Argentina's Lionel Messi and Rodrigo De Paul during the warm up before the match. Reuters/Maria Lysaker See more of our coverage in your search results.
Add The New York Post on Google Soccer fans worldwide will focus on North America when the 2026 World Cup begins on June 11 and concludes with the final on July 19.
48 teams will compete across various venues in the United States, Mexico, and Canada for a shot at winning the elusive Cup championship.
Spain and France enter as overwhelming favorites to win this year’s Cup, with England, Brazil, Portugal, and 2022 winner Argentina forming the top tier of contenders.
If you’re new to betting on soccer and unfamiliar with what a three-way moneyline is, this is the ideal place to start.
Discover how to place bets on the World Cup and find the best sportsbook promotions and offers for this summer’s soccer tournament.
France’s forward #10 Kylian Mbappe controls the ball during the international friendly football match between France and North Ireland. AFP via Getty Images Grasping soccer betting lines may feel daunting initially, yet once you master these markets, you will notice they mirror the familiar structures of NBA, MLB, or NFL betting, to name a few.
While most sports typically provide two moneyline options, soccer stands out by offering three.
Bettors can wager on either team to win, and a draw moneyline is also available. If the match ends in a tie after 90 minutes, the draw payout is awarded.
Take a look at an example of odds for an opening week matchup between the Ivory Coast and Ecuador:
If you’re confident that Ivory Coast will beat Ecuador, you can bet on them with the +250 moneyline odds, but if you think the match will end tied at 1-1 or 2-2, you would instead bet the +190 draw odds.
In most betting markets, a favorite typically carries odds around -185. Soccer is unique, however, because a favorite can sometimes be found at plus money.
In soccer betting, the Goal Line function is comparable to the spread in other sports or to the run line in MLB markets.
This wager represents the expected goal difference and is usually set at a low margin, typically at -1.5 to -3.5. Bettors use this market to wager on whether a specific team will secure a victory by a designated number of goals.
For example, in Qatar vs. Switzerland, the goal line is set at -1.5 for Switzerland.
In this scenario, if Switzerland wins 3-1 and you wagered them -1.5 at -155 odds, your bet is successful, since Qatar lost by more than 1.5 goals.
On the flip side, taking Qatar at +1.5 with +115 odds means your bet cashes if the match ends in a narrow 2-1 defeat to Switzerland, as the margin remains under the 1.5-goal threshold.
The growing options of prediction markets also provide additional opportunities to place trades on the Cup.
Mike Turay is a sports journalist and editor who closely follows the NBA, NFL, college sports and UFC. He has demonstrated expertise in both NBA and NFL player prop bets for nearly three years. Mike is also highly knowledgeable about the sportsbook offer landscape, frequently trying and reviewing the latest apps and sites.
