The UEFA Champions League is the most prestigious club soccer tournament in Europe. From the first draw of the 1955-56 season and throughout the 1991-92 season it was called the European Champions Cup.
Since the 1992-93 season, the tournament has been called the UEFA Champions League, the format was changed along with the name as well as a deviation from the usual playoff system in favor of the group stages that take place before the knockout rounds. The current anthem and logo came afterwards.
According to sportsbooks, Champions League betting is one of the most popular markets available. Knowing this, United States sportsbooks compete among one another for the highest number of Champions League betting lines available for the competition, as well as certain promotions for the betting on the games.
Champions League Betting Features
Champions League betting lines are characterized by high stakes and even higher odds. In order to encourage betting, sportsbooks will post low margins for odds on games in the tournament, and rarely limit maximum bet amounts.
There are a few more features that players interested in betting on the UEFA Champions League should consider.
Team schedules may affect form: due to the high number of games in modern soccer between the team’s stamina and form can be severely affected. If there was an important league game a couple of days before, they may not be 100% for the UEFA Champions League. Due to this, the team's schedule becomes an important factor.
It is not easy to predict the tournament winner: Despite the high Champions League betting odds on the winner, which are set even before the start of the tournament, many experienced players will be wary of these bets.
For starters, there are usually several different clubs that are favored to win the tournament. Each year 5-8 teams have a seemingly equal chance to win the Champions League. Secondly, the team’s form can change drastically between the group and knockout stages.
Third, in recent years, the UEFA Champions League has given us many unexpected results in the decisive playoff matches. Therefore, long-term betting on the tournament is quite risky. Teams from the top five soccer countries often dominate the UEFA Champions League.
These countries are known for producing many of the best teams and players in the world:
- England
- Spain
- Italy
- Germany
- France
The last time a team won the Champions League that was not from one of these countries was in the 2003-04 season. That was with the Portugese team “Porto” winning the trophy. Real Madrid from Spain has the highest number of tournament titles (12), and it is unlikely that any team will catch up to them anytime soon.
On the page above, you can find the schedule and game results, as well as the best Champions League odds from US sportsbooks for each game. Next to each game are the odds for the main betting market including the win for each team, and on the draw.
All of the odds that are displayed are the best for that specific market. For each game, there is a page where you can see the schedule and results of past games, as well as the team’s previous statistics for games.
Champions League Winners
The Champions League has produced many winners over the course of its decades long run. Many times the team who has won was already considered a European giant due to its history, legends and spending power.
As such, the Champions League competition has been dominated thoroughly especially in recent times by the team of the Spanish capital, Real Madrid. The 'Los Blancos' have won the competition a staggering 13 times (three times runners up) including the recent back to back to back victories in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Real Madrid and its high number of wins is a full six ahead of Italy's AC Milan, who has the second most wins with seven. Bayern Munich (six), Liverpool (six) and Barcelona (five) round out the top-five teams with the highest success in the competition.
On the back of Real Madrid as well as Barcelona, Spanish teams have claimed the highest number of Champions League titles 18, followed by England (13) and Italy (12).
However, there have many multiple surprises in the results, including teams like Red Star Belgrade winning the competition in 1991, and Aston Villa winning it in 1982
There have been other surprise teams that have also come about as well:
- Porto (1987, 2004)
- Celtic (1967)
- Steaua București (1986)
Smaller teams with lower spending power still need to prove themselves by finishing in the top spots in their own leagues in order to qualify for the Champions League.
Therefore, each team featured in the competition is a winner or comes with a very good record. Although there are certainly mismatches especially in the group stages, no team should be discounted the possibility of beating another.
Types of Champions League Bets
There are a few favorites when it comes to the types of sports bets made on Champions League fixtures, though in theory many US sportsbooks will offer a large selection of betting markets. The Champions League is popular even in America, and is growing in the number of US fans each year.
Thus, all online sportsbooks mobile betting apps in the country will offer bets on this prestigous competition. Some of the most popular bets will not differ much from the types of bets made on other popular leagues like in NFL betting and MLB betting.
- Moneyline/Outcome - This bet is a direct wager on which team will win the game.
- Over/Under Bets - A wager on whether any given statistic will be over (higher) or under (lower) than the sportsbook's given number. Most often made on the total of the final score.
- Handicap - This takes away a certain number of goals from one team (ideally the favored team) or gives additional goals to the other, depending on how you choose.
- Futures Bet - In Champions League betting, these bets are most commonly placed on a team to make it out of the group stages, or to win the entire competition.
With legal online sports betting available in multiple states, players should have no trouble finding a sportsbook with bets on the Champions League. As always, we will display the best odds for individual Champions League fixtures from US sportsbooks at the top of this page.