The World-Cup qualification phase is behind us and all the usual suspects capable of winning this mega event, made it to South Africa. Also, all the former World Champions will compete; Uruguay held off a scare from Costa Rica and France eliminated a very unfortunate Irish team due to an incredible hand play by Thierry Henry.

The international football bookmakers rank reigning European Champ Spain together with 5-time winner Brazil as the top of the list with odds around 5.50 (9/2). These two are followed by England (7.50 or 13/2), Argentina (10.00 or 9/1) and Germany at 13.00 (12/1).

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The football bookmakers would currently pay out 14.00 (13/1) for the Netherlands and an always very dangerous Italy. The Top 10 list is completed by France and Portugal with odds around 17.00 (16/1) and the Ivory Coast at 25.00 (24/1).

Behind these 10 top contenders, matters quickly become kind of improbable. While Chile, Serbia, Ghana and Paraguay with sportsbetting odds of around 40.00-60.00 (39/1 – 59/1) might have a very slim chance to win this event, behind these four, there are no less than nine more teams coming it at odds of around 100-to-1, these are: USA, Cameroon, Denmark, Mexico, Nigeria, Australia, Greece, Uruguay and host nation South Africa.

Anyone of these teams winning the FIFA Football World-Cup 2010 would certainly be a major sensation by itself, but if any of “the rest” actually wins it all, then that would rank as one of the most stunning “Cinderella”-victories in sports history for all time. Here the “candidates”:

Switzerland: around 150-to-1
Japan and Slovenia: up to 250-to-1
South Korea, Slovakia and Algeria: 300-to-1
New Zealand, Honduras and North Korea: up to 2000-to-1 (!!)

The FIFA World Cup Final Draw will be held on December 4 in Cape Town (19.00 local time/18.00 CET). Once the draw is complete, some teams winning odds might either go up or down, of course, depending on the group opponents. Especially at World-Cups in the past, there were rather “easy-breezy” groups for the favourites, but also groups containing 4 really strong contenders.

This coming Wednesday and Thursday, the UEFA-Cup will be in every football fans and bookmakers spotlight, not only in the UK. 3 sides from England are still in the tournament with Manchester City, high-flying Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur.

First up will be Aston Villa on Wednesday at 7pm UK-time, when they will take on CSKA Moscow from Russia at Villa Park in Birmingham. On Thursday then, Tottenham Hotspur will have to travel to Shaktar Donetsk and Manchester City will have to face Denmark`s København away in the first-leg.

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Aston Villa against CSKA Moscow:

Highest odds for an Aston Villa win at Unibet with 21/20 (UK) – 2.05 (decimal) – +105 (US odds)
The bookmaker “10Bet” offers the best odds for a draw: 23/10 – 3.33 – +233
The highest sportsbetting odds on a win for Moscow: Sportingbet UK – 3/1 – 4.00 – +300

Shaktar Donetsk against Tottenham Hotspur:

One of the highest bookie odds on a Tottenham victory over Donetzk is offered by “BetInternet” at 9/4 – 3.25 – +225, while a draw should be played with Bet365 at 23/10 – 3.30 – +230. The home win for Shaktar is best bet at PaddyPower (5/4 – 2.25 – +125).

FC Kopenhagen against Manchester City:

Kopenhagen to win against ManCity: 2/1 – 3.00 – +200 at Bet365 Sportsbetting
Any draw between the two teams: 9/4 – 3.25 – +225 at Victor Chandler`s VCBet
Manchester City odds to win the away game: 7/5 – 2.40 – +140 at Expekt International

What are the bookmakers football odds on any of the english teams to win the UEFA-Cup 2009, you ask ? Well, Aston Villa and Manchester City come in as second favourites behind AC Milan (4/1) at around 10/1, while Tottenham is currently offered around 12/1.

Complete UEFA-Cup schedule for Wednesday & Thursday:

Dynamo Kiev vs. FC Valencia
Zenit St. Petersburg vs. Stuttgart
Olympiakos vs. AS Saint Etienne
Aalborg vs. Deportivo La Coruna
Aston Villa vs. CSKA Moscow
Werder Bremen vs. AC Milan
Bordeaux vs. Galatasaray Istanbul
NEC Nijmegen vs. Hamburg
Paris SG vs. Wolfsburg
Sampdoria vs. FC Metalist Kharkiv
Braga vs. Standard Liege
Lech Poznan vs. Udinese
Shakhtar Donetsk vs. Tottenham Hotspur
FC Copenhagen vs. Manchester City
Fiorentina vs. Ajax Amsterdam
Marseille vs. FC Twente Enschede

Should Manchester City advance against Copenhagen, they will face either Aalborg BK from Denmark or RC Deportivo La Coruña of Spain. Tottenham would have to play against either Aston Villa FC or PFC CSKA Moskva in the round of the last 16, while Aston Villa will therefore face the winner of the FC Shakhtar Donetsk – Tottenham Hotspur FC game.

England will face off with one of the worlds toughest opponents on the road when they play their friendly international in Seville against Spain this coming Wednesday (9pm UK time). The current european champion has stellar form, so Fabio Capello and his team are not really favored to win this one, even after winning four out of four in the current qualification stage for the Football World Cup 2010 in South Africa and a 2:1 victory in another friendly in Germany.

Bet on Spain against England – Friendly international game

But, this is a friendly after all, meaning that there is certainly a chance here for the english side to come out ahead in this football game as well.

Current odds on Spain versus England:

Spain to win: 11/10 (UK) – 2.10 (EU) – +110 (US) at Bet365

Draw: 9/4 (UK) – 3.25 (EU) – +225 (US) at PaddyPower

England to win: 11/4 (UK) – 3.75 (EU) – +275 (US) at Sportingbet UK

There are many exciting friendlies scheduled for Wednesday, but two other football games stick out “a little”, with France hosting Argentina and Brasil taking on Italy in London. When placing bets on these games, keep in mind, that these are friendlies. At this time of year, top players and their coaches are strongly needed for the final stretch in their leagues and/or Champions League and UEFA-Cup. So staying healthy through those matches is somewhat more important to them than fighting it out for that last-minute victory goal.

In games with two powerful football teams reluctant to lose against another “Tier 1″ opponent, usually the draw offers good value in betting, as well as the “under 2.5 goals”-bet.

From February 7 until March 9, the rugby world will again focus on the annual 6 Nations Championship Tournament in which England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Italy and France will battle it out for the tournament win. Wales won the 2008 “Six Nations” with a Grand Slam. Before that France won in 2006 and 2007. This years favourite to win it is again Wales with odds around 9/4 (3.25), followed by France around 3/1 (4.00), Ireland 7/2 (4.50) and England around 4/1 (5.00).

Scotland and Italy are heavy underdogs with Scotland around 15/1 (16.00) and Italy coming in with odds above 100/1. That is no wonder, Scotland`s last win of the 6 Nations dates back to 1999, the last year before Italy joined the what was then the “5 Nations Championship”. Italy itself managed to win only a total of 6 games so far in 45 matches, last year was the first tournament with 2 wins for the Italian side.

Best bookmakers to bet on the 6 Nations Rugby Championship Tournament:

RBS Six Nations Fixtures:

Sat 7th February: England vs. Italy and Ireland vs. France
Sun 8th February: Scotland vs. Wales
Sat 14th February: France vs. Scotland and Wales vs. England
Sun 15th February: Italy vs. Ireland
Fri 27th February: France vs. Wales
Sat 28th February: Scotland vs. Italy and Ireland vs. England
Sat 14th March: Italy vs. Wales and Scotland vs. Ireland
Sun 15th March: England vs. France
Sat 21st March: Italy vs. France, England vs. Scotland and Wales vs. Ireland

Today in Nyon, Switzerland the first knockout round in this years Champions League was drawn and as always, there are some really classic football clashes coming up in the round of the last 16 survivors. For example, ALL three Italian teams have been drawn against english sides ! Chelsea will take on Juventus Turin, it`s AS Rome against Arsenal London and finally there`s a real heavyweight fight between Inter Milan and reigning champion Manchester United !

FC Liverpool as the fourth English team also has quite a challenge coming up with opponent Real Madrid from Spain. Also Villareal will take on the Greeks of Panathinaikos Athens, Sporting Lisbon and Bayern Munich will battle it out, it`s Spain against neighbor Portugal in the match Atlético Madrid against FC Porto and Olympique Lyon from France will go for a stunning upset against FC Barcelona.

All the matchups in the round of the last 16:

Chelsea FC (England) against Juventus (Italy)
Villarreal CF (Spain) vs Panathinaikos FC (Greece)
Sporting Lisbon (Portugal) vs Bayern Munich (Germany)
Club Atlético de Madrid (Spain) vs FC Porto (Portugal)
Olympique Lyonnais (France) vs FC Barcelona (Spain)
Real Madrid CF (Spain) vs Liverpool FC (England)
Arsenal FC (England) against AS Roma (Italy)
FC Internazionale Milano (Italy) vs Manchester United FC (England)

The games will be played on February 24/25 and March 10/11. The 8 group winners will have the little advantage to host the second game at home.

Ladbrokes as one of the leading UK football bookmakers currently favors FC Barcelona to win it all at 7/2, Chelsea and ManU are tied at second with 5/1, Inter Milan is 8/1, while FC Liverpool is offered at 10/1. Here are all the odds on winning the Champions League in 2009: