FIFA World Cup Betting Odds, Spreads, & Lines

The FIFA World Cup is a month-long international soccer tournament held every four years with 32 competing nations. For the past 93 years, fans, teams and pundits have regarded it as the most prestigious competition in all of soccer. With soccer holding the distinguished position as the world's most-watched sport, the World Cup reaches billions of people across the globe.

During the three years building up to the World Cup, competing nations partake in a qualification phase to determine which teams qualify for the tournament, while the host nation receives automatic qualification. The next World Cup installment will be held in 2026 throughout 16 cities in three North American countries: Canada, Mexico and the United States.

In today's betting odds guide, we're diving deeper into the FIFA World Cup odds and soccer betting lines. We'll assist bettors in understanding the odds, the most popular betting markets, consensus betting, how to start placing World Cup wagers and some basic soccer betting tips that can be implemented when approaching these widely popular sportsbook markets.

To understand its global reach even further, the most recent 2023 World Cup final received 1.5 billion viewers alone. This global reach doesn't include the tournament's previous rounds. Behind its staggering viewership numbers, it follows a wealth of outside industries offering services, news and involvement – one of which is its sports wagering.

Sports betting sites focus a lot of their attention on World Cup betting odds markets, and even in North America, where the Super Bowl, NBA Finals and World Series often steal the limelight, soccer has received an incredible boost in popularity over the past decade which has forced U.S. betting sites to take note.

As a result, World Cup odds are some of the most approached soccer betting markets, but if you're looking to involve yourself, you must first understand the betting odds.

There are three betting formats when looking at the World Cup odds market:

American odds are arguably the simplest odds format to understand and the most commonly used in North America. They're presented with a baseline value of $100. The betting favorites have a minus symbol (-) before the number, and you win $100 for staking the number displayed, so if the odds are -150, every $150 staked returns a net profit of $100 and your initial stake.

Oppositely, underdogs are labeled with a plus symbol (+) and show you how much is won from a $100 stake. If the odds are +150, every $100 wagered would return a net profit of $150 and your initial stake.

We must stress that $100 is the baseline of how these odds are presented, and they aren't limited to how much you need to stake. For example, if you wager $10 on odds of +150, your net profit would be $15. Or, a $15 wager on odds of -150 would return $10.

Decimal odds present one number, which translates as the number a winning wager would take from a $1 stake. If you find decimal odds of 2.00, a winning bet would return $2 for every $1 staked. Decimal odds between 1.00 and 1.99 are considered favorites, 2.00 is evens, and anything 2.1 or above is classed as an underdog.

Fractional odds display two numbers. The number positioned on the left represents how much is won, while the right-sided number indicates how much you'll need to stake. If you find fractional odds of 1/2, every $2 staked would net $1 of profit. If the number on the right exceeds the left, it'll be considered a favorite. Even odds are displayed as 1/1; an underdog wager example could be 6/1 – every $1 staked returns $6 profit.

Your original stake is always returned alongside the profit gained for winning bets for all odds formats.

As the most commonly approached betting odds format, we've listed an example of American odds work below.:

Once you've got to grips with the various odds formats, you can tackle the extensive World Cup betting markets available. This is one of the world's biggest sporting events, so the plethora of markets available can be daunting for some, but the wide variety is perfect for finding wagers that best suit your handicapping level.

The list of World Cup betting markets is endless, but the most commonly approached include:

As you've probably guessed, World Cup soccer wagers' popularity is increasing due to the sport's worldwide reach. Contrary to popular belief, this includes North American fans and bettors, the days of the USA ignoring soccer is over. The rising popularity of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the USMNT has translated to the sportsbook's soccer betting traffic.

Bettors located may be unsure how to begin wagering on the FIFA World Cup, so we've displayed the step-by-step process below.

World Cup consensus betting can be a great addition to a handicapper's overall wagering strategy, particularly if you're new to soccer betting and aren't confident in your predictions for your selected national team.

Public consensus allows bettors to see what other bettors are wagering on. This information can be used to assist your decision-making. The volume of wagers taken from a sportsbook on any game results in consensus percentages for moneylines, totals and spreads. They additionally give you an insight into how the odds have altered over time. If a bookmaker's opening odds have shifted over time due to public demand, it will be displayed by the consensus percentage.

Consensus example: If 100 people bet on a fixture between USMNT and England and 80 bettors pick USMNT, 15 select England and 5 pick the draw option – the World Cup consensus for this fixture would be USMNT 80%, England 15%, and the tie-game 5%.

Which team has won the World Cup the most number of times?

Brazil has won the World Cup on five separate occasions, more than any other country. Germany and Italy are in a close second with four World Cup trophies each.

What are the biggest rivalries for the World Cup?

The two South American giants, Brazil and Argentina, have historically delivered the most heated rivalry during World Cup competitions.

What is the biggest win in World Cup history?

Spain's 7-0 success over Costa Rica at the 2022 World Cup and Hungary's 9-0 win against South Korea at the 1954 World Cup are two of the most memorable and biggest landslide victories in the competition's history.

How old do I have to be to bet on the World Cup?

The legal age for using a top-rated offshore online sportsbook is 18 or 21 years old – depending on which operator you register with.

Is betting on the FIFA World Cup with an online sportsbook or mobile app safe?

We have reviewed and rated a lot of online sportsbooks and mobile apps that provide World Cup betting markets, and our experts can vouch that they are safe and secure sites. However, we would not recommend using an online sportsbook without doing your research.