This autumn’s innovation in international football, the UEFA Nations League, has been much criticised but according to the betting industry, the competition has been a success.
The competition, which features Europe’s international teams competing in four tiers, with play-offs set for next summer, was designed to replace the existing model of international friendlies, which often attracted minimal interest from fans and sports bettors.
In terms of providing excitement and relevance to the international break, the tournament has been a success. The final round of games last week featured a number of nail-biting finishes, including England’s late comeback to beat Croatia, Scotland’s narrow win over Israel to top their group, and the stirring victory for the Netherlands over Germany.
The increased interest from fans has been mirrored by an upsurge in betting activity, both pre-match and in-game. Speaking about the impact of the tournament, Callum Wilson of Oddschecker said that the level of betting associated with the England game against Croatia was much higher than in England’s recent friendly against the USA. He also indicated that there had been an increase in antepost international football betting as a result of the new competition:
We received a spike in activity on our Nations League outright page following the final whistle of yesterday’s game against Croatia, and the Three lions went into 5/2 to win the Nations League off the back of their dramatic win.”
The Nations League will be concluded in June, when the four Group winners from the top tier of the competition: England, Portugal, Switzerland, and the Netherlands gather in Portugal for a knock-out tournament that will determine the inaugural winner of the Nations League.
Exciting football on laptop image taken from shutterstock.com