Heineken Cup Final Betting 2009-2010
You can bet your bottom dollar that on Saturday 20 May 2010 the streets will be devoid of red-blooded males and the public houses across the length and breadth of not just Great Britain but also Europe will be bursting at the seams. Because not only will it be the UEFA Champions League final’s first ever showing on a Saturday but it is also the date of the Heineken Cup Final – the pinnacle of both European football and rugby union on the same day.
That also means that online betting activities will spike as punters get their last betting opportunities of the domestic season. Heineken Cup Final Betting 2009-2010 will present plenty of wagering prospects for punters including match betting, handicap betting, half-time/full-time betting, total points scored betting, try scorer betting and many many more markets. You can also count on several bookmakers pulling out match specials and novelty bets relating to Heineken Cup Final Betting 2009-2010.
This year’s Heineken Cup Final will be held in the magnificent Stade de France – surprisingly for the first time – where the French will be hoping to see their first winner of the competition since 2005 when Toulouse beat Stade Francais at Murrayfield. In fact French stadiums hosting the final don’t bare good omens for French fans; in 1998 at the Stade Lescure, Brive were the losing finalists going down 19-18 to Bath then in 2001 at the Parc de Princes it was Stade Francais who were defeated 34-30 at the hands of Leicester Tigers. Those looking to back a French team in the Heineken Cup Final Betting 2009-2010 may want to consider those stats before parting with their cash.
Heineken Cup Final Betting Stats
There have been 14 Heineken Cup Finals to date which means that there is a good sample size of statistics available to analyse and consider before getting involved in Heineken Cup Final Betting 2009-2010.
Of the 14 Heineken Cups played there have been six English teams to lift the trophy, four French and four Irish. Only once have a Welsh team made it to the final and never have a Scottish or Italian team graced the Heineken Cup final stage. Toulouse are the most successful team in the history of the tournament having won it three times and twice been a losing finalist whilst Leicester Tigers, London Wasps and Munster have all won it twice. The French are the biggest Heineken Cup Final losers with a French team losing the final on eight occasions – two of which were all French finals. Those two finals are the only occasions when teams of the same nationality have competed in the final.
There have been a total of 486 points scored in those 14 finals (excluding Extra Time) which averages out at 34.7 points per game, the highest scoring final being the 2000-2001 final when Leicester Tigers beat Stade Francais 34-30 and the lowest scoring being the previous year when Northampton saints beat Munster 9-8. The biggest margin of victory was in 1997 when Brive beat Leicester Tigers by 17 points and twice has the final ended all square at the end of the 80 minutes and been forced into extra time. There have been 27 tries scored in the 14 finals and Sebastien Carrat of Brive and Leon Lloyd of Leicester Tigers are the only players to have scored two in one final. Diego Dominguez is the highest points scorer in any one final after he kicked all of Stade Francais’s 30 points in that 2001 defeat to Leicester.