How to profit from the weekend’s one-sided World Cup qualifiers

Fifa World Cup qualifying matches in Europe this weekend are pretty lopsided contests. The most extreme example is Croatia versus Gibraltar, which has comparative odds of 1.01 and 80.00!

Internationals can throw up shock results, but a realistic look at most of the fixtures suggests they are unlikely to bring much joy to bookmakers.

Rational punters will side with the favourites and curb expectations of big payouts. This means opting for accumulator bets – aka parlays or Multi Bets – with a number of legs at relatively short odds.

One of the stories of the current qualification round is a genuine scare over footballing giants Italy making it to the 2026 World Cup finals in the US. On the face of it, they look unlikely to win their group to qualify automatically and will probably have to go to a highly risky playoff round.

Group C is shrouded in further uncertainty due to protests over Israel’s participation in upcoming matches – against Norway on Saturday and Italy on Tuesday.

Despite all the headlines, avoiding this group for the time being will simplify betting life.

Weekend matches with favourites that appear to be “safe” inclusions in a Multi Bet (eliminate from the bottom according to risk appetite):

Netherlands (1.13) vs Finland (21.00)
Portugal (1.15) vs Ireland (20.00)
Spain (1.14) vs Georgia (19.00)
Scotland (1.24) vs Belarus (12.00)
Bulgaria (11.00) vs Turkey (1.51)
Hungary (1.35) vs Armenia (9.00)
Faroe Islands (9.00) vs Czechia (1.35)
Latvia (1.54) vs Andorra (7.60)
Serbia (1.71) vs Albania (5.40)

Combining some of these “sure things” with popular bet options like both teams to score (yes/no) and total goals scored (over/under) can build a Multi Bet of fair value.

All Betway odds correct at time of writing and subject to change.