UEFA Champions League Football Betting 2011-2012
The Champions League is one of the most watched football tournaments in the whole world. Millions of people from different continents all tune in to watch the best sides in Europe go head to head through a group stage, quarter-finals, semi-finals and then the all important final.
UEFA Champions League football betting looks as though it will have the same old sides set as the favourites to lift the trophy but there are some new teams coming into the competition that will all be looking to repeat the success that German side Schalke showed last season.
The difference between the top sides is getting smaller and smaller all the time which will make UEFA Champions League football betting 2011-2012 much more difficult over the first few months of the season and heading towards summer next year.
Champions League Favourites
The Champions League favourites at this point have to be Barcelona. Barcelona are widely respected as playing better football than every other team out there and when many tipped Manchester United to beat them in the 2011 final, they still prevailed with apparent ease.
Real Madrid also feature heavily as one of the Champions League favourites in the Football Betting market because Jose Mourinho is a man who likes to demonstrate improvement year upon year. Real have some of the best players in the game and will be looking for results.
One of the underrated Champions League favourites this season could be Chelsea. Chelsea are a club that seem to sack every manager who doesn't succeed in Europe. Chelsea will feature alongside Manchester United as one of the strong Champions League favourites.
Champions League Group Stage Betting
Champions League group stage betting is where some more complex bets are going to become relevant in Sports Betting. Doubles, trebles and accumulators will all have good odds and the bigger sides should find it much easier to prevail against the weaker teams from unknown European leagues.
Champions League group stage betting is also a betting market that will allow the punter to try and predict every single winner of every single group in the Champions League. Of course this depends on how the teams come out of the hat in relation to the group stage but it's a bet that isn't otherwise possible in the competition.
Champions League Knock Out Betting
When the Champions League reaches the last sixteen stage, this is where the knock out part of the competition comes into play. It can cause some of the better teams on the ball to tense up and get a little nervous in the face of big opposition. Arsenal have demonstrated just this over the last few seasons.
Champions League knock out betting is when things such as form and history against each other are what matter when trying to determine who is going to succeed out of two different sides.
The odds in Champions League knock out betting will also lengthen slightly because the games are more important and the gaps in quality between the sides tend to decrease.
Champions League Contenders
One of the great things about Champions League football is that every so often there will be one team that comes through the field and performs well above expectations and normal capabilities.
Two recent examples of this are when Bayern Munich won the competition in 2010 and when Schalke made the semi-final stages in the 2011 tournament. Neither of these teams was predicted to perform as they did which is why the Champions League is such a beautiful tournament to watch.
The best way to work out these Champions League contenders is to pay close attention to the domestic form of many clubs. This can work in two ways. Firstly, a club is likely to play well in the Champions League if domestic form is good. Secondly, in the case of Schalke, the club used the competition as a release from a poor league campaign.
Champions League Free Bets
Champions League free bets are al over the place in the run up to the start of a new season. These Free Bets are best used across the group stage in some of the matches that exclude the big teams.
Once the bigger sides start to square up in the knock out stages, much of the value in using a free bet will be lost. Some of the meaningless matches towards the end of the group phase allow sides out of the competition to battle for pride while all of the attention is elsewhere.