For example, a team in 2^nd place would be considered “winners” if only the ignored team places better.
• To Finish in Top 2/3/4 – fairly self-explanatory. The outright bet wins if the selected team ends up in one of the specified positions.
• To Be Relegated – predicts that the team will be relegated at the end of the season. Make sure you understand how relegation works in the league in question. Most European leagues also feature relegation play-offs.
• Top Goalscorer – this outright bet is made on individual players instead of teams and clubs.
• Team Finishing Position – if you’re feeling brave, you can try to guess a team’s exact table position at the end of a season.

Note that these are just some of the more common outright football markets. Some betting sites can get very creative with these. For instance, some allow you to predict that a team will win a Double or Treble. Others offer speciality bets like Total Points Against Team or even Total Goals.

Our point is that Outright Betting is a bit of an umbrella term. People usually refer to Outright Winner, but that’s not always the case.

Outright Betting Tips and Strategies

It’s time to get into the real meat of the problem – how to win outright bets. Now, to keep things short and reasonable, we’ll stick to Outright Winner in football markets. Some of these tips are applicable to other outright markets, others aren’t. We’re sure you can figure it out.

• Outrights can be some of the hardest markets to get right. The problem is that an enormous number of variables need to be considered. Making betting predictions for one match is difficult enough – predicting the outcome of more than 500 is brutal.
• Don’t focus on just outrights. For one, you can’t make enough of them for any kind of real profit. Secondly, they are extremely volatile. Place outright wagers to supplement your other sports betting activities.
• Look for consistency in teams. Try to back teams which have a noted track record for reliability. Note that this doesn’t always translate into being a great team. You just want clubs that play on more-or-less the same level each time they go out.
• Bet hedging is incredibly useful with these bets. Backing multiple opponents can offer a substantial safety net and you should consider doing so.
• Cash-outs are your best friend. Keep an eye on your outright bet at all times and be on the lookout for opportunities to cash out early. For instance, some teams are notorious for kicking off the season strong and falling off later. Timed correctly, this can net you a tidy profit with almost no risk involved.