The “UEFA Champions League” is a European Club Soccer competition for 32 European clubs held every European soccer season from September to May.
The Format
It has 4 stages – the main qualifying stage (teams enter the competition based on their finishing position in their country’s league the previous season or winning the UEFA Europa League), a preliminary knock-out stage which determines the final 32 teams (made up of 4 rounds), a group stage (a round robin of 8 groups of 4 teams) and then a knockout stage to decide the finalists (the top 2 teams of each group qualify for the knockout stage).
When are the matches played?
The preliminary knock-out games are played in August and September. The group matches are played in September, October and November, the knockout stages are played from February to May.
The first round of fixtures for the group stage will be played on Tuesday 18th and Wednesday 19th of September. The following five rounds will be played every two weeks.
2018/19 match schedule
| Group Stage (2018) |
Matchday1 18–19 Sep |
|---|---|
| Knockout Stage (2019) |
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final |
What gambling markets are available?
The antepost markets have Win Outright, Win the group, To qualify from the group, Top Goalscorer and which English team will progress the furthest. The other markets available are for standard individual match betting.
Who is in the 2018/19 competition and what are their odds to WIN OUTRIGHT?
The clubs that qualified, and their league position last season and their outright odds are as follows:
Recommended Bet
(William Hill / 2nd Sep 2018)
*Manchester City (Premier League Champions) @ 5.50
*Barcelona (La Liga Champions) @ 7.00
Juventus (Serie A Champions) @ 8.00
Paris St. Germain (French Ligue Champions) @ 8.50
Real Madrid (Champions League winners, 3rd La Liga) @ 9.00
*Bayern Munich (Bundesliga Champions) @ 9.00
Liverpool (4th Premier League) @ 13.00
Manchester United (2nd Premier League) @ 29.00
Atletico Madrid (2nd La Liga and Europa League Champions) @ 13.00
Tottenham (3rd Premier League) @ 26.00
Dortmund (4th Bundesliga), Inter Milan (4th Serie A) and Napoli (2rd Serie A) @ 41.00
Roma (3rd Serie A) and Shalke (2nd Bundesliga) @ 51.00
Lyon (3rd Ligue 1) and Valencia (4th La Liga) @ 81.00
Hoffenheim (3rd Bundesliga), Monaco (2nd Ligue 1) and Porto (Primier Liga champion) @ 101.00
Galatasaray (Super Lig) @ 126.00
Ayax (2nd Eredivisie) and Benfica (2nd Primeir Liga) @ 151.00
PSV Eindhoven (Eredivisie Champions) and Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukrainian Premier League Champions) @ 201.00
Basel (2nd Swiss Challenge League), CSKA Moscow (2nd Russian Premier League) and Salzberg (Austria Bundesliga Champions) @ 251.00
AEK Athens (Greece Super League Champions), Club Brugge (Belgium 1st Division A Champions), Lokomotiv Moscow (Russian Premier League Champions), Sterm Graz (2nd Austrian Bundesliga), Viktoria Plzen (Czech First League Champions) and Young Boys (Swiss Challenge League Champions) @ 501.00
To Win the group
The clubs and odds for winning their respective groups in the antepost markets can be found below:
Group A
*Athletico Madrid @ 1.53, Dortmund @ 3.50, Monaco @ 7.00 and Club Brugges @ 41.00
Group B
*Barcelona @ 1.50, Tottenham @ 4.00, Inter Milan @ 7.00, PSV Eindhoven @ 21.00
Group C
Paris St. Germain @ 1.91, Liverpool @ 2.75, Napoli @ 5.00 and Red Star Belgrade @ 51.00
Group D
Shalke @ 2.50, Porto @ 2.62, *Galatasaray @ 6.00, Lokomotiv Moscow @ 6.50
Group E
*Bayern Munich @ 1.14, Benfica @ 8.00, Ajax @ 11.00 and AEK Athens @ 67.00
Group F
*Manchester City @ 1.20, Lyon @ 8.00, Hoffenheim @ 13.00 and Shakhtar Donetsk @ 15.00
Group G
Real Madrid @ 1.22, *Roma @ 4.50, CSKA Moscow @ 17.00 and Viktoria Plzan @ 81.00
Group H
Juventus @ 1.67, Manchester United @ 2.87, *Valencia @ 7.00 and Young Boys @ 67.00
Group winner recommended bets
4-fold accumulator of Athletico Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City @ 3.14
Double – Athletico Madrid and Barcelona @ 2.30
Singles and or Doubles or Treble, Trixie or Patent – Galatasaray, Roma and Valencia
Galatasaray and Roma Double @ 27.00
Galatasaray and Valencia Double @ 42.00
Roma and Valencia Double @ 30.50
Roma, Valencia and Galatasaray Treble @ 189.00
English Team to progress the furthest
*Manchester City @ 1.57
Liverpool @ 3.50
Manchester United @ 4.50
Tottenham @ 7.00
Top Goalscorer
This year’s first three favorites are Lional Messi @ 5.00, *Christiano Ronaldo is @ 8.00 and has been top goal scorer for the past six seasons and third favorite is *Sergio Aguero @ 9.00 who, if he stays fit and Manchester City reach the semi-finals, has a good chance this season with a relatively easy group stage.
Neymar (joint top goalscorer with Ronaldo and Messi in 2014/15) is on his own at @ 11.00 while Edison Cavani, Harry Kane, Louis Suarez, Mohammed Salah and Robert Lewandowski are all at @ 15.00.
The rest of the market spreads out from Gareth Bale and Kylian Mbappe both @ 17.00 through to Arkadiusz Milik @ 101.00
Other markets
There are other markets available such as “Name the finalists” which appear to provide value for example Barcelona / Manchester City @ 15.00 but these teams could meet in the 2nd round, quarter finals or semi-final after the group stage should they qualify so betting in this market also means you are gambling that they do not play each other before the final.
(William Hill / 2nd Sep 2018)
Final Word
The odds will fluctuate as the tournament progresses so look out for value at this stage and cover (insurance) bets as the tournament progresses. When gambling on individual matches in the Champions League it is sensible to monitor injuries to star players that may affect team performances and also monitor weather conditions – a team with 6 south Americans, is not going to perform so well on a snowy November Tuesday night in a Russian stadium.
