Euro 2012 is nearly upon us, and its high time that we took a look at what’s going on in the betting markets for Europe’s football fiesta. It all kicks off on June 8th with a fixture everyone is waiting for with baited breath, when the titans of Poland take on the giants of Greece. Hmm, actually it might be a slightly dry curtain raiser. Russia vs. the Czech Republic that evening promises to be a slightly more interesting fixture.
Before the off, Spain are the favourites with all of the bookies in the Euro 2012 betting outright market, with most pricing them up at 5/2, but 11/4 can be had with bwin. In fact, bwin only have them pegged as joint favourites with Germans, who are 3/1 almost everywhere else. Never write off the Germans they say, and it’s hard to disagree, but the prices for both of these teams are very short. Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich have all had ridiculously long seasons and the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Mario Gomez and Schwienstieger have to be feeling the effects of a 70 game year. This is perhaps all that the other teams have to cling to though, as if these teams come out firing on all cylinders, the other 14 will be merely spectators.
The hard-tackling Dutch are their closes rivals in the betting at 7/1 followed by France and England who are hovering around the 10/1 or 11/1 mark at most outlets. Portugal at 20/1 is the only price that seems remotely generous but when you consider that they have to come out of a group with Germany and the Netherlands you should think twice about parting with your money. My beloved Ireland are the rank outsiders at 100/1, but talk around town is that they’re the Chelsea of this competition so watch out!
Moving to the other markets, Mario Gomez has been installed as the favourite to hit the back of the net more than anyone else at 8/1 (as short as 6/1 in some places), with Robin van Persie next at 10/1. Cristiano Ronaldo and Miroslav Klose are both between 12/1 and 14/1 depending on where you’re betting. It’s unlikely Ronaldo will get the job done though, thanks to Portugal’s ‘group of death’, so Klose looks like a decent shout. On the other hand, Robbie Keane can be had at 160/1 on Betfair and who’s to say he doesn’t slot away a couple of penalties and a couple of tap-ins to give himself a shot!?
As usual there are tons of other markets you can bet on like the total number of 0-0 draws or the lowest scoring team. One interesting market is the ‘team to concede the most goals on Paddy Power. They have Spain at 28/1 and the other favourites for the tournament at around 22/1 but surely these teams are more likely to concede the most goals, given they’ll be playing 5 or 6 matches, when teams like Denmark and Ireland (favourites in this market at 9/2 and 6/1 repectively) will most likely be going home after 3?
