With the week’s Champions League round of matches complete, the Europa League takes center stage on Thursday, featuring 16 matches across the continent, while the Europa Conference League features another 16 games.
It’s a mish-mash of ‘Big 5’ league teams traveling to face off against lesser-known clubs in Europe’s great equalizer.
Betting the Europa League can sometimes be a Wild West of sorts, as it features matches with significant travel across Europe and between teams from leagues that are often difficult to compare and adequately judge. Therefore, we must rely on trends, common opponents, and recent form much more.
Join the European adventure as The Sporting News brings you today’s best bets from across the continental action.
MORE: Sporting News soccer betting guide
Olympiacos vs. Qarabag
- Best Bet: Qarabag to win & both teams to score
- Odds: +650
- Prediction (Win/Draw): Qarabag
Qarabag blitzed their way through the Champions League qualifiers before being downed by Viktoria Plzen in the playoff round by a single goal on aggregate.
They were exceptional on the road in the process, winning three of their five (including a 5-1 romp at notoriously hostile Lech Poznan) plus a draw and a loss, which came at Plzen. Guess what happened in all five matches? Both teams scored.
So far in the Europa League, they’ve thumped a relegation-threatened Nantes and fell by a goal at Bundesliga second-place side Freiburg. Back them to get a result at a struggling Olympiacos who have lost three of five but still manage to score goals. — Kyle Bonn
| Best Bet | Caesars (USA) |
Sports Interaction (Canada) |
|---|---|---|
| Qarabag to win & BTTS | +650 | 5.32 |
Red Star Belgrade vs. Ferencvaros
- Best Bet: Ferencvaros to win
- Odds: +300
- Prediction (Win/Draw): Ferencvaros
Defending Hungarian champions Ferencvaros have been plucky this season on the road in European play, making it through the first few rounds of Champions League qualification before falling to Qarabag.
In the Europa League group stage, they’ve engineered wins over Monaco and Trabzonspor, with the former coming on the road in France, while the latter came via a 3-2 result that saw Ferencvaros strike three times despite holding just 24 percent possession.
On the flip side, Red Star Belgrade lost to both Monaco and Trabzonspor, and have skated in domestic play by with slim-margin results against the better Serbian sides. Take the visitors who are heavy underdogs likely in part due to Red Star’s name recognition. — Kyle Bonn
| Best Bet | Caesars (USA) |
Sports Interaction (Canada) |
|---|---|---|
| Ferencvaros to win | +300 | 3.97 |
Yesterday’s picks
Kyle saw value in AC Milan as heavy underdogs against a struggling Chelsea side, but Graham Potter came out big 3-0 winners to dash dreams of a big hitter. However, Real Madrid and Shakhtar Donestk rode a scoreless second half to hit the under 3.5 goals as Los Blancos clung to a narrow 2-1 victory.
Simon felt Maccabi Haifa could hang with Juventus for at least a half, and he was almost right, but Adrien Rabiot’s 35th minute goal dashed the first-half double chance bet. Still, RB Leipzig hit the over themselves in a 3-1 victory over Celtic at home to give Simon a split as well.
| Best Bets | ✔️ or ❌ |
|---|---|
| AC Milan to win vs. Chelsea (Bonn, +390) |
❌ |
| Real Madrid vs. Shakhtar Under 3.5 goals (Bonn, -125) |
✔️ |
| Maccabi Haifa win OR draw 1H vs. Juventus (Borg, -101) |
❌ |
| RB Leipzig win vs. Celtic & Over 2.5 goals (Borg, +106) |
✔️ |
Soccer best bets records
Records below compiled since the first edition of this post on Monday, October 3.
| Kyle Bonn | Simon Borg | |
|---|---|---|
| Best Bets (Won-Lost-Push) |
50% (3-3-0) |
17% (1-5-0) |
| Total Units (+ Won / – Lost) |
+1.87 | -3.94 |
| Match Predictions (Correct picks) |
66% (4 of 6) |
66% (4 of 6) |
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