How to Bet on Obscure Soccer Leagues

Soccer has swiftly become the most popular betting sport, with many customers placing daily wagers on whatever matches happen to be taking place. While competitions such as the Premier League, Champions League and La Liga attract a great deal of interest, there aren’t always available fixtures from these leagues and bettors therefore gravitate towards the more obscure soccer games in search of a value bet.

Finding Value Away from the Premier League

As with any sport, the key to making money is to find the soccer betting markets where the bookmakers are offering value. Soccer can be quite tricky to make money on as the level of information available to the bookmakers continues to grow. It is virtually impossible to have more information on major soccer leagues than the bookies now do, and hence very difficult to find an edge.

It means that, in order to make a profit on soccer betting, the smart bettor sometimes needs to turn their attention to some of the less high-profile soccer leagues to find extra value. While the odds for the English Premier League tend to be spot on, there are many smaller leagues where a bit of research can help provide an edge to the bettor in their soccer pre-event betting.

Can You Beat the Bookmaker?

No matter how many info providers the top New Jersey sportsbooks and top Pennsylvania sportsbooks employ, the bottom line is that they are hired to generate the most profit for that particular firm. Therefore, if 90% of customers are betting on Premier League matches, they need to make sure that the odds are in their favor and liabilities are managed.

It naturally follows that there is less bookmaker focus on some of the other soccer leagues that are covered. Most firms tend to copy each other with their prices for lesser competitions due to the scarcity of information and this is where an edge can come from.

If you happen to have a strong knowledge of a particular soccer league, then you can potentially develop an advantage over a bookmaker. It might be another league in England where you’re a fan of one of the teams involved and therefore have an in-depth understanding of what’s happening.

Alternatively, it might be that you start monitoring the various leagues across Europe or even further afield, getting a handle on what’s happening in a particular division and looking at the latest match odds to see if there’s an advantage that can be exploited. The hard work often pays off if you’re prepared to get your hands dirty and do some research.

Access the Data and Information You Need

A key aspect to this betting strategy is finding reliable sources of information for the league in question. There are numerous soccer websites that will provide free data on virtually every league in the world. You can often drill down and get data related to particular players or even information like Expected Goals and Shots on Target.

It’s important not to spread yourself too thinly in a quest to outfox the bookmaker. The bottom line is that if you end up placing a succession of profitable bets on Swedish soccer, then the bookie in question might start limiting your stake size or change their odds to stop you getting value bets on this league moving forward.

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Home Advantage Can Play a Big Part

If you look at any soccer league table, most teams have accrued more home points than away points. Home advantage is a definite concept and this can be accentuated or decreased depending on a number of factors. Some clubs create a hostile atmosphere at their grounds, while the size and undulations of the pitch can also determine who a team prospers in front of their own fans.

In larger countries, travelling distances between cities can be huge, resulting in long and tiring trips to reach away matches. Issues such as altitude differences within countries can also have a significant impact. As an example, Bloemfontein Celtic in the South African Premier Soccer League has a disproportionately strong home record given their usual league position. The obvious explanation for this is that they play at an elevation of over 4,500ft, giving them a distinctive advantage over visiting sides from the coast.

Team News is Vital for Any League

For many serious bettors, the most important information ahead of a soccer match is team news. Naturally, each team usually has a handful of key players who will have a large bearing on whether the game is won or lost. When key individuals are missing from a team, it therefore reduces the club’s chances of winning the game.

If you can somehow get ahead of the curve when it comes to team news for a particular match or league, then you might be able to bet at a bigger price before the bookmaker gets wind of the latest information and acts accordingly with their odds. It’s often about trying to steal a match and get a value price that you feel might disappear as kick-off approaches.