Everything to Know About Europa League Bets

While the most well-known European football league is the Champions League, there is one league that is often overlooked - the Europa League or UEL. Since 1971 when it was known as the UEFA Cup, the best second-tier European football teams have clashed in exhilarating football matches to vie for the top spot. As the qualifying rounds have already been held, football fans have turned their attention to the actual tournament of the 23/24 season.

The Basics

In the Europa League, there are 12 groups with four teams, which makes for 48 teams in total. Every team in the separate groups plays against every group in both home and away matches, where they are ranked by points depending on wins, ties and losses. Then, the two winners of each group continue to the round of 32.

Furthermore, eight other teams that have departed from the UEFA Champions League group stage participate in the round. Because of the many groups participating, fans have a galore of exciting matches to watch and bet on right from the group stage to the final clash. The winners of the Europa League then earn a spot in the next season of the Champions League.

The Groups

This season, we are looking at groups where Ajax and AEK Athens are clashing, and others such as Liverpool and Toulouse, and West Ham and SC Freiburg in the fixtures. In Group A, West Ham United are full of energy from their triumph in the Europa Conference League. Therefore, they are expected to advance from the group stage.

With Group B being the “dangerous” one with Brighton & Hove Albion, Olympique Marseille, Ajax and AEK Athens, we can only expect exciting matches this time. There will most likely be a tough battle between Ajax, Marseille and Athens as they fight for the top two spots.

The Matches

Although all matches tend to be intense, some are more anticipated than others. With the earlier matches where West Ham won against Backa Topola and Brighton’s 3-2 loss against AEK Athens, the upcoming matches should be no less than thrilling. Unfortunately, in the game against Athens, Brighton was out of luck since their centre-back Lewis Dunk was missing, as he was injured, along with Evan Ferguson. It was clear from the beginning that the absence of Dunk in the defence would become dangerous for Brighton.

A future game to look forward to is the game between Liverpool and USG. This is the first time in seven years that Anfield is hosting a Europa League game. Liverpool has the advantage, as Anfield has an impressive Europa League record of 18-6-1 since 2010. This time, it will be a question of whether they can keep the momentum, but since USG has never played against Liverpool at home or away, it will be new for both teams.

The Predictions

Undoubtedly, Liverpool is the favourite to win the Europa League for the 2023/24 season. With Jurgen Klopp as the man at the helm, Liverpool has reached three Champions League finals. Indeed, Liverpool looks to triumph in this Europa League. However, there are ‘jokers’ in the tournament as well. We have Brighton & Hove Albion, who also want to be a worthy competitor. The Seagulls have performed greatly in the past seasons, but the question is whether that will be enough to succeed against Liverpool, as they are on a different level.

Roma and Real Betis are other ‘jokers’ who are strong contenders. However, the tournament might look completely different, as there will be eight teams from the Champions League. This is where some things are better left alone till they happen.

The Odds

As Liverpool is the current favourite to win, they have a wide margin of +350 odds. Next to Liverpool, we have teams like Bayer Leverkusen and AS Roma at +1200 odds, Brighton & Hove Albion at +1400 odds and West Ham United at +1800 odds. However, the odds could change as new teams enter the competition. Therefore, many choose to bet only when those teams drop into the Europa League. Last year, the odds were in Sevilla’s favour, as they soared to 1st place in the competition. This time around, they are in the Champions League.

The Finale

There is a long way to the knockout phase, the semi-finals and then the final. Still, it is worth taking a peek at what to expect. The final will be held at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin this time. The tournament winners will gain some valuable opportunities: They will qualify for the 2024-25 UEFA Champions League group stage, and they will also get to play in the 2024 Super Cup against the winner of this year’s Champions League.

In the future, the tournament will look a bit different. UEFA has changed the format for the Europa League and the Champions League. For the Europa League, there will no longer be any teams from the Champions League group stage competing in the Europa League, as is the case now. Therefore, the winners, this time, can no longer defend the title.