The Top Soccer Futures Markets

Soccer Futures Guide

Soccer fans have an array of futures markets to choose from at the major sportsbooks. Whether you’re betting on the MLS, Premier League, Champions League, or another competition, FanDuel, BetMGM, Caesars, DraftKings, and others have a selection of markets, covering all the bases.

🥇Top 4 Finish
📈Relegation Futures
📊Order of Finish
🏆Tournament Futures

Predicting Which Team Will Finish Top 4 (UCL Spots)

Top-four betting is popular in the top-five European leagues. A top-four place is rewarded with a spot in the next season’s Champions League – the competition for UCL qualification is often more interesting than the title races.

As simple as it sounds, a bet on a team to finish in the top four only pays out if they finish the season in first, second, third, or fourth.

For example, you might be on Liverpool to finish in the top four at -150. A $10 bet would have a potential payout of $16.67.

Soccer Betting with FanDuel

Betting on a Top 6 Finish (Europa League Spots)

Like the top-four market, bettors can wager on whether a team will finish in the top six. This market is most appropriate for teams you fancy to overachieve, as the biggest clubs are usually a very short price in this market.

For example, if you’re backing Brighton to exceed expectations, they could be a good option to qualify for the Europa League. In contrast, a bet on last season’s champions is unlikely to have much upside.

Top Half and Bottom Half Finishes

Betting on top half and bottom half finishes – like the two markets mentioned above – is all about a team’s final league placing. In the Premier League, La Liga, and Serie A, a top-half finish bet means the team must place in the top 10.

In the Bundesliga, the top half only includes nine teams.

For example, you might back Wolfsburg to finish in the top half. The bet would only pay out if they finished ninth or higher.

Alternatively, you can bet against a team by betting on them to finish in the bottom half. This can be especially profitable when you expect a big club to underachieve or if a team has started well but you expect them to slide down the table.

Relegation Futures

Relegation is part of soccer (other than MLS). The bottom two, three, or four teams in a league are relegated to the division below. In the case of the Premier League, this means spending the next season in the Championship.

Newly promoted sides are inevitably among the favorites to suffer relegation before the season gets underway. Teams that narrowly missed the drop in the prior campaign are also vulnerable. The end of the last season and recent transfer windows can be informative when looking to find value in the relegation futures markets.

For example, a team like Wolves losing key players without significant reinforcements means they are likely to be in the relegation mix.

Promotion Futures

Teams have to go up to replace the teams that have gone down. This is where the promotion futures markets come in for divisions like Segunda Liga, the EFL Championship, and Serie B.

Betting on a team to gain promotion is just about whether they are playing in a higher division in the following season. It doesn’t matter how the team achieves this, whether they win the league, claim an automatic promotion spot, or have to go through a playoff(s).

Some sportsbooks will offer specific markets on how a team will earn promotion, such as ‘to make the playoffs’ or ‘to earn automatic promotion’.

Goalscorer Futures

Goalscorer futures are looking at awards like the Premier League Golden Boot, the Pichichi Trophy, and Serie A’s capocannoniere. Top scorers awards are also available to bet on for tournaments, including the World Cup, Champions League, and Gold Cup.

The majority of goalscorer futures markets are focused on which player will score the most goals in a given competition. Sportsbooks will sometimes offer specials, too, like Mohamed Salah to score 30+ goals or Kylian Mbappe to score more goals than Robert Lewandowski.

To Win Without Bets

Win without bets are not quite unique to soccer, but they are dependent on a league format, which makes them particularly relevant to European soccer leagues. Win without is a bet on a team to finish in the highest place if the given teams are excluded.

For instance, you might wager on Atletico Madrid to win La Liga without Real Madrid and Barcelona. This bet would pay out if Atleti finished third with Real and Barca ahead of them. It wouldn’t pay out if they finished second behind Villarreal.

This market is popular with bettors when there is an overwhelming favorite or two teams well ahead of the pack. In France, this is particularly relevant with the gap between PSG and the rest of Ligue 1.

Order of Finish

The order of finish market is common across sports. In soccer, this is once again a wager on the final league position. For example, you might take Liverpool, Arsenal, and Chelsea, to finish first, second, and third, respectively.

This is a way to access some longer odds, particularly when there’s a heavy favorite. If Liverpool were -200 for the title and Chelsea and Arsenal had short odds to make the top four, predicting their exact finish can give you a more appealing price.

Season point totals

Just as you might bet on the over/under for a team’s preseason win total in the NFL or NBA, you can bet on how many points a soccer team will accumulate throughout the course of a season.

There are landmarks available to bet on, too. You could wager on Liverpool to reach 90+ points, or you might prefer going with the over on 75.5 points for Chelsea. Season point totals can be a rewarding way to engage in soccer futures markets.

Premier League Player of the Year

The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) votes for the Player of the Year in the Premier League each season. This is the EPL’s equivalent of the MVP award.

Generally given to attacking players, the PFA Player of the Year market is available year-round. Odds can move considerably during the season, giving bettors plenty of opportunities to find value.

It’s important to be aware that the player almost always comes from the league-winning side, though voting is carried out before the end of the season.

Tournament Futures

Tournament futures include the tournament winner, top scorer, stage of elimination, name the finalists, and various other markets. Bets can be placed on tournament winners months or even years in advance (for tournaments like the World Cup, Copa America, and Euros).

When it comes to continental competitions like the Champions League and Europa League, you will find markets on whether a team will qualify, where they will finish in the league stage, and who will be the top team from a given country.

National team tournaments offer a wide range of markets. You may choose to back the USMNT to be the top North American team in the World Cup or take your favorite player to record the most assists in the Euros.