With just a few months until the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, soccer fans’ excitement levels continue to increase with anticipation. Thirty-two national teams from across the planet will face each other, and all have one goal: to achieve international glory as the World Champions.
France will defend its title, but many other competing teams have already reached the same level of prestige. England, Argentina, Spain, Germany, Brazil, and Uruguay have also won the World Cup in years past, some of which in consecutive years. Still, not all of these teams received the favorite title for this year’s competition.
Which teams do sportsbooks rate as top favorites?
It doesn’t matter which sportsbook you use to check the World Cup odds; all of them will showcase Brazil as the favorite. Although the team hasn’t taken the Cup in twenty years, many believe that 2022 will be the sixth time the team earns the title.
Brazil’s national team currently has some of the world’s best players in its squad, including Neymar, Marquinhos, Casimiro, and Vinicius Junior. The team’s coach, Tite, will certainly continue using his famous inspirational speeches to bring the World Cup back to Latin America.
Nevertheless, many soccer fans are wary of Brazil’s potential to win the competition, as European national teams have amassed the trophy since 2002. Should the trend continue, the winners will likely be either England or France, depending on which sportsbook you check the odds at.
Bet365 and Bet99 rate England as the European leader in the championship, while Betway offers slightly better odds for France. The English team has performed exceptionally well throughout the past years, reaching the final in the Euro 2020, much due to the squad’s stars, Harry Kane, Phil Foden, and Kyle Walker.
At the same time, Didier Deschamps’ squad grabbed the World Cup in 2018, but many soccer fans are well aware of the difficulties winners tend to face in the defending-title championship. Throughout the years, the defending champions often lose during the following year’s Group Stage, a “curse” that might bring some problems to Les Bleus.
Whether you believe in the “curse” or not, the truth is that France’s national team currently lists some of the top players in the world, such as Kylian Mbappe and Benzema, who are nominated for this year’s Golden Ball.
Although sportsbooks currently list these three teams as the World Cup 2022 favorites, many things can change until November 20th. Club soccer competitions just re-started after
the summer hiatus, which might lead to players getting injured and thus make some changes in the initial eleven each national team presents in the World Cup.
The odds compared: Which of the top three has the best odds?
Most online sportsbooks currently name Brazil, England, and France as the top contenders to win the World Cup 2022 in Qatar. The question that remains is: is there truly one main favorite?
We compared the odds offered by three of the industry’s leading sportsbooks to see how these three teams compare:
| National Team | Bet365 | Bet99 Betway |
| Brazil | 5.50 | 5.60 5.50 |
| England | 6.50 | 6.60 7.00 |
| France | 7.00 | 7.00 6.50 |
As you can see, Bet365, Bet99, and Betway all offer similar odds to Brazil’s win, and the same trend can be seen throughout the vast majority of bookmakers. Although the country’s national team currently has some of the best players since the early 2000s, it might still be complicated for them to outplay the European teams.
Nevertheless, the odds are clear. Although sportsbooks can’t predict the future, calculating odds is mathematical. It follows strict algorithms and player and performance statistics, among other characteristics that impact the team’s results. As such, Brazil will likely carry out an impeccable stride of games unless something changes the Brazilian squad until the World Cup, such as an injury or the weather conditions genuinely taking a toll on the player’s performance during the event.
Which are the teams least likely to win?
Even though the World Cup winner competition is intense, as plenty of other national teams have average possibilities of taking the title, the sportsbooks all seem to agree on which teams won’t win.
With minor differences in the offered odds at Betway, Bet99, and Bet365, the teams least likely to win are Iran, Costa Rica, and Saudi Arabia. Although these teams have potent players, such as Salem Al-Dawsari, Keylor Navas, and Mehdi Taremi, the competition will be challenging, especially when facing squads with some of the world’s top players.
