The 2022 FIFA World Cup is set to be a fantastic tournament. It comes at a time when the world is recovering from a global pandemic and will be a much-needed distraction. As the excitement mounts, many sportsbooks are already formulating their different bet offerings so you can watch games and place a few cheeky wagers.
Typically, most people simply place bets on the overall winner of a game. While this is often a safer bet, it’s pretty boring! However, most sportsbooks offer many other bets aside from the winner and we look at seven different side bets you can place on the 2022 FIFA World Cup below.
Overall competition goal scorer
The Golden Boot is perhaps one of the most prestigious football awards. Many legendary players have won this trophy with amazing performances. Notable Golden Boot honourees include Ronaldo, Eusebio, Muller, Lineker and Garrincha.
Due to its popularity, many sportsbooks, including this list of online bookmakers, provide a side bet for the overall competition scorer. Who would you pick? Would you pick a notable striker from your home team? Or would you pick one of the most likely candidates like Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé or Harry Kane?
Winners of each group table
Another side bet that isn’t based on individual games is the winner of each table. The FIFA World Cup is split into eight groups of four teams. The top two teams qualify for the group stages from each table, with the winners of a group then facing the second-placed team from another group.
This makes for some fun betting, and arguably, there are some notable candidates who really should top their group. The Netherlands, for example, should be expected to be at the top of the pile against Qatar, Ecuador and Senegal. Similarly, Brazil really should triumph against Serbia, Switzerland and Cameroon.
First goal scorer in each match
Oftentimes, sportsbooks allow you to take the goalscoring one step further. There is usually a myriad of side bets based on different goal scoring aspects. One of these that we like is the first goal scorer in each match.
For this bet, you pick a single, specific player. For example, you may pick Harry Kane to score first in the England vs Iran matchup. Typically, the odds are much higher on these bets due to the sheer variance and unknowns, which can also make for some sweet rewards if you get lucky.
Halftime score prediction
For many different sport disciplines like basketball, football and American football, the game is split into clearly defined blocks such as quarters or halves. Many bookmakers use this to their advantage to offer a range of bets based on statistics from a single block of time.
In football and the World Cup, you can often make a halftime score prediction. Typically, you are given a range of options to choose from, based on the play as it unfolds. This means that the bets are usually in-play and the odds also fluctuate.
Over/under x goals
Over/under goals bets are common in football, such as the over/under 1.5 goals bet. With these bets, you are either stating that there will be more or fewer than the specified number of goals.
For example, let’s say you chose over, for over/under 1.5 goals. For this, there would need to be two goals in the game for your bet to pay out.
Number of cards (red and yellow)
A rarer type of bet that some bookmakers will offer for the 2022 World Cup is the number of cards. This could be a cumulative bet for red and yellow cards, or it could be split for red or yellow.
Essentially, you are betting on there being fewer or more than a specific number of cards. Due to the lack of support for these types of bets, the odds are often fantastic.
Number of corners
Similarly, to the above, picking an over/under bet for the number of corners is also a great potential side wager for the World Cup. This is another rare bet and usually has great odds.
For many, November can’t come quickly enough, and the start of the 2022 FIFA World Cup is something long awaited. As you can tell from this discussion, there is fun to be had and money to be made while watching your favourite international teams. If you do enjoy a flutter but are tired of betting on the match winner, why not try something else and use these different side bets instead?