Champions League betting is right up there as one of the most popular football competitions to bet on worldwide. With the format change from the 2024/25 season, UEFA promises even more excitement for fans and clubs and a better overall experience for everyone. Here’s a list of sportsbooks where you can get a taste of the new betting experience.
New Champions League Format Explained
The Champions League is changing its format from the 2024/25 season, with the competition expanding from 32 to 36 teams that will play the group phase. Instead of having eight groups of four clubs playing each other both home and away, the new system brings one big group of 36 teams, each of them playing against eight different teams.
Just like before, the teams will be divided into four pots (determined by their UEFA club coefficient) for the draw to decide who will play against whom. Each team plays four matches at home and four matches away, all against different opponents. They all rank on the group table to determine their final positions.
At the end of the league phase, the top eight teams qualify for the knockout phase, and the teams finishing from the 9th to 24th position play a two-match play-off for their place in the top 16 phase. Teams that end the league phase in the bottom eight positions are eliminated from the European competitions for that season.
Why Should You Bet on Champions League
If you enjoy betting on football, chances are that CL betting is at the top of your list, alongside other major football competitions. Here are some factors that make the Champions League so popular and provide good betting opportunities.
- You can always watch it on TV: Just about every country in the world will show Champions League matches and, in many cases, on free-to-air channels, so you can always follow the action.
- There’s lots of great content about it: From never-ending stats and analysis to Champions League betting tips, highlights of recent matches and the latest team news- including on the excellent UEFA Champions League betting site itself, there’s no shortage of great content to help you make the best betting decisions.
- Good offers and bonuses: Bookies tend to run more offers around the biggest competitions, and there are a few bigger ones than this one. So, expect to see plenty of bonuses around the Champions League, especially Champions League final betting offers.
- Lots of betting markets: As one of the most popular competitions for betting in the world of sport, there are endless markets on offer to bet on across all matches.
- Teams and players you know well: This is the best of European football in action, so the teams and players on show are ones you’ll know well, meaning you have a good understanding of how they might perform.
You can use our Live Scores page to check out live results, fixtures, standings and statistics to make more informed decisions when betting on the Champions League games.
Useful Champions League Betting Tips
And now for some tips that should prove useful to you for Champions League betting.
- Domestic fixtures matter: Champions League fixtures are played midweek, meaning that teams playing in it will usually have played on the weekend before and will play the weekend after their Champions League game. Consider how physically and emotionally demanding their previous match was and who they’re playing next domestically. If it’s an easy match next, the team may focus 100% on the Champions League game. But if it’s a huge domestic game next, they may rest a few important players from the start in the CL game or bring them off earlier than usual.
- Motivation plays a big part: This is particularly the case at the end of the group stages when some teams are already through to the next round, and others can’t qualify anymore. To the Real Madrids and Manchester Cities of this world, these dead rubbers may not matter much. But to a smaller side like Malmo or Apoel Nicosia, the prize money for a win is invaluable, while their players will want to make the most of their chance in the spotlight to attract the interest of bigger clubs. It’s a good opportunity to back the outsider at generous Champions League betting odds with those extra levels of motivation a bigger factor than the odds suggest.
- Champions League final betting tips: As obvious as this sounds, if Real Madrid makes the final, back them to win it. They’ve won all eight of the last CL finals they were in, and you’d have to go back to 1980 for the last time they made a final, which they went on to lose. Furthermore, in each of the last four finals they won, they did so in normal time, meaning you’re better off taking the bigger Champions League final betting odds on them winning in 90 minutes rather than on them just lifting the trophy.
Best Types of Bets to Bet on Champions League
The best type of bet for you will depend on your betting preferences and the amount of risk you are willing to take. We will look into some of the most popular betting markets for the Champions League and how they work.
Champions League Handicap Betting
You won’t be able to place outright handicap bets on the Champions League the way you would on, say, the Premier League because the former isn’t solely a league format and has knockout stages. You can, however, place Asian Handicap bets on individual Champions League games. This means either backing the favourite to overcome a goals handicap or backing the outsider with a 0.5, 1, 1.5 or 2-goal head start.
Champions League Accumulator Betting
One of the great things about this competition is that multiple matches take place on any given night. That makes it perfect for placing accumulators because it means that if you have a winning acca, you’ll get paid out that night rather than having to wait another couple of days, as can happen with other accas. It also means you can follow all your selections in the acca over a four-hour period rather than over two or three days.
Champions League Outright Betting
It works the same way as any other competition, for example, in Copa America betting. You’re betting on which team will win the whole thing, and you can place bets on this market at any stage: before it starts, during the Group Stage, or during the knockout rounds, at ever-changing odds.
Best Champions League Odds
Remember that in all cases, you can change the betting odds format to suit your preferences. So, if the default is fractional CL betting odds and you prefer decimal odds, just change them to that.
Getting higher odds at one bookmaker in comparison to another one is essential in all betting, and that certainly includes UEFA Champions League betting. After all, the higher the odds, the bigger the payouts on winning bets, and they all add up in the long run.
Among the sites offering the best betting odds on Champions League are 10Bet and Boylesports.
The Best Champions League Betting Offers
In a bid to keep customers engaged and feeling like they’re getting good value from their chosen bookie, most Sportsbooks run regular Champions League betting offers, including, of course, the extremely popular free bets, which allow you to place bets using the bookies’ own money. Other offers include:
- Boosted Odds on particular selections.
- Acca Insurance, where getting just one selection wrong, will see you get your stake refunded.
- Moneyback offers where if X or Y happens in a game you may be awarded with a free bet or given your stake back.
- Reload bonuses ahead of a big Champions League night, giving you more cash to play with.
Champions League Betting Apps
Betting apps are a great way to make sure you never miss a beat when it comes to the Champions League because you can:
- Place pre-match and live bets wherever you are.
- Make deposits to bet on Champions League games if needed, while you’re out and about.
- Receive notifications about Champions League betting offers.
- Read good content ahead of Champions League ties.
In addition to letting you do all of the above, a good Champions League betting app is also easy to download, available for both Android and Apple, responsive and easy to navigate, and allows you to do all the things you can also do from your laptop.
Among the betting apps we like the most in terms of doing all these things are the Betfred and Bet365 ones. We also note that both these sportsbooks are among the ones with the most regular, varied and good-value Champions League betting offers.
Champions League Live Betting
Ever since the late 90s, betting on football doesn’t end at the opening whistle. Instead, all the best betting sites allow you to bet from the opening whistle to the final whistle thanks to live betting, which is just that: betting on a game that is ‘live’ in terms of being in progress at ever-changing odds, with those odds reflecting what’s going on in the match at that precise second.
Any sportsbook that offers pre-match Champions League betting will also offer live betting, and there are often almost the same number of markets in live betting as in pre-match betting.
Given so many punters enjoy live betting on the Champions League, it’s vital that the sportsbook has a great product for it, including:
- Competitive odds in live betting
- A wide variety of markets
- Odds that are quickly updated after a market suspension for a goal, penalty or sending-off
- A strong cash out feature that allows full or partial cashouts on all your bets so you can bank profits before the match is over.
You’ll have to keep your eyes peeled for sportsbooks offering special bonuses for Champions League live betting, but some bookies that often have them in addition to a good live betting product, in general, are Bet365, Rhino.bet and VBet.
Find Your Best Champions League Bookie Today!
The popularity of the Champions League, the quality of football, and the new format with more teams and matches overall are some of the advantages of betting on this competition, in addition to everything else we mentioned above.
So, given you’re all clued up on many aspects of Champions League betting, the only thing remaining for you to do is to pick a sportsbook that ticks all the boxes for such things as generous odds, good bonuses, a respected betting licence, a wide variety of markets, helpful and efficient customer service, a wide choice of payment options with no fees and useful, knowledgeable on-site content.
However, these considerations are just the tip of the iceberg because there are many more. We’ve gone through each factor in detail in our sportsbook reviews so you know how they compare to each other and what to expect from them. Read our sportsbook reviews, check out their offers and decide which one is just right for you when it comes to Champions League betting.
