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Champions League Online Betting

The UEFA Champions League, an annual competition for the best European club sides, replaced the European Cup in 1992 and is the most prestigious club football trophy. The number of qualifying places awarded to each nation is based on that nation's UEFA coefficient, calculated from club performances in previous European competition.

Format

The tournament begins in July with three preliminary qualifying rounds. The remaining sixteen teams enter the group phase of the competition, where they are joined by the sixteen seeded teams that have qualified directly for the group phase. The teams are arranged into eight groups of four teams, which operate on a "round-robin" basis. The group winners and runners-up qualify for a two-legged knockout stage, leading to a one-off final in May.

Premier League Qualification

The English Premier League is awarded four Champions' League qualifying places, with the Premiership champions and runners-up going forward directly to the group phase of the tournament, while the third and fourth-placed Premiership finishers qualify for the third qualifying round.

British Clubs in the Champions League

British clubs have performed admirably in the European Cup and Champions League, with a total of 12 winners and 6 runners-up in the tournament. Glasgow Celtic were the first British winners, defeating Inter Milan 2-1 in Lisbon in 1967.

In its most recent incarnation, Manchester United were the first British Champions' League winners, in a dramatic final against Bayern Munich, in Barcelona in 1999. United fell behind after just six minutes, with Mario Basler curling home a low free kick. Despite their best efforts, the Red Devils were repeatedly denied by tenacious a Bayern defence. Substitute Teddy Sheringham seemed to have sent the game into extra-time with an injury-time strike, but Ole Gunnar Solskaer completed the drama with a 93rd minute strike to give United a most unlikely victory.

The 2008 final, in Moscow, saw Manchester United play Chelsea in the first-ever all English final. Cristiano Ronaldo put United in front after 26 minutes, following a clever interchange of passes between Wes Brown and Paul Scholes. Chelsea survived sustained periods of United pressure and equalised just before half-time, when a long-range shot from Michael Essien was deflected, wrong-footing Edwin van der Sar and leaving Frank Lampard with a tap-in. A frenetic second-half and extra-time produced no further goals. Van der Sar saved Nicolas Anelka's penalty to give United Europe's top prize.

Istanbul, in 2005, saw 4-times European Cup winners Liverpool make their first Champions' League final, against 6-times winners A.C. Milan of Italy. In another dramatic final, the Reds trailed 3-0 at half-time, due to a successful strike from Paolo Maldini in the first minute and a brace from Hernan Crespo immediately before the break. Substitutions and a formational change got Liverpool back into the game with Steven Gerrard scoring after 54 minutes and Vladimir Smicer after 56. Three minutes later, Liverpool were level, Xabi Alonso scoring from a penalty rebound. Following a frenzied 30 minutes of extra-time, Liverpool 'keeper Jerzy Dudek became the hero of the night, saving Andriy Shevchenko's penalty to give the Reds a 3-2 success.

English teams have also performed creditably in defeat in the Champions' League. In 2006, Arsenal won their knockout matches, without conceding a goal, against Real Madrid, Juventus and Villareal, before going down 2-1 to Barcelona, in the Paris final. Liverpool defeated Barcelona, PSV Eindhoven and Chelsea en route to the 2007 Athens final, where Milan gained 2-1 revenge for their 2005 defeat.

Champions League Betting Markets

Winning Nation

The online layers offer a Champions League betting market on the country from which the winning club will come. Given that clubs from England (11 wins), Italy (11), Spain (11) and to a lesser extent, Germany (6) and Holland (6) have dominated the tournament, it comes as no great surprise that these countries inevitably dominate the Champions League betting. There appears to be little value in such Champions League betting, until considering that one or more countries may have several representatives, e.g. a bet on England may cover Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal.

Outright Winner

For the same reason, the Champions league betting is inevitably dominated by the top clubs from these nations. Even in the early stages of the tournament, the Premiership's "Big 4", along with Juventus, Milan, Inter, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are at the forefront of the Champions League betting. From a value perspective, punters fancying any of these sides are advised to wait until the draw for the final knockout stages has been determined before investing.

Top 2

Online layers offer "Top 2" Champions League betting, i.e. to reach the final. This is essentially an alternative to each-way betting and value is difficult to obtain, unless fancying one of the lesser teams.

Top Goalscorer

Given the number of viable contenders, this is a notoriously difficult bet to win. The leading goalscorer is usually a striker from one of the leading teams. A shortlist can be compiled from teams likely to qualify for at least the quarter-finals. However, thereafter, Champions League betting on the top scorer is something of a lottery. The best advice is to seek value and keep stakes to a minimum.

Stage of Elimination

Some layers offer Champions League betting on the stage at which English clubs will be eliminated from the tournament, e.g. group phase, quarter-final and semi-final. Such a bet can add to the excitement of live games and / or be used as a "saver" for an outright bet.

All the Bookies

• Bet365
• Bet and Game
• BetDaq
• Bet Direct
• Bet Fair
• Bet Fred
• Better Bet
• BG Bet
• Blue Square
• Boylesports
• Centrebet
• Coral
• Ladbrokes
• Paddy Power
• Sky Bet
• Sporting Index
• Sporting Odds
• Stan James
• Sunderlands
• Total Bet
• Totesport
• Victor Chandler (VC Bet)
• William Hill

Copyright © 2007 Bet123 Online Betting Guide · Revolution Sports theme by Brian Gardner · Login

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