Russia

FIFA are still going ahead with their plans to announce the host of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which will be held on December 2nd. There has been a lot of scandal surrounding the votes, with allegations leading to two members of the executive FIFA members being suspended. What has this all been about? “Selling votes” to influence the outcome of the electoral process. The executives from Nigeria and Tahiti have been suspended because there is an investigation surrounding them from the ethics panel, to see if there really has been any wrong doing on their parts. They could be back in position by the time the actual voting comes around if they are not found guilty, but if they don’t make it, then the vote will between the remaining 22 members of the committee. This bidding for the 2018 FIFA World Cup really hasn’t seen much plain sailing to be honest. Spain and Portugal (who are submitting a joint bid) were accused of hoping into collusion with Qatar in order to manipulate voting. This all gets a bit complicated, but FIFA are running bidding for both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups at the same time, and while Spain/Portugal are gunning for 2018, Qatar is in the hat for 2022 (along with the USA, Australia and Japan/South Korea), and there were accusations of the countries scratching the back of the other when it comes to voting.

Then of course came the spat between England and Russia for the 2018 FIFA World Cup hosting rights. The Russians were flinging a bit of mud in the direction of the England bid, which prompted England to lodge a complaint, which they then withdrew after an apology from the Russians. Everyone kissed and made and up, and now the countries have to cross the T’s and dot the I’s on their final bid presentations. December 2nd, 2010 is when England will get the last chance, the last 30 minutes of spotlight time to try and win the bidding over Russia, Portugal/Spain and another joint bid from Belgium and Netherlands. England are actually favourites at the bookmakers to win the bid for 2018 and are priced at 8/11 with Ladbrokes to do so. Second favourites in the race to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup, is Russia who are priced 8/5 at Unibet. There doesn’t look to be too much competition coming from the other two bids, with Portugal/Spain out at 7/1 with Ladbrokes and Belgium/Netherlands way out in the wilderness priced at 25/1 with Ladbrokes.

Poland and Ukraine are the countries co-hosting this tournament and that means that there are only fourteen other places up for grabs. Some would probably argue that Spain should get a bye into the finals after adding a world crown to their European one in South Africa, although we will almost certainly see Vicente Del Bosque’s team in eastern Europe to defend their title.

A selection of bookmakers, including Ladbrokes and bet365, offer 4/1 that La Furia Roja continue to show they are top dogs in Euro 2012 and they will retain the nucleus of the team that won the country’s first ever World Cup. Young players such as Pedro, Jesus Navas and David Silva will ensure that there is fierce competition for places and we might even see a fit Fernando Torres in two years time!

However, many people will be looking to back Germany antepost instead, especially as they are available at odds of 6/1 with Ladbrokes. Although Joachim Low’s team fell short against the Spanish in the semi-finals, there’s a strong case for arguing that they are the second best team in the world and the manager will have two years to ensure that his team can come back stronger.

With Thomas Mueller, Bastian Schweinsteiger and  Mesut Ozil all playing starring roles for Die Mannschaft in South Africa, it will be interesting to see whether they can continue their free-scoring ways which made them so prolific this summer.

The Netherlands are available at 8/1 (Victor Chandler) to win Euro 2012 and they will take some beating if the last World Cup is anything to go by. While the likes of Mark Van Bommel aren’t getting any younger and Gio van Bronckhorst has retired, Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Robin Van Persie will still pack a punch for the Oranje.

While Spain, Germany and Holland ensured that there were three European teams in the semi-finals, there were several of the ‘old order’ that failed to make much impact at all in South Africa. Expectations were once again high that England would deliver in a major tournament although their poor performances throughout means that Sporting Bet have pushed the Three Lions out to 12/1. It could be a period of transition for this team who need to bring young players in.

As for France, there will also be sweeping changes with the players in the squad. Raymond Domenech has been replaced by Laurent Blanc and the latter will command much more respect within the camp after the shameful way that Les Bleus conducted themselves in South Africa. Perhaps they are the best bet at 14/1 (Stan James), especially as the squad will be packed with top quality players.

Italy were equally as disappointing with their failure to beat New Zealand, Slovakia or Paraguay in their World Cup group and they have been pushed out to 11/1 (Paddy Power). Meanwhile, you can back Portugal at 14/1 (Coral), Russia at 20/1 (Blue Square) and Ukraine at 40/1 (bet365).

There will be plenty of nerves on display in Lisbon, Athens, Dublin and Moscow this coming Saturday, with eight teams battling it out for four World Cup places. These matches are sure to be popular as far as pre-match and In-Play betting is concerned, so we’ve taken a look at our favourite bookmakers to find some top promotions.

Over at bet365, they are running their usual Bore Draw Money Back offer, where correct score, HT / FT and Scorecast bets are refunded if a match finishes 0-0. We would say that these type of matches have a much stronger chance of finishing goalless, especially as the first leg games are bound to be tight and cagey. Teams will be afraid of conceding and you can bet that the likes of Bosnia and Slovenia will be setting up defensively against Portugal and Russia respectively.

Meanwhile, Paddy Power have come up with a typically crazy promotion for the Ireland v France match, which ties in with the X Factor! John and Edward are one of the favourites to be eliminated and, if they are evicted on Sunday, then your losing First Goalscorer, Correct Score and Scorecast bets will be refunded. The pair were close to being axed last week so this could be a popular promotion.

Meanwhile, although Ladbrokes don’t have any set promotions for the four matches, they are providing a unique type of bet. The Quatro enables to you to select a combination of the winning team and the amount of goals scored. For example, they offer odds of 2.50 that Ukraine win or draw in Greece PLUS there are two goals or less in the match. Similarly, Ladbrokes offer Goal Time Quatro, so for example you can back Republic of Ireland to score first PLUS the first goal being scored after the 27th minute. At odds of 4.00, it’s not a bad shout.

My personal hunch is that the matches are likely to be low-scoring. If you look at the previous first leg scores in the play-offs, there are often few goals involved and it could therefore be worth looking at the Under 2.5 Goals prices. Stan James are offering some great odds on this market, going best price for the Greece v Ukraine and the Ireland v France matches. Doing four lines of trebles on the quartet of games would return a profit if three involve two goals or less and the Bosnia manager has already stated his intention to pack out the midfield in Portugal.

Over at Unibet, they have priced up some goalscorer match bets, with Kevin Doyle being paired with Thierry Henry and Robbie Keane going head-to-head with Nicolas Anelka. Meanwhile, Canbet customers should be aware that you get a 10% bonus on any winnings from a multiple bet. Providing you include at least three selections and that your accumulator amounts to odds of at least 6.00, you can get 10% added to the pay-out.

Of course, all of the bookmakers we mention will be offering In-Play betting on the four World Cup qualifying matches, while bet365 will be streaming the games from Moscow, Lisbon and Athens so that you can watch and bet on the action!

Olympic Games 2008 – USA and China in a head-to-head race to win the most medals: bwin’s bookmakers rank China and the USA as favourites to win the Olympic medal count (with odds of 1.85 for each country at the moment).

Overall, the line-up of the world’s leading provider of online gaming entertainment will feature more than 10,000 Olympic bets in all 41 Olympic sports disciplines. Particularly popular is betting on the country with the most medals and most gold medals. In addition, there will be live betting on 800 different events.

The US and China are currently vying for first place in an exciting race. Will Olympic host China with a team of 639 athletes be able to assert itself against US dominance at the Olympic Summer Games?

In basketball, swimming and track-and-field, the USA is clearly in the lead. But the US is also expected to win medals in women’s football and tennis. According to bwin ’s bookmakers, a direct confrontation between the two superpowers is rather unlikely, since China’s strength is table tennis, badminton and gymnastics.

“We devote our full attention to the Olympic Games and will again be offering the biggest sportsbetting line-up. Olympic Games are comparable to four or five world cups held at the same time”, explains Kevin O’Neal, press officer at bwin.

The bwin website will present itself in its Olympics design: not only will the logo be adjusted during the Olympic Games, but so will the pictographs used. More information is available at bwin.

Here is a summary of the bwin medal count odds*:

Who will win the most medals (overall)?

China: 1.85

USA1.85

Russia: 21.00

Other country: 81.00

Who will win the most gold medals?

China: 1.45

USA 2.55

Russia: 41.00

Other country: 81.00

*Subject to change without notice

More information:
Bwin Betting