Some of you may be wondering if there is a foolproof way to bet on football. Unfortunately, there is no football betting strategy that will guarantee you profits. This simply isn't possible and anybody telling you that they know how to bet on football without losing or have discovered a football betting system that works 100% of time time, winning football bets with ease, is lying to you.

So do not be fooled by football betting sites that claim to have a simple football betting system that will make you rich and certainly do not pay money to sites that claim to show you "how to win big on football bets". It's pure marketing spin hoping to seduce you into parting ways with your hard earned money..

The reality is that while it would be nice to win football bets every time, making money betting on football is like betting on any other sport. It takes discipline, experience and persistance.

If you're keen to take up the challenge and seriously learn how to bet on football successfully, you've come to the right place. While it's impossible to win every football bet you place, there are a number of things you can do to enhance your chances of making money betting on football.

In this section we present our ten tips to win football bets at a rate that will earn you genuine profits, providing you will the fundamentals of successful football betting, introducing you to advanced betting techniques for identifying value opportunities and ultimately answer the question - what is the best way to bet on football?

#1 Bet Only When There Is Value

By now you're probably tired of reading this. But it's a point that many football punters continually fail to recognise, the best football bets, in fact, the only football bets worth making are those where you have identified genuine betting value . If you place bets without recognising genuine betting value, you are only going to lose money in the long run. It's as simple as that.

If you skipped over the section on Value Football Betting, please read it now before continuing with our guide.

#2 Be Prepared To Learn

A mistake made by many novice bettors is to believe that because they possess an intimate knowledge of football, that this knowledge immediately translates to a nuanced understanding of football betting markets. The reality is that understanding football and understanding football betting are two very different things.

Yes, of course, without an understanding of football, you will not be able to grasp the nuances of football betting, and yes, in time an understanding of both football the game, and football betting will compliment one another. But only in time will you come to appreciate the dynamics of football betting markets and how approaching a football match as a fan differs greatly from the approach of a seasoned football bettor.

The best way to develop this understanding is to begin with the leagues you know best and to keep your bets small. In fact some of the most successful football bettors began their journey by not placing real bets at all, but rather by 'paper trading' where you keep a record of ficticious bets so as to gain experience without the risk of losing any real money. These successful bettors only began placing real bets once they had developed a deep understanding of football betting markets, .

Humility is a good thing, particularly when it comes to football betting. Sure, you may possess a deeper knowledge of each Premier League club than many media pundits, but don't confuse this knowledge for an understanding of football betting markets.

To learn how to approach a range of football betting markets, leagues and tournaments, please refer to our detailed series of how to bet on football guides.

#3 Bet The Leagues You Know

As stated previously, the best way to develop a genuine understanding of football betting markets is to start with the leagues you know. But even once you have developed an understanding of these markets, remain focused on the leagues your understand best. If there is no action in those leagues this week, then take a break. Or use that time to research other leagues you may want to bet on in the future. But by no means should you go hunting for a bet just for the sake of having a bet. This will only lead to ruin or at the very least, diminished profitability.

Many of the most successful football bettors and the most profitable bettingexpert tipsters focus solely on two, three, maybe four leagues. They study everything there is to know about those leagues and through time develop an understanding that exceeds that of the bookmakers.

Think about it this way, bookmakers have some of the most cutting edge analysis tools at their disposal, tools that incorporate dozens of variables enabling them to set what are for the majority of the time, incredibly accurate odds. Do you really think you're going to outwit them with half an hour of 'analysis' on a league you have at best only a broad understanding of? The answer, is clearly no.

#4 Bet The Markets You Know

As discussed above, there are literally dozens of football betting markets, each with their own quirks and nuances. As you develop your understanding of football betting, you'll find yourself attracted to particular markets more than others. Put simply, some betting markets make more sense to us than others. So go with your intuition and develop a rich understanding of these markets.

Many of the most profitable bettors focus on one or two markets. There are many successful football bettors who bet only on Asian Handicaps, while others focus on 1X2 match results.

Others look to exploit in-play markets by betting on the team to score first, while others keep their focus solely on first half markets. In fact the quirkier the market, the more your experience will provide opportunity. So don't be afraid to specialise.

So long as you can get a reasonable sized bet down, limiting your focus to a few markets can reap great rewards. Specialising is often the path to profit.

#5 Apply Sound Money Management

Key to betting on any sport is in applying a sound money management strategy. This primarily involves applying a consistent staking strategy, a strategy that will make the most of the value you have identified while suggesting a stake size that will protect your betting bankroll.

If you're seriously interested in learning how to win money on football bets, then you need to be serious about how you manage your money. Randomly betting a tenner here or a fiver there is only going to lose you money in the long run. To be a successful football bettor you need to approach your staking like a financial planner.

The saying 'Only bet what you can afford to lose' is as true as ever and any money management strategy should take this very seriously. Begin with a sum of money that you would be comfortable losing. Of course, we are aiming to make money betting on football. But even in possession of the sharpest football betting strategy, things can and will go wrong from time to time. Only through the application of a proven staking plan and money management strategy can you endure the worst of losing streaks and exploit the greatest of winning streaks.

To learn more, please read our guide to bankroll management as well as our guide to calculating the perfect bet stake using the Kelly Criterion.

#6 Keep A Record Of Your Football Bets

If you're serious about making money betting on football, then you must, we repeat, must, keep a record of your betting. This record should include the following:

Date, League/Tournament, Bet Type, Bet Details, Bookmaker, Your Stake, Your Odds, Profit/Loss, Comments

If you're not keeping such records, then you are doomed to failure. In keeping a detailed record of your football betting, you will be able to review your results. You may sometimes say to yourself "I never win football bets". If you do find yourself saying this, firstly, stop feeling sorry for yourself and secondly, in keeping detailed records, you'll see that you are actually winning football bets at a higher rate than you assume. As bettors we can often have a tendency to recall losses more easily than we can our wins. But by keeping records of your bets, you'll be able to see which leagues you're making money on, the leagues that are diminishing your returns, not to mention the bet types you are most suited to and those markets that are consistently losing you money.

Fortunately we've done the hard work for you and created the bettingexpert Football Betting Spreadsheet. You can download it now and read more about the spreadsheet below.

#7 Assess Performance Potential Accurately

Pundits like to talk about form. 'This team is in great form'. 'That team's form has been terrible.' You've not doubt heard it many times.

But what is problematic about 'form' is that it is fleeting. Just because a team has been in great form, is no indication that this form will continue or even that the 'form' was based on anything other than perhaps a run fixtures against lowly clubs, or more allusive yet, a run of good fortune.

When it comes to football betting, what we are really interested in is not so much whether or not a team is in form, but rather, what is their performance potential heading into a given match. There are many things to consider in this assessment:

Home vs Away performance

It's no secret that on average, clubs perform better at home than away. In fact it has been shown that an average team is roughly a +0.74 goals better at home than they are away.

Despite this, the subject of home vs away performance is a hotly debated issue. While some clubs may display a distinct ability to perform better at home than away over a given time frame, the reasons for this may have little to do with home ground advantage. Some analysts believe that what may often appear to be a distinct home field advantage, may merely be a run of better than expected performance.

When you're assessing a team's potential to perform in a certain environment, be wary of falling prey to glib cliches such as 'Oh this team is always tough at home'. The reality is that every team is better on their field than others, but the belief that certain clubs hold a distinct home field advantage that exceeds the average is often misleading.

Injuries & Suspensions

It's obvious that we should consider both injuries and suspensions when assessing a team's potential. But many people misjudge the affects of such absences. When it comes to both injuries and suspensions, what is key isn't so much that a team will be missing a player, but who will replace that player. Is the replacement a significant downgrade? Or is the missing player easily replaced in the lineup?

This is where a deep knowledge of each team's squad comes into play. Yes, many may know of the injured centre back but how many bettors know the performance potential of his lesser known replacement?

Further to this, how many bettors know how such an absence will impact a team's tactical approach? In both regards, a thorough understanding of a team's squad can profoundly assist us in the project of value football betting. Betting markets can often over estimate the impact of a missing star player as opposed to the absence of a lesser known but durable and consistent performer.

Fixture Demands

As we get deeper into the football calendar, the demands of fixture commitments come into play. This is definitely a key area of consideration for all football bettors. And just as we discussed previously in terms of injuries and suspensions, developing an intimate knowledge of each club's squad will often help you spy value betting opportunities.

A Premier League club may for instance have a run of league commitments, with both Cup and European duties in between. What fixtures are they likely to take more seriously than others? How may they alternate their line up and how may a distinctly alternate lineup perform, both in terms of tactical approach and team chemistry? The ability to answer these questions accurately will more often than not provide you with value betting opportunities.

Tactical & Personnel Match-ups

There's a saying in boxing that styles make fights. And this is also true in football. We will often see teams that we consider to be of inferior quality take it right up to more highly ranked opponents, often claiming unlikely victories or at the very least, causing headaches for their more fancied opponents.

When it comes to football betting, what we want to discern is whether or not such performances were the result of the inferior team providing a difficult tactical match up for their opponents in terms of personnel, whether such results were merely a matter of the superior team perhaps being in the midst of a congested schedule or whether or not such performances were a matter of random good fortune.

To evaluate these performances accurately we must not only be familiar with each club's squad, but likewise be familiar with how each club likes to set up tactically and how a team's personnel may impede their gameplan. If we can do this, and come to an accurate assessment of which inferior teams match up well with their more highly regarded opponents, betting value can easily be found.

Develop A Predictive Football Betting Model

Many successful football bettors have made their living through shrewd statistical analysis and mathematical modelling. What is involved in developing a football betting model? There is no single answer to this other than to say, whatever helps you identify football values bets. Some predictive football models are quite simple and only involve the use of goals scored for and against over a given sample size of matches played, while more sophisticated models incorporate a diverse range of statistical categories such as:

Goals For/Against

Shots For/Against

Shots On Target For/Against

Shot Location Goal Expectancy

Possession Share

Individual Player Performance

Regardless of what football statistics you choose to develop your model, the aim is the same - to assess the probability of a given match (or betting market) outcome more accurately than the bookmakers do.

The purpose of your football betting model is to identify betting value. It does not need to identify value in every match played or every betting market available. In fact, it's likely your model may only identify one value bet each week of the Premier League season. That amounts to 38 bets per season.

Not many right?

But think if you could expand your model to cover 40 different football leagues. You're then looking at a total of over 1,000 bets per season. The work involved in developing and maintaining a cunning betting model can be demanding, but the rewards can be immense.

#8 Exploit Market Biases By Betting Against The Crowd

Consistently betting on value opportunities is what will make you a successful football bettor in the long term. Yes, a team may be at long odds and yes, we still believe that the chances of them winning the match, while greater than what the bookmakers are suggesting, are still unlikely, but it is in repeatedly betting on situations such as these that will see you turn a profit betting on football in the long term.

When it comes to football betting there are two clear market biases:

Short Priced Home Favourites

Higher Than Average Goal Totals

Underdogs are typically better value than favourites, particularly home favourites. Why? Because most people betting on football are thinking short term. They want a winner today. Not next week. Not next month. They want a "sure thing" now. So they place large bets on short priced home favourites. This excessive betting money on short priced favourites often disorts betting markets, which in turn artificially inflates the odds for underdogs, making such underdogs great value.

Let's consider an example, England are playing a World Cup qualifier at home to San Marino. England, with their array of star players, are massive favourites and are priced at 1.10 to win. San Marino, being only semi-professional footballers and very rarely beating anybody, are priced at odds of 21.00. Who in their right mind would bet on San Marino to win? Well yes, it's extremely unlikely that they will. The odds of 21.00 suggest that San Marino are roughly a 4.8% chance to win the match.

But through our research and analysis, we believe San Marino are closer to an 8% chance. Yes, even at 8% a San Marino win is still very unlikely. But we still believe the chances of them winning are greater than what the odds of 21.00 would suggest. Based on our analysis and our assessed probability of 8%, we believe the odds should be closer to 12.50. However unlikely that it is to be a winner, a bet on San Marino is a value opportunity and we should take it.

Another market bias is for higher than average goal totals. Why? Because the average football punter subconsciously bets with aggression. In this sense, betting on a low scoring match is a somewhat passive act and doesn't satisfy this subconscious aspect of placing a bet. Add to this the fact that very few people want to watch a football match with a limited number of goals scored, and you get a market bias for higher than average goals. This bias artificially places downward pressure on the odds for markets such as Over 2.5 goals, leaving the Under 2.5 goals market to be the better value option more often than not.

Simply betting on both away underdogs and low goal totals won't make you rich any time soon. However they both present examples of why it is often better to bet against the crowd.

#9 Follow Football Betting Tips

Following football betting tips can be a great way of generating profits especially if you can find a genuine expert in a league you may not normally bet on.

But let's be clear. You should not follow any football tipster, expert or pundit blindly. There are literally hundreds of so-called expert football tipsters on the internet. Some even charge high subscription fees for the privilege of following their service. Some are legitimate, but most are not and will not only see you lose money through following their tips, but likewise waste money through their excessive subscription fees. There are also services claiming to have inside information on fixed matches, willing to sell that information for a price. Don't be fooled by their claims.

Before you follow any football tipster, you should do your research. For example, there are hundreds of football tipsters at bettingexpert. And while each is sincere in their attempts to turn a profit from their football tips, the majority do not. There are however a select few who are profitable, often due to an intimate knowledge of a particular football league. You can identify these expert tipsters by using our Tipster Stats Tool, where you can sort tipsters by league, rank and profitability.

To learn more, please read our guide to following betting tips.

#10 Have Accounts With Multiple Bookmakers

Many football bettors limit their chances of making money by limiting their ability to take the best odds available. Yes, there is a certain simplicity with using just one bookmaker for all your betting. But the reality is, if you want to make money long term, you need a number of bookmakers for your football betting.

Why? Because in limiting your bookmaker portfolio, you're restricting yourself in terms of the odds available. For example, take a look at odds comparison site Smartbets. Below are the Asian Handicap odds for an upcoming match between Tottenham and Atletico Madrid.

This is but a simple example, but we can see that by merely having two competing bookmakers at our disposal, we can take the better of the odds available. By continually taking the best odds available among competing bookmakers, we severely increase our chances of turning a profit long term.