A new season is nearly upon us and as well as domestic league action returning, there’s also cup competitions to look forward to, with many betting markets across European Leagues now open for early bets.
With that in mind, here at Total Football Analysis, we decided to provide a quick run-down of which competitions you can bet on now, who the early favourites are and our picks for the dark horses in each competition.
Here are the early previews and betting odds for domestic cup competitions in Germany, Spain, France and Scotland…
DFB Pokal Betting Odds
Bayern Munich are of course favourites at this stage having won the competition five out of the last ten seasons. However, they have failed at the last two attempts with RB Leipzig taking the crown last season and Borussia Dortmund winning in 2020/21. Bayern will get you early odds of 15/8.
Naturally, Dortmund are second-favourites at this early stage with odds of 9/2. The Black and Yellows may have lost star man Erling Haaland to Man City, but they have replaced him with Ajax forward Sebastian Haller, who on paper, looks an ideal fit for their side.
2021/22 victors RB Leipzig come in at 10/1 and they have every reason to believe they can repeat that success after a fine showing last season. Bayern Leverkusen also gets you the same price after a strong campaign last time out, finishing third in the table. Our dark horse for the competition though is last season’s runners-up, SC Freiberg who only lost on penalties in the final. If you fancy backing them to go all the way this time, you’ll get huge odds of 50/1.
Copa del Rey Betting Odds
Carlo Ancelotti’s men completed a memorable season last year, winning the Champions League and La Liga, but Real have not had any such luck in the Copa del Rey for almost a decade now. Despite this, they are favourites for this year’s cup at 3/1.
Barcelona are of course second favourites and the Catalonians enjoyed something of a resurgence with club legend Xavi at the helm. They get odds of 7/2 and it’s worth noting they are the most successful Spanish club in the history of this competition with an unprecedented 31 titles to date.
Real’s other bitter rivals Atletico Madrid are next, with odds of 6/1 but much like Los Blancos, they have not had any success in the competition in over a decade. Sevilla are not far behind at 8/1 after a fine season last time out, finishing fourth and securing Champions League football.
Our pick for the outside choice though is Unai Emery’s Villarreal at huge odds of 14/1. His side have a knack of winning when the odds are stacked against them and had a good campaign last year, making it to the Semi-finals of the Champions League and finishing seventh in La Liga.
Coupe de France Betting Odds
Messi, Mbappe and co are strong favourites to lift the Coupe de France this year and for a very good reason with the embarrassment of riches at the Qatar-backed clubs’ disposal. PSG are the record holder in this competition with 14 titles, winning six of the last 10 available. Currently, they are priced at 6/5 to lift the trophy in 2022/23.
Marseille are second-favourites at 7/1 and they enjoyed a resurgent year last season, finishing second in the table. However, despite being second to PSG in the overall standings for the Coupe de France with 10 titles, they have not won it since 1989. Could this be the year they end that long drought?
Lyon are surprise third favourites coming in at 9/1 despite having a poor season last time out, finishing 8th. However, with no European football hampering the squad’s fitness, they could put more into this competition.
Monaco are next, priced at 12/1 after they finished third in the Ligue 1 last season. They last won the competition back in 1991 but did reach the final 30 years later, losing to PSG in 2021. Our outsider’s pick is Nice, who were runners-up last year and also enjoyed a fine League campaign, finishing fifth. They get you huge odds of 16/1.
Scottish Cup Betting Odds
Reigning SPFL champions are the early favourites, which is no surprise considering they have won the competition a record 40 times in its long history. But the last of those came back in 2020 and last year’s semi-final loss to bitter rivals Rangers (who went on to lift the cup) will still be stinging the Hoops. They are priced at 13/8 to exercise that particular ghost this season.
Rangers aren’t too far behind that with the Ger’s getting you odds of 9/4 to repeat last season’s success. They will be hoping another win will close the gap for the all-time record in this competition, with last season’s win meaning they are just six behind Celtic.
Heart’s come in as third favourites at 10/1 after enjoying a fine campaign last time out, finishing third by a comfortable margin. They are followed by Aberdeen at 16/1 who had a blistering start to the season last year but faded away badly in the second half of the season.
Our outsider’s pick though is Hibernian who have three cups to their name, the last of which was back in 2016, but they also reached the final in 2021. While many are still angry at Jack Ross being sacked, the club have appointed Lee Johnson as manager, who has good pedigree at a higher level of football. They’ve also signed veteran winger Aiden McGeady who even at 36, still has the quality to unlock any defence. Hibs are priced at 20/1 at this stage.
