EURO 2024: We preview Euro 2024 with the best bets on both BETDAQ’s outright and group markets. The action gets underway in Germany on Friday 14 June.
We’re all set for a wonderful summer of football on BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE as Germany hosts Euro 2024! With the last World Cup getting moved to winter because it was hosted in Qatar, it’s been a while since we’ve had a summer of football. This is going to be a cracking tournament, and believe it or not England come into it as the favourites. They have a superb crop of young players – quite possibly the most talented England squad ever – and it’s over to Gareth Southgate to make sure he can get the best out of them. No pressure then!
It’s a pretty fascinating Outright market. At the time of writing, England are favourites at 4.3 – then you have World Cup finalists France at 5.4. After the top two we have Germany (6.8), Portugal (9.2) and Spain (9.7) before there’s a little gap to the rest. Italy (19.5), Netherlands (21.0) and Belgium (22.0) seem to be the only other three that can realistically win – after those eight sides mentioned above, you’re looking at 50.0 or bigger on the rest. The tournament will follow the usually TV format of an opening night, then two or three games a day for most of the month – just the perfect TV viewing!
I’m going to break down the tournament with a Group-by-Group preview before picking my best bets in the Outright market.
GROUP A
Germany, Switzerland, Hungary and Scotland
Germany will be fully expected to top this group, and then it’s quite open for second place. You could even make the case that Germany haven’t been at their best in recently years. They crashed out at the group stage at the World Cup, finished behind Italy and Hungary in their latest Nations League group and obviously didn’t have to qualify for this tournament as they are the hosts. Hansi Flick’s term as manager ended with disaster really; and while confidence seems high in the new manager Julian Nagelsmann (pictured below) it is based of wins in friendlies which we know isn’t worth much.
Germany have had huge issues at the back in recent years, but what you have to say about this group is that the other three sides probably won’t be able to take advantage of that. In my opinion, Germany are definitely a side that you want to take on later in the tournament against better quality opposition. Switzerland have a huge amount of experience, but you have to worry about this squad being past their peak – they could ship a lot of goals. Hungary and Scotland have been huge improvers in recent years – Hungary have had some fantastic results in the Nations League while Scotland gave Spain a good run for their money in qualifying. I’d be happy to be against Switzerland in this group with either Hungary or Scotland going through with Germany.
🟣 LATEST BETDAQ GROUP A BETTING
GROUP B
Spain, Italy, Croatia and Albania
Poor Albania in this group! You could call this the group of death, but obviously we have four third placed sides going through to the Last 16 too in this format. You wouldn’t be surprised if one of those sides came from this group. Spain and Italy are two powerhouses of European football, but they are going through a period of transition. Italy didn’t even make the last World Cup, while Spain exited at the Last 16 stage to Morocco. It’s hard to believe that Italy are defending Champions! Italy have a huge amount of questions coming into this tournament – they also have injuries and their defence players are in poor form on paper. They finished six points behind England in qualifying, probably more worrying is that they were equal on points with Ukraine. They have huge questions to answer.
Croatia failed to top their group in qualifying too finishing behind Turkey. Croatia have definitely been in decline over the last few years, but their midfield keeps on carrying them. Luka Modric is still exceptional! Croatia have an odd record; they’ve never won a knockout at the Euro’s but peak for the World Cup’s! Spain are the favourites to win the group and while they have plenty of nice options going forward, their defending has to be a worry at the top level. After so much success when they went through their golden era, they haven’t had knockout success in four of their last five major tournaments which is quite the stat. This is a fascinating group with questions about all three of the big sides – you wouldn’t be surprised if they all took points off each other.
🟣 LATEST BETDAQ GROUP B BETTING
GROUP C
England, Denmark, Serbia and Slovenia
England will be delighted with their group, and they should have no issues topping it. You could argue that Gareth Southgate has the most talented young squad on his hands going into a major tournament – obviously we did have an era with Beckham, Gerrard, Scholes and Lampard in midfield but that system never worked at the time. Not only does this England side have a huge amount of talent, they also have the experience of going deep into a major tournament now too. The only negative is will Southgate be a little too negative with his tactics given the attacking flare they have in the squad? Usually, it’s good defence that wins major tournaments though.
England beat Denmark in the Euro 2020 Semi-Final, and it’s been pretty much downhill from Denmark since then. Group stage exit at the World Cup was a low point, and while they have been solid in the Nations League and qualifying since, you can see them struggling at the top level. They finished level on points in qualifying with Slovenia. Serbia finished behind Hungary and they have huge issues at the back. Denmark will likely follow England through, but I don’t have a strong opinion on this group outside of England topping it.
🟣 LATEST BETDAQ GROUP C BETTING
GROUP D
France, Netherlands, Austria and Poland
This is a superb group, and we’re going to have a lot of entertainment here. Poland have been in decline recently, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they lost all three games. They had to come through the playoffs to get here after finishing third behind Albania and Czech Republic. That was a really poor performance in qualifying, and they’ve failed to get past in the group stage in six of their last eight major tournament – I think they’ll add to that record here. That leaves the top three, and this is another group situation where you can see them all taking points off each other. France had an exceptionally poor Nations League after the World Cup Final loss; they nearly got relegated but it was Austria that finished with one point less!
As you would expect, they bounced back well to top their qualifying group finishing four points ahead of the Netherlands. All these sides will know each other very well given their recent groups. Netherlands went through a phase of being one of the most entertaining sides in European football but they opted for a very cagey approach at the World Cup – they do have some excellent options at the back in fairness but they lost their attacking flare. They should learn from that and attack more here, but it’s hard to see them living with France. Les Bleus tick absolutely every box coming into the tournament, and they have consistenly delivered on the big stage and Didier Deschamps in charge for a sixth consecutive major tournament is quite rare in International football. They look like a settled squad with immense talent. I’m surprised they aren’t tournament favourites to be honest.
🟣 LATEST BETDAQ GROUP D BETTING
GROUP E
Belgium, Ukraine, Romania and Slovakia
Belgium have been a very popular “dark horse” for tournament winners for a while now. It feels like their golden era has come and gone; to be honest you can question their bottle once they get to the knockout phase. They have been superb in qualifying but always hit the wall under pressure. Their unbeaten record in qualification is 40 which is incredible. Kevin de Bruyne (pictured below) is one of the best players in the world, but their fans have plenty of question marks heading into the tournament. Perhaps there is a little less pressure now we are through their “golden generation!” They’ve been given a very handy group here that they should top, and this should be no dramas.
Ukraine should follow them through but I feel this is more open than the betting which suggest – Ukraine did well to come through the playoffs after finishing behind England and Italy in qualifying. They actually finished on the same amount of points as Italy. Slovakia finished behind Portugal, but they had a pretty weak group outside of CR7 and co. Romania topped their group which has Switzerland in it. To be honest, Belgium should win all three games and then it’s open for second place; I don’t have a strong opinion outside Belgium topping the group.
🟣 LATEST BETDAQ GROUP E BETTING
GROUP F
Portugal, Turkey, Czech Republic and Georgia
We finish the groups with Group F. Everyone will expect Portugal to top this group and while that could easily be the case, Turkey have been playing well recently. They topped a qualifying group ahead of Croatia and Wales. Czech Republic and Georgia are quite limited, so I don’t see any surprises in this group with Portugal and Turkey heading through. Vincenzo Montella has done an excellent job as Turkey manager, but they do lack a solid midfield and up against a rock solid Portugal I feel that will be the difference.
Portugal sailed through qualifying but they did have an easy group with Slovakia their difference challenge. All the media interest is going to be on Ronaldo (pictured below) here, but Portugal have an excellent chance of adding to their Euro 2016 win – they have actually reached the Semi-Final stage in four of the last six Euro tournaments. They are full of confidence having scored the most goals in qualifying and they have been handed a pretty easy draw.
🟣 LATEST BETDAQ GROUP F BETTING
OUTRIGHT MARKET
🟣 LATEST BETDAQ OUTRIGHT BETTING
Now that we’ve gone through the groups, it’s time to look at the Outright market for some value. England come in as tournament favourites – their path to the Final after topping Group C will be third place from Group D/E/F and then they get the winner of Runner Up in Group A or B – on paper, I would suggest that could easily be Italy who we know they are better than. Everything looks built up a France v England Semi-Final on that side of the draw. It’s interesting to see those two being the two market leaders, and I feel France offer a lot of value at 5.4. As I said above, they just tick every box – they look settled, have a lot of exceptionally talented players and the manager leads the side very well.
On the other side of the draw, we have Portugal who look to have an easy draw on paper. They should top Group F quite easily, and then they will face the third place from Group A/B/C – from that they meet the Runner Up from either Group D or E in the Quarter-Finals. That will likely be the Netherlands if I was working out the draw, and I do feel that Spain will be waiting for them in the Semi-Finals.
I feel we’ll see Semi-Finals of Spain v Portugal, and France v England. My Outright bets will be France at 5.4 and Portugal at 9.2. I couldn’t put anyone off Spain at 9.7 or bigger, however I’m going to stick with one side from either side of the draw based on my views on the groups, and I’m happy with France and Portugal.
Additionally, there are plenty of market options available on Betdaq Exchange. One of those markets is “To Reach The Semi-Finals’ and I would be keen to take on Germany in this market. They have had a number of issues coming into the tournament and I’m very keen to be against them. They’ve been handed an easy group as I mentioned above, but I really feel that they are a side to take on as the tournament goes on. I feel if you can lay 2.3 on them reaching the Semi-Finals then that would be a very nice position. Their defence will be exposed at the top level in my opinion.
Recommended Bets:
Two points win France to win Euro 2024 at 5.4 o with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
One point win Portugal to win Euro 2024 at 9.2 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
Three points lay (liability) Germany to reach the Semi-Finals at 2.3 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
