2022 World Cup Group Betting Guide: Different Ways To Bet On The Groups

With the imminent World Cup in Qatar set to provide masses of thrills and spills, here at BettingOdds.com we continue to point you in the right direction of finding different things to bet on ahead of the 2022 tournament, which gets under way on November 20.
This time we focus our attentions on the Group Betting and what markets are available for you to bet on before and during the world showpiece...
Group Winners
32 nations in eight groups of four is the make-up of the 2022 World Cup and the top two will qualify from each group to the last-16, where the tournament becomes a knockout competition.
All eyes will be on the likes of current favourites Brazil, fellow South American heavyweights Argentina, France and even England, who are bidding for a first win in the event since 1966, and all four of those nations are sure to be hot favourites in their own groups for the World Cup.
Facing Iran, Wales and the USA, England appear to have a relatively straightforward task when trying to qualify from Group B and Gareth Southgate's men are red-hot 4/11 favourites to top the group, and they are the shortest priced group winner amongst the eight groups.
The likes of Brazil (4/9 to win Group G) and France (2/5 to win Group D) are equally as short and many punters will likely place a possible accumulator bet with all the fancied contenders from each group.
If you were to back the aforementioned treble of England, Brazil and France to top their respective groups at those advised prices then a £10 treble with William Hill would return £27.42. So, while it's highly likely that trio will finish in first place you are getting a little more than 6/4 for the triumvirate to grab top spot.
Straight and Dual Forecast
It's certainly worth looking down other avenues when it comes to Group Betting, and you can not only bet on the group winner, but you can also have a flutter on who finishes second or third in the group, while for those not fancying a nation could back them to finish bottom of the group.
Group E is arguably the most fascinating group of the World Cup as former winners of the tournament Spain and Germany lock horns with the relative minnows of Japan and Costa Rica, and the bookmakers are struggling to split the pair in the betting, with Spain slight favourites.
With the duo being so close in the betting, then this could be an option to place a Straight Forecast, where you back the team to finish 1st and 2nd. If you really fancy Spain to top the group and Germany to finish second then, at the time of writing, you are able to get 6/4 about that.
With Spain a shade of odds-on at 10/11 and Germany 11/10 in the outright group betting, with the other two nations available at double-figured odds then the straight forecast makes much more appeal for those that fancy the Spaniards to top Group E.
Alternatively, you can place a Dual Forecast bet on a group where predict the 1st and 2nd placed finishers in any order. For example, England and Wales to qualify together from Group B at a best-priced 13/8 with SpreadEx, who are offering £100 in free bets up for grabs for new customers.
To Qualify Market
There are more competitive groups in the early stages and Group H is one of the most intriguing ones as Portugal sit as odds-on favourites to top the table, but the outsiders of the four nations are Ghana and South Korea, who are only an 11/1 to finish first, so it looks hugely competitive with Uruguay the other nation lining up.
One other market punters can play is the To Qualify market and it doesn't matter if your selection finishes first or second, as providing they grab a qualification spot you will be paid out as a winner.
So, if you fancy South Korea or Ghana to cause an upset and grab a top-two spot then you can lap up the 11/4 available with the bookmakers for them to qualify in either first or second position.
The Group betting is fascinating as you can play it many different ways from outright group winner accumulators to straight forecast to betting on teams to not qualify, so make sure you look at the Group Betting on BettingOdds.com to see the latest odds.