World Cup 2010 Odds – who will win ? England, Spain, Germany..?

Football Betting Odds on the 2010 WorldCup in Southafrica

For the first time ever will the FIFA World Cup be held on the African continent, in South Africa to be precise. Already an applicant in 2006, South Africa was then beaten very narrowly by Germany. It came as no wonder, that for the 2010 tournament, South Africa would be a huge favourite to host the tournament. It is however still somewhat doubtful, if South Africa will actually manage to be ready on time. FIFA officials are often hinting at the possibility, that 2 other host countries would be standing by to host the World-Cup 2010 on rather short notice. It is widely speculated, that these countries could be two of the following: Australia, the USA, Italy or Spain.

Betting on the World Cup 2010 will no doubt be enormous, as it always is for this mega football event. The best international sportsbooks and bookmakers already offer odds on the qualification rounds in Europe, South America, Africa, North America, Asia and Oceania.

Current favourites to reach the World Cup are the usual suspects: From South America Argentina and Brazil are always on top of the pile, while the only other possible champions come from Europe. There the usual betting favourites are 4-time champions Italy, 3-time title holder Germany, the winner of 1998 France, the current European Champion Spain or the always strong sides of Portugal, the Netherlands and England.

It would certainly be a huge sensation and surprise, should the World Cup winner 2010 NOT be coming from either the South American or the European group. Current longterm odds offered by the football bookmakers are as follows: Brazil and Argentina between 6.00 and 7.00 – Germany, Italy and Spain around 10.00 – Netherlands, England and France around 13.00 – Portugal and Russia around 18.00 – the first African teams like Nigeria, Cameroon and the Ivory Coast clock in at between 40.00 and 60.00 !

Previous World Cup Finals and Winners:

2006 in Germany: Italy – France 5:3 after penalty shootout
2002 in Japan + South Korea: Brazil – Germany 2:0
1998 in France: France – Brazil 3:0
1994 in USA: Brazil – Italy 3:2 after penalty shootout
1990 in Italy: Germany – Argentina 1:0
1986 in Mexico: Argentina – Germany 3:2
1982 in Spain: Italy – Germany 3:1
1978 in Argentina: Argentina – Netherlands 3:1 after extra time
1974 in Germany: Germany – Holland 2:1
1970 in Mexico: Brazil – Italy 4:1
1966 in England: England – Germany 4:2 after extra time
1962 in Chile: Brazil – Czechoslovakia 3:1
1958 in Sweden: Brazil – Sweden 5:2
1954 in Switzerland: Germany – Hungary 3:2
1950 in Brazil: Uruguay – Brazil 2:1
1938 in France: Italy – Hungary 4:2
1934 in Italy: Italy – Czechoslovakia 2:1 after extra time
1930 in Uruguay: Uruguay – Argentina 4:2

Brazil therefore is the most successful team with 5 World Cups, followed by Italy with 4 wins and Germany with 3 titels. In 6 out of 18 tournaments did the home team manage to win it all. Only twice did the home team reach the final and did not win, Brazil lost to Uruguay in 1950 and 8 years later Sweden managed to reach the final, but was without any real chance in a 2:5 defeat against the Brazilian team.

Even more painful must it be to reach the final twice and lose both games, that happened so far to what is now the Czech Republic (1934 and 1962), the Netherlands (1974 and 1978) and Hungary (1938 and 1954).

The World Cup 2014 has been awarded to Brazil. No doubt will their team be the biggest favourite then to win another World Championship title. The football bookmakers worldwide therefore will hope (and maybe pray) for a huge upset by one of the European teams like Spain, Italy, Germany, England, France or Portugal.