WORLD CUP 2010 TOP TEN WEIRDEST BETTING MARKETS PART ONE

One of the best things about the World Cup is that so many different bookmakers come out with crazy betting markets for punters looking out for strange side bets. If you’re looking for some outside action on the big tournament, you should take a gander at the World Cup Specials markets at Paddy Power- bring your sense of humour and a VISA card as we examine the Top Ten Weirdest Betting Markets for the 2010 World Cup.

#10

Who Will Diego Maradona Verbally Insult First?

It’s interesting when a manager is considered to be the weakest link in a side, but that certainly seems to be the case with Argentina manager Diego Maradona. Always fiery and always saying something controversial, Maradona is favoured to insult a referee or a member of the official crew. He’s been priced at 11/8 for that one and if he insults all of South Africa in general, you’re looking at a 2/1 price. Should he insult the press, you’ve got a 3/1 payout and if he decides to go off on another tirade about FIFA or FIFA President Sepp Blatter, you’re looking at a tasty 8/1. Should he slag off the Argentina Football Association- it’s a 9/1 payday. Insulting England or Fabio Capello pays out at 20/1 while the crowd of an Argentina match pays out at the same margin. Should he insult Lionel Messi first you’ve got 33/1 and should Maradona insult Pele before anybody else at a press conference, you’ve got 40/1.

My tip is to back Maradona to insult the media first at 3/1. It will come up at the first press conference, guaranteed. The insult must happen on live television for it to count.

#9

First Team to Fail a Drug Test

If you think we’ll be seeing more doping problems at the 2010 World Cup, you’ve got a very profitable betting market available if you think you can select which team will have a player sent home. Currently, the betting favourite is Chile at 16/1. They are two points ahead of their closest competitors- Mexico, South Africa and Argentina at an 18/1 price. Ivory Coast and Paraguay both trade at 20/1.

My selection here is North Korea at a 25/1 price. I don’t actually think it will happen at the 2010 World Cup, but who knows whether “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-Il wants his players to get an extra edge and not embarrass “Best Korea” on the global stage.

#8

Player to be Fouled The Most

This one is a three-horse race with dead-heat rules applying. The results will be obtained from the soccernet.com internet stats. The current favourite is Lionel Messi, who trades at an odds-on price of 4/6 to get the most fouls. Cristiano Ronaldo was the most fouled player in the league back when he was playing in England and I expect him to attract lots of attention at a 5/2 price. Wayne Rooney is available at 10/3 and, though Wazza is known to attract plenty of attention from defenders, I have a feeling he will be dishing out more fouls than he takes.

The key variable here is how many games your players winds up playing in. Here you want to pick the team that goes the farthest and you can see why Messi is getting the nod. However, I think the odds are a bit too short and there are plenty of playmakers on that Argentinian side. Portugal will be looking to get the ball to Ronaldo at virtually every opportunity so I’ll be backing the winking wonder at 5/2.

#7

Wayne Rooney Disciplinary Specials

England’s hopes crashed to the ground when Wayne Rooney was sent off in the last World Cup, so it comes as no surprise that this market exists. England’s talisman is listed at a 6/1 price to be sent off in any match in the 2010 World Cup. He is also 16/1 to be booked for dissent vs the USA. He is priced out at 28/1 to be sent off against the Americans as well.

I’ll be looking to avoid this market as I think Rooney has cooled off that aspect of his personality. You saw him remonstrating with officials and flying into tackles against Platinum Stars though so I would fault you if you had a go here. If forced to take a selection here, I would back Rooney to be booked for dissent against the USA at a tidy 16/1 price.

#6

First Refereeing Howler

One of the main undertones to every single World Cup is the few shoddy refereeing performances that always seem to happen. This time, you can make some cash from chaos by backing the first refereeing howler. All bets are losers if none of these errors occur in the tournament.

If a penalty is incorrectly awarded for a foul outside the penalty area, you’ve got a 9/4 price and that’s more than likely to happen at least once. A goal to be awarded when the ball hasn’t fully crossed the goal line pays out at 9/1- also likely to happen once. A goal to be awarded after a player has deliberately handled the ball pays out at 18/1- that’s a great bet for those looking to back France.

A referee to send off the wrong player trades at 80/1- unlikely to happen. A referee to blow the final whistle before the 90 minutes are up trades at 100/1. I could actually maybe see that happening, but not happening first. A referee to issue a player 3 yellow cards pays out at a whopping 150/1. This happened in the last World Cup.

A referee to deflect the ball into the goal pays 15-/1 while a team to start a match with an extra player on the pitch trades at 250/1. The same team to kick off both halves of the match garners a massive 500/1 payout.

I think that a penalty being awarded incorrectly is definitely likely to happen first. If it was an anytime type of thing I would suggest backing the 3 card selection.

Stay tuned for the 5 weirdest World Cup 2010 Betting markets!