Germany favourites to defend title

Germany favourites to defend title

By Jack Ratcliffe Jul 5, 2013

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With the 2013 UEFA Euro Women’s Championship kicking-off in Sweden on Wednesday, the big question is whether anyone can upset heavy tournament favourites Germany (2.370*)? It’s clear women’s soccer differs from men’s – but what affect does this have on betting?

Germany lead the charge for this year’s UEFA Women’s Championship, with a strong history of success in the competition. If all goes well for the two-time World Cup winners, Silvia Neid’s side will leave Sweden with a sixth consecutive European title, and an eighth overall. The German’s have not lost a game to a European team since March 2009 (1-0 vs. Denmark), having played 3,600 minutes of football since then.

Their closest rivals are France, who are yet to finish in the top four of a UEFA Championship, although they finished fourth place in the World Cup in 2011 losing 2-1 in the third-place playoff to Sweden.

Les Bleus are one of the most improved teams in Europe, having gone 31 games without a defeat to European opposition, placing them as 4.200* second favourites behind the Germans but ahead of the tournament hosts Sweden at 5.030*.

Sweden have an interesting UEFA pedigree, beating England 4-3 on penalties in the inaugural 1984 competition and finishing runner-up twice. They also reached the semi-finals in 1997 and 2005, and runner-up in the World Cup in 2003. Going in to this year’s competition, they completed a 4-1 routing of England in early July – one of the competition’s stronger sides.

Women’s soccer betting – what’s the difference?

Outside of the form guide heading into the event, it is important for bettors to note that there are important differences between men’s and women’s soccer to bear in mind. These differences mean that getting an edge could be easier in the women’s game than the men’s. Importantly these influential factors are largely off the field of play.

One key element is the size of the sport itself. Because it is relatively small, the ability levels of teams can change more rapidly than is typical in men’s soccer. For example, in the ten years between 1997 and 2007 the number of full international women’s matches more than doubled, resulting in more competitors, more experienced teams and an all-round increase in ability. But who has benefited the most? Which teams have gathered the most experience over this period? France being a case in point.

Women’s soccer could also be considered to be entering a “golden age”, where a huge number of players are entering adulthood having played soccer all their lives. Professional international women’s soccer competitions only began in 1984, and it wasn’t until the 1999 World Cup in the USA that the sport became more mainstream. Fourteen years on, the youth training programmes inspired by the competition will now be bearing fruit. This offers the bettor potential to unearth wunderkinds with the potential to alter power dynamics, which simply isn’t possible in the men’s game because of the saturation of coverage.

Domestic league strength could also prove a good indicator of ability – more so than in the men’s game (just look at England’s Premier League mapped against their international performance). The German favourites have a fully professional domestic league, and their domestic sides have won nine of 16 UEFA Champions League finals.

France’s Olympique Lyon have won two of the last four competitions, while England’s Arsenal L.F.C. won in 2006/07, and both Swedish and Russian sides have finished runner-up since then. None of the other competing nations have reached the final since its inception in 2001.

As with any international soccer tournament the Euro 2013 women’s competition provides a great soccer betting opportunity in the quiet summer period. More than this, it is a potentially lucrative opportunity for those bettors who are prepared to the necessary research into the changing and unique dynamics of women’s soccer.

To see more about getting an edge in betting, read our article on the subject.

Click here for the latest Women’s UEFA Euro 2013 odds.

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*Odds subject to change