Football Terms Explained

A bet on the football can be as easy as you make it. However, there are certainly a few terms that pop up that you may be unfamiliar with, indeed. Fear not, though, as we have compiled a complete list of terms and phrases that may appear.

Acca

An acca, also known as an accumulator, is one of the most popular terms in football betting. It simply refers to a multiple bet, normally with more than three selections. However, a two/three team acca is also possible (commonly referred to as doubles and trebles).

Asian Handicap

This is certainly a more unknown term. However, it refers to when a team is given a disadvantage in the game, but with better odds. So, you may have Manchester City to win with a -1 Asian Handicap. For your bet to win, the team would have to win by a two-goal margin, as they start the game at -1.

Assist

Simply a term about who touched the ball last before a goal is scored; the players must be part of the same team.

American Odds

Commonly, odds will be in decimal or fractional form. However, some choose to use American odds. All this means is rather than having a multiplier, you have your winnings laid out from a $100 bet, or whichever currency you use.

When the number is negative, such as -100 in American odds, this is the amount that needs to be staked in order to achieve $100 profit. When the number is positive, such as +100, this is the profit that would be achieved in the event of a $100 bet.

Anytime Goalscorer

If you back someone to score in the game, it is most commonly an 'Anytime Goalscorer' bet, which means there is no pressure whether the player scores the first or 15th goal.

Bet Builder

This is the most popular type of football bet on one fixture. In a big fixture, you may pick a number of selections in the same game, or even multiple games now, and this is referred to as a Bet Builder. There are many impressive bet builder tools available these days, hence the popularity.

Booking Points

Some bookmakers prefer to offer booking points, rather than specific cards given. Yellow cards equate to 10 booking points per card, whilst a red card is normally worth 25. Should a player be sent off for two bookings, this equals 35 points.

Both Teams to Score (BTTS)

Another common bet is BTTS, which is short for both teams to score. As the name suggests, your bet is paid out as a winner of both teams in the game end up scoring.

Cards

In a game, you can bet on the referee to give out cards to teams or even specific players. For example, you might say a game will have over 2.5 cards and N'Golo Kante to be booked in the game.

Cash Out

At different stages of a bet, you may be offered a cash-out. This can be when the bet is doing well or badly. This means you may get less than your stake, or if the bet looks likely to come in, the cash-out value may be close to the maximum payout.

Corners

Put simply, this is a bet on the number of corners in the game, in total or for one team.

Correct Score

This is a bet on predicting the score of a fixture, a very simple idea, but not easy to get right. In fact, there are now many free-to-play games on betting sites that take advantage of this, such as Super Six.

Double

A double is when you have two selections in one bet, with combined odds. For the bet to win, both selections must win.

Double Chance

Normally, you will bet on a team to win. However, double chance offers double the chance for a winner. For example, you may back Real Madrid or Barcelona to win, or even Barcelona to win or the result to be a draw.

Draw No Bet

This is similar to double chance, betting on the full-time result with a twist. Albeit at lower odds, you can back either team to win, but if the game ends in a draw, your bet will be void and your stake returned, at least on a single.

Each Way

This term was explained in our horse racing terms guide as well, seeing as it is more common for the sport of kings. However, it is bound to become more popular for football as well thanks to each-way first goalscorers, and each-way league finishes.

In essence, when placing an each-way bet, you are actually placing two bets at once: one for the selection to win, one for the selection to place. For each-way first goalscorer, that would be to score first or to score at any time.

It is important to keep in mind that the stake you enter is doubled if you choose to tick the E/W box, since you are actually placing two bets. The place part of the bet, as you might have guessed already, doesn't pay out as much as the original odds (usually 1/4 or 1/5 of that).

Evens

When a selection is priced at 1/1 or 2.00, it is referred to as evens (for even money). Most of the time, bookmaker superboosts are priced at this point.

First Corner

A bet on which team will get the first corner of the game. Not the most common bet ever, though.

First Goalscorer

As opposed to anytime goalscorer, this is where you bet on a certain player to score the first goal of a game, full stop, not for their specific team.

Free Bets

One of the most common wishes for punters is free bets; luckily, we have compiled a list of our favourite free bets already.

Full Time Result

The most common football bet is the full-time result. As you could have guessed, this means picking the outcome of a game in 90 minutes.

Half Time Score

Like a correct score bet, this is betting on the result at half time.

Handicaps

This is a great way to raise odds, and it makes it so that one team is given a handicap. Manchester City may have a lesser starting amount than Manchester United, hypothetically. Alternatively, Manchester United may start with a hypothetical two goal lead.

Half Time/Full Time Result

A bet referring to the half-time and full-time result of a game. For example, Draw HT, Liverpool FT.

In-Play

In-Play betting involves fixtures already in action when you are browsing the markets. Higher odds may be available as a result.

Outrights

A term referring to the outright winner of a certain market in a competition or tournament. You may place an outright bet on PSG to win the Champions League next season, for example, or even Mo Salah to be Premier League top goalscorer.

Over/Under

A simple term normally seen on corners, goals and card markets. For example, a game may have under 3.5 goals, over 6.5 corners and over 1.5 cards. Commonly, the markets are done in .5 decimals.

Team To Go Through / Lift the Trophy

A common bet in tournament football, mainly to have less risk when backing a team. Perhaps you think AC Milan will go through in a tournament, but you are unsure if they will do so after 90 minutes, extra-time or penalties. As such, the bet covers all of these.

Win to Nil

A method of score betting where you bet on a team to win without conceding a goal.

Win Either Half

A bet where you predict a team to win either half, regardless of the scoreline. For example, a team could lose the game, but win the first half 1-0.

Scorecast

Similar to a bet builder in some sense, you may pick a scoreline and a player to score, rather than just picking one or the other. Certainly a difficult bet to get right, but if you get both right, you can win some nice money.

Stake

The amount of money placed/staked on a bet.

Win from Behind

A bet where you predict a team to win from being in a losing position. Maybe a team is better with comebacks, and so you may believe they will win, despite them probably conceding first.

Football Terms Explained