On Friday, after a year of waiting, the 2020 European Championship football tournament will
get underway. 24 teams from across Europe will battle it out in the initial group phase, with 16 teams moving on to the knockout phase of the tournament.
READ: Looking for the latest info on the 2022 UEFA Semi finals? Click here.
The action starts on Friday evening with Italy facing Turkey in Rome and the Italians are just one of a number of teams that have been strongly fancied by punters over the last few weeks to win the competition outright.
So, the next month or so is going to be very much a Euro 2020-focused series of articles, with a variety of tips for the tournament coming up over the coming weeks. Later this week, we will have a full preview of the Group Stage of the tournament. This will not only give you a detailed analysis of each of the six groups, but our tips for the winner of each and how we see the first set of games going.
However, in this article, we are going to focus on the popular pre-tournament bets, particularly those that most commonly appeal to punters, namely:
As always, if you are looking for somewhere to bet on these markets, then bet365 Sport is a great place to start as the site offers extensive betting on all these markets, as well as many more pre-tournament bets. Plus not only that, but when the tournament kicks off you will have extensive match betting and In Play betting on all the games.
Don’t worry if you are based in the United States as BetRivers Sportsbook offers an excellent range of bets for US-based customers, which will cover the tournament in great detail.
Let’s now go through each of the main markets below and give you some of the top bets available in each, before we give you our tip for that Euro 2020 outright market.
Picking the two teams to reach the final is never easy but it is generally rare that a country outside the shorter-priced teams makes it through to the final. That means the likes of France, Spain, Germany, Italy, England, Belgium, Portugal and the Netherlands are the teams that are probably going to be in the mix for a final spot.
Looking at the group stage and how the tournament shapes up, if England can reach the quarterfinals and win away from home, then they would have the semifinals and final at Wembley. France though are World Cup holders and Belgium are the top ranked nation in the world.
However, Italy are flying under the radar somewhat and I think they have the ability to get a result against any team in this tournament and as such, I’d back Italy to reach the final at odds of 9/2 and I think either England or France, who are both 13/5, are the likeliest opponents for the Italians.
Looking at the odds for the outright winner market, which is always a very popular bet with punters. You can see that World Cup holders France lead the way, just ahead of England and Belgium with Germany, Spain, Portugal and Italy all close behind. We then see a drift in odds to the Netherlands at 14/1 with Denmark 25/1, Croatia 33/1 and then the rest are 50/1 or longer odds.
In my view, only eight teams can win this tournament, which is the above teams minus Denmark and Croatia.
As I have already indicated, I fancy Italy to reach the final quite strongly and who wins it would depend on who they face. If it is France, then I think the Italians may have a chance of winning the trophy. However, if it is England at Wembley, then it could be a tough game for Italy, given England would be playing the final at home.
However, my gut feeling is it will be France v Italy in the final and as such, I am backing the Italians to land the win here at 8/1.
Given that Euro 2020 teams will play seven games if they reach the final of the tournament (3 group stages games, Round of 16, Quarterfinal, Semifinal and Final) there is a chance for one of the finalists, or even the semifinalists, to have the top scorer.
As I have indicated Italy, France and England as potential semifinalists, I also feel that looking at the draw either Belgium or the Netherlands could also get this far. I’d be more confident about Belgium if Kevin de Bruyne had not picked up a very nasty injury in the Champions League final and Eden Hazard was anywhere near full fitness.
As such, my feeling here is that the leading goalscorer will come from this group of teams and I also feel the team with the easiest path through the group stage will help someone be the top goalscorer and for me, that looks like being Harry Kane of England, who will play all three of their group games at Wembley against opponents that they should beat.
If Kane can add to those goals in the latter rounds, then I think he is a good shout for this market at 11/2 with bet365.
There are so many outstanding players in this tournament that picking who will be the top
player is a very difficult task. Obviously, if Harry Kane does finish as top goalscorer, then he would be a contender here, while Kylian Mbappe, the brilliant young French striker is the 8/1 favourite at the moment.
You also have Belgian duo Kevin De Bruye and Eden Hazard, not to mention Romelu Lukaku, Antoine Griezmann, who won the award in 2016, cannot be discounted, nor can the veteran Cristiano Ronaldo who is still in great form for Portugal. N’Golo Kante has been in incredible form for Chelsea, while Ruben Dias was footballer of the year in England.
Others to consider include Paul Pogba, Joshua Kimmich, Karim Benzema, Thiago, Bruno Fernandes, Robert Lewandowski, Ciro Immobile and Luka Modric.
For me though, with the winner of this prize always being involved in the final, that means to me an England, France or Italian player and from that group, I would probably back Mbappe to win it if France reach the final, however if they don’t then I think Ciro Immobile at 50/1 for Italy is a great call.
There are going to be some outstanding players in for this award. I think Jude Bellingham of England could be in contention, as will Phil Foden. If he plays enough, you could also add Jadon Sancho to that list.
There’s also Kylian Mbappe of France who despite winning the World Cup a few years back is still just 22 years of age although he may more likely be a contender for the player of the tournament award we looked at above.
Others to consider include Mattias De Ligt, Kai Havertz, Joao Felix, Pedro Gonzalez, Mason Mount and Declan Rice.
However, I think Jude Bellingham is a special talent and as such, I would back him to win the coveted title here at odds of 25/1.
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