Ante post football betting guide, strategy and World Cup 2026 odds
What is ante post betting?
Originating from horse racing (literally meaning ‘before the post’, as in the starting post at a racetrack), ante post betting refers to any bet placed in advance of the actual event happening, rather than on the day.
Typically, though, it is used to refer to an event happening a considerable amount of time in the future, at least several weeks, if not months or even years away.
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Also known as futures betting, or outright betting (if about the overall winner of a tournament as opposed to just one specific match) it is a popular genre of betting because it allows for some enticing and lucrative odds to be offered.
Bookies usually offer ante post odds for all major tournaments as soon as the previous edition of the tournament has finished, although for some events it may be harder to find odds available far in advance.
When taking on an ante post bet, you need to consider that you are betting with limited information about the context of the sporting event as you know less about form, fitness or any additional factors that may come into play by the time of the event.
However, the same is true of the bookmakers, so their odds tend to be longer and more attractive.
Pros and cons of ante post betting
| Pros | Cons |
| Longer odds. When betting far in advance of a tournament, the bookies tend to offer much more lucrative odds as they are not so sure of the outcome themselves. Even when betting on one of the favourites you could get some tantalising odds. | Bigger risk than usual. No matter how much you know your football, there are so many factors that could happen between now and a match in six months' time, or a tournament in two summers’ time. |
| Keeps you interested. Bet on the winner of the Premier League season in the summer, and you’ll be fully invested in the outcome of your bet all the way through until May of the following year. That’s if your chosen club is still in the running. | Form fluctuates, injuries and suspensions happen, managers get sacked and replaced - opposition sides strengthen. It’s much harder to call a winner far in advance. |
| It favours intelligent bettors. If you’re clued up on your football, and have assessed a team’s summer signings of acquisition of a new manager accurately, you might notice a good ante post bet on them before other punters, or the bookies’ themselves have joined the rush and adjusted odds. Therefore you’ll get more favourable odds for being ahead of the curve. | No return for a long time. Even if you’re right, you won’t get your stake and winnings returned to you until the event happens. This favours making smaller bets as you might not want to give up a big sum of money with no chance of it returning for months, or years. |
Ante post betting opportunities
You can identify the best betting opportunities for ante post bets by keeping across key information on players, teams, managers and decisions from organisations lik
Pay attention to the sport and you’ll spot players and managers on the up, or on the way down.
You’ll notice clubs in turmoil, or on an upwards curve. Identify these trends early and you’ll get good odds with the bookies about their future performances.
Ante post handicaps
Ante post handicap bets are when your odds are different because you apply a fictional handicap to the club you are betting on.
For example, in France’s Ligue 1, you won’t get good outright odds on PSG winning the league. But PSG to win with a handicap of -12 points might be worth betting on.
Spread betting
Spread betting is offered by betting exchange bookmakers only. You either ‘buy’ or ‘sell’ in relation to what the bookies have predicted.
For more information on this check out the ‘spread betting’ section on our In-play betting strategies guide.
Popular ante post football markets
Tournament outrights
The standard ante post football bet would be picking the overall winner of a competition, whether that be the Premier League, Champions League, World Cup or something lower profile.
You can usually do this a fair while before the season starts, at the very start of the campaign, or even part way through it.
If you go for the latter, the odds will likely be shorter for the favourites as more information will be available on how the competition is taking shape.
Relegation
For domestic leagues such as the Premier League, Serie A, La Liga and Ligue 1, the worst teams in the competition are relegated to the division below at the end of the season.
You could get some lucrative odds if you pick a bigger, established top-flight club to be relegated at the start of the season and they end up having a terrible campaign and go down.
Top scorers
Picking the individual player who will score the most goals in a competition is a fun market with often lots of contenders at the start of the season.
If you spot a new signing with bags of potential or a young forward who is improving, you could get great odds on them winning a golden boot come the end of the year.
Player of the tournament/season
Potentially the hardest outright market to bet on, given the number of potential contenders at the start of a competition, this could result in a huge win if you nail the bet.
Popular ante post football competitions
Premier League
The most popular football competition in the world remains England’s top flight and it has form for throwing up unpredictable winners.
In 2024/25, most pundits expected a two-horse race between Manchester City and Arsenal.
Liverpool were third favourites at odds of 13/2, but ended up winning it comfortably. Much more incredibly though, the famous 2015/16 season saw Leicester, 17th the previous season, win the title having been available at odds of 5000/1 before the season kicked off.
Since then the bookies are never quite as generous with outright odds at the beginning of the campaign as the Foxes proved that any club could genuinely win it. For 2025/26, Sunderland are at the longest odds of 2500/1.
Other ante-post Premier League markets, which you can make via your football betting slip both online and in-shop, include top-four finish, relegation and top goalscorer.
Champions League
Also difficult to predict, the Champions League throws 36 of Europe’s best clubs into one competition.
In recent years PSG and Manchester City have won the trophy for the first time in their clubs’ histories. Real Madrid have won it the most times - 15.
World Cup
The four-year nature of the World Cup cycle means you can often bet on it literally four years in advance - although that would be a brave move as some of the players who end up playing in it could be school boys at the time you place your bet, with some current stars potentially retired!
But narratives change quickly once the tournaments get going, so if you have good insight on a national team, placing a bet a few weeks or months before it kicks off could offer good odds.
Serie A
Italy’s top flight is typically competitive with four different clubs winning it in the last six seasons. The league does have a history of match-fixing scandals though, with record champions Juventus infamously relegated after the Calciopoli scandal in 2006 and stripped of two league titles.
La Liga
The Spanish league tends to be won by either Barcelona, Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid. But the market for top-four finishes could be interesting with lots of different sides joining the ‘big three’ in recent years.
Bundesliga
Bayern Munich have dominated this competition in recent years, but Bayer Leverkusen shocked them in 2023/24, and were available at 50/1 odds to claim the title at the start of that season. You’ll rarely get good odds on the Bavarians winning it though.
Ligue 1
With Paris Saint-Germain winning this league most seasons, you might be best focusing on the relegation or top-three finish markets if looking at France. With Kylian Mbappe having left the league, the top scorer market could also be a good, competitive one.
Club World Cup
This new competition is being held every four years, and with little history or certainty over how certain clubs will approach it, there are bound to be some value outright bets to make for a smart bettor.
Europa League
The second tier European international club competition can be a fun one to bet on as some top teams are often involved alongside much smaller clubs.
This writer’s best ever ante post bet came in 2010/11 when he identified upcoming manager Andre Villas-Boas and exciting striker Radamel Falcao as ones to watch at Porto, and bet on them in August to win the competition at odds of 33/1.
Come the following May, the Portuguese side beat Braga 1-0 with Falcao netting the winner in Dublin to lift the trophy.
World Cup 2026 ante post odds
Betting on the World Cup in advance is a popular market. As of June 2025, the odds for World Cup 2026 with Coral, one of the best UK bookmakers, are:
| Nation | Odds |
| Spain | 11/2 |
| France | 13/2 |
| England | 13/2 |
| Brazil | 7/1 |
| Argentina | 8/1 |
| Germany | 9/1 |
| Portugal | 14/1 |
| Netherlands | 20/1 |
| Italy | 25/1 |
| Uruguay | 25/1 |
| USA | 33/1 |
| Colombia | 33/1 |
| Belgium | 40/1 |
| Mexico | 50/1 |
| Croatia | 66/1 |
| Morocco | 66/1 |
| Switzerland | 66/1 |
Other big ante post betting sports
Ante post betting is popular in horse racing, on events such as the Grand National or Epsom Derby, which are usually available a year in advance.
It is also popular in golf betting, with the majors all available to bet on well in advance. It also suits tennis with the four annual grand slams to bet on in advance too.
So if you spot some value or have some inside info - these are a great shout to find the edge in the markets.
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