Didier Drogba – Top Goal Scorer Betting Odds | World Cup 2010

Didier Drogba

In the first World Cup ever to take place on African soil, there is a lot of interest in the betting market around whether an African team can win the tournament for the first time, and indeed whether the Golden Boot could go to an African player.

Whilst South Africa themselves are not a particularly strong proposition, one team that boasts a wealth of world class players is the Ivory Coast, with probably their most famous export being their captain, and star centre forward at Chelsea, Didier Drogba. If any player is going to win this accolade for Africa, Drogba could well be where the smart money is.

Bwin are offering 40-1, the longest odds at the time of writing, for Drogba as top goal scorer during the 2010 World Cup. The market varies widely for this bet, as with many picks for top goal scorer, with the shortest being 20-1 from Tote Sport. Most prices in between are around the 28-1 mark.

Drogba has won his fair share of accolades already, having been the African Footballer of the Year twice, in 2006 and 2009 and the Premiership’s top goal scorer in 2007.

With Chelsea, he has won both the Premiership and the FA Cup twice, though he is yet to secure any silverware with his Ivorian team.

The 32 year old player has scored 43 goals in 66 appearances for the Ivory Coast since 2002, and is the current captain.

There are some interesting bets to be had on the fate of African teams and players in the World Cup. The growth of football in Africa in the past decade, the impressive performances by African teams in recent competitions, and the number of famous names from European club sides playing for teams like the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon combined with the climate and support advantage of the host nation being in Africa are leading a lot of speculators to look to the continent for their tournament picks.

The best odds on an African team winning are currently 16-1 from Betfred. For comparison, the shortest odds on this eventuality are 9-1 from Expekt.com.

Betting on the top African team, inline with the overall win market, puts the Ivory Coast top, with most bookmakers putting this at around evens.

This is despite the fact the Ivory Coast are in a first round group with Brazil and Portugal. This is the second time in two World Cup tournaments they have been drawn in the “group of death”, and last time this happened in 2006 they didn’t actually make it past the group stages, in spite of high hopes going in to the competition.

A double bet on the Ivory Coast and Drogba is currently best priced at 250-1 from Blue Square or 888sport. William Hill’s offering for this bet is the lowest, at 150-1 at the time of writing.

Fernando Torres – Top Goalscorer Betting Odds | World Cup 2010

Fernando Torres

Liverpool star Torres, a striker for tournament favourites Spain, is most bookmakers’ fourth or fifth choice to win the Golden Boot.

Odds vary a lot for this player, with the longest being 13-1 from expect.com and the shortest 8-1 from Coral, the only bookmaker offering the same odds for Torres as they are offering for the overall favourite – his team mate David Villa – at 8-1. The majority of others are offering 12-1 for Fernando Torres to score the most goals, including Bet365, Stan James and 888sport.

26 year old Torres, who joined Liverpool at the start of the 07-08 season, has had an impressive career. He has already played for Spain in three major international tournaments, the European Cups in 2004 and 2008, and the last World Cup in Germany in 2006.

As well as scoring the goal that won Spain the Euro 2008 trophy in the final against Germany, Torres racked up three goals in the last World Cup. That’s two less than the five that won Miroslav Klose the Golden Boot for Germany, though Spain did only make it to the Round of 16 where they were knocked out by France – Klose’s team came third, therefore playing three more games than Spain did.

Despite his very impressive scoring record both for his clubs and his country, there are a couple of factors counting against Torres which may explain why his odds are generally longer than his strike partner Villa’s.

Torres has been confirmed as being out for the rest of Liverpool’s season with an injury. Whilst he is expected to still be fit for the World Cup, this does mean his preparation for the tournament will suffer.

Additionally, his Premiership club Liverpool have had their worst season for many years, going out of the UEFA Champions League, a tournament five time winners Liverpool usually expect to do well in, very early on, and comprehensively losing their place as part of the English Premiership’s famous “Big Four”.

Liverpool’s poor performance has been down to a number of factors and players like Steven Gerrard and Torres have been seen to work hard to try and carry the struggling team, but Liverpool’s issues may have an impact on the odds for Torres here.

If you want to combine a bet on Torres for the Golden Boot with Spain winning the tournament in a double, then odds differ from just 16-1 from Ladbrokes to 25-1 from Sky Bet and Bet365.

If you think that Torres will be top tournament scorer but the overall champions will be England, a bet on this double with Paddy Power returns 80-1.

Kaka – Top Goal Scorer Betting Odds | World Cup 2010

Kaka-Brazil

Brazil and Real Madrid midfielder Kaka is one of the names in the frame with bookmakers from the Brazilian national side to win the World Cup 2010 Golden Boot.

With all the front runners in the striker position, Kaka is one of the top midfielders in terms of odds to emerge as top goal scorer. With the best odds on offer for him being 40-1 from bwin, this is the same price as Ivory Coast captain and star Premiership striker Didier Drogba, and not far off of the odds for Klose, who won the Golden Boot at the last World Cup in 2006.

Other bookmakers are offering shorter odds, with the lowest being 22-1 from Tote Sport and a number of bookmakers including Stan James and 888sport offering 25-1. The majority are giving out 33-1 at the time of writing.

Kaka, who amazingly recovered from a potentially paralyzing spinal injury at the age of 18 to become one of the greatest players in modern football, already has a number of impressive achievements to his name.

In 2007 Kaka was FIFA World Player of the Year and Latin Sportsman of the Year, as well as achieving Champions League Top Scorer and Champions League Best Forward. He was Serie A Footballer of the Year in 2004 and 2007 while playing for AC Milan.

For Brazil, he was in the team that won the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, and the Confederations Cup in both 2005 and 2009.

Having already achieved so much, Kaka will be looking to become that rarest of things – a player with two World Cup victories. He would probably also very much like to lay his hands on the Golden Boot.

With team mates Luis Fabiano and Robinho also in competition as potential Golden Boot winners, with Fabiano one of the favourites, and a very tough group round draw for Brazil, it will be interesting to see how Kaka performs from a goal scoring perspective. Overall play wise though, anything short of a stunning display of football from this player will be a surprise.

In the current market, if you fancy Kaka for the Golden Boot and Brazil as winners too, the best price on the double is 80-1, which Paddy Power and Bet365 are both offering. Most other bookmakers taking this bet offer 50-1, but Sky Bet come in lowest with just 40-1 on this combination.

Miroslav Klose – Top Goalscorer Betting Odds | World Cup 2010

Miroslav Klose

The man who won the Golden Boot at the 2006 World Cup on his home soil in Germany is back to attempt the same feat in South Africa in the 2010 World Cup tournament.

Bookmakers are offering wildly varying odds for Klose to achieve a second World Cup Golden Boot, with the best offers at the time of writing being 33-1 from bwin and William Hill. Most major bookies are offering either 25 or 28, but Betfred believe this gamble to be worth a paltry 20-1.

At 31, Miroslav Klose is the oldest of the frontrunners to come out of the competition as the top goalscorer. With age comes experience, and Klose has already racked up 94 international appearances and 48 goals for Germany.

His club career has also been very impressive. Staying in the German Bundesliga for his whole career to date, he currently plays for top German side Bayern Munich, having transferred there from Werder Bremen in 2007. Last season, he was Bayern’s top scorer with 20 goals – despite spending a significant portion of the season out with injury. He was also the second highest scorer in the UEFA Champions League.

During Klose’s career with the national side, Germany have come second in the 2002 World Cup and the 2008 European Cup, and third in the 2006 World Cup where he won his Golden Boot. Odds suggest that Germany are expected to be close, but not close enough again in South Africa, with the team fifth favourites with average odds of 12-1 to finish the tournament as champions.

Germany are starting the competition in one of the trickier of the eight groups. Whilst not quite as tough on paper as Brazil’s “group of death”, Germany face Australia, Serbia and Ghana, all of whom have the potential to do well. Klose will need all of his skill and experience to notch up a good goal count in these three games.

Klose scored five goals to cement his Golden Boot win in 2006, but with tough competition from the likes of David Villa and Fernando Torres from favourites Spain, Luis Fabiano, Robinho and Kaka from Brazil, Lionel Messi from Argentina and of course England’s Wayne Rooney, it is very possible an even higher goal tally from a possible seven tournament games will be required to win the accolade this time around.

Backing Klose for the Golden Boot alongside Germany to win fetches odds of up to 125-1. This price is currently offered by Sky Bet, 888sport and Blue Square. The odds do go down as low as 66-1 with Betfred, currently offering the worst price on this double, and 80-1 from Ladbrokes and William Hill.

Lionel Messi – Top Goal Scorer Betting Odds | World Cup 2010

Lionel Messi

Argentina’s phenomenal Lionel Messi is the bookies’ second favourite pick to be the top goalscorer at the 2010 World Cup finals this summer.

Odds on the Golden Boot going to the Barcelona star who many believe to be the best current player in the world, range depending on your bookmaker. The longest odds on Messi at the time of writing appear to be 11-1, which a number of bookies including Extrabet, Sky Bet and Tote Sport will offer you. The worst price at present is 7-1 from bwin, the only major bookmaker aside from Betfred (with Messi at 8-1) who has Messi as their favourite over David Villa of Spain.

Ladbrokes, who seem to be offering some of the worst prices on favourites but some of the best moving further out, are surprisingly bang in the middle on this bet with 9-1.

Messi’s goal scoring abilities are in no doubt, and he has an almost endless list of accolades to his name, including three Young Player of the Year awards, the Player of the Year award last season (both awards issued by FIFAPro), European Player of the Year and UEFA Champions League Player of the year (with his Spanish club) in 2009, and, possibly most relevant here, he was the top goalscorer in both the 2005 U-20 World Cup and the 08-89 UEFA Champions League.

Just why the odds are slightly longer on Messi than on Villa probably have more to do with the teams than the men themselves. Villa’s Spain are the favourites to win, with Argentina fourth at around 8-1, but Spain do have – on paper at least – a much easier group round than Argentina.

Spain face Honduras, Chile and Switzerland, whereas Argentina have drawn Nigeria, South Korea and Greece. Once the cup moves into the knockout stages and games become more evenly matched, scorelines on the whole stay low. Bear in mind also that goals scored in penalty shootouts don’t count. This means that the key to the Golden Boot could be how many these players can put past the weaker opposition in the group stages.

Doubles bets on Messi as top goalscorer and a prediction of the outright winner are available from some bookmakers too. The best odds for Messi and Argentina appear to be 33-1 from William Hill or Bet365. Other offers are lower, with Ladbrokes and Betfred at 20-1.

Combining Messi for the Golden Boot with Spain as champions will get you 66-1, and with England 100-1, both from Paddy Power.

Luis Fabiano – Top Goal Scorer Betting Odds | World Cup 2010

29 year old Brazilian and current Sevilla striker Luis Fabiano is among the front runners to win the coveted Golden Boot – the award for the tournament’s top goal scorer – at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa this summer.

Throughout the market, Fabiano is ranked either fourth or fifth shortest odds with the bookmakers, with some being unable to pick between the Brazilian and Spain and Liverpool’s Fernando Torres.

The longest odds on offer at the time of writing for Luis Fabiano to attain the top goal scorer accolade are with Expekt.com, who are offering 13-1 (they are also offering 13-1 on Torres). The shortest are from Sportingbet, Tote and William Hill at 10-1, with most others offering 12-1 on the player.

Despite controversy during his early career with Sao Paolo where he was known for his, sometimes worryingly, aggressive approach (he received a three match ban for kicking a player during a match against River Plate), and a disappointing spell playing for Rennes in France, Fabiano has gone on to cement himself as one of the best strikers in the game after some impressive performances both for his country and Eurpoean clubs Porto and Sevilla.

He was the top goal scorer in the 2009 Confederations Cup with five goals. This equals the five that Miroslav Klose won to win the World Cup Golden Boot in 2006. A similar performance in South Africa could be enough for him to win this.

Whilst Brazil are second favourites to emerge as outright winners, one factor counting against Fabiano in the Golden Boot stakes is that compared with other front runners like Lionel Messi from Argentina, Rooney from England and David Villa and Torres from Spain, Fabiano’s Brazilian side has drawn an incredibly tough group.

Brazil’s Group G is definitely this year’s “group of death”, with opposition from Portugal and the Ivory Coast. With high scoring wins usually coming out of the group stages in a World Cup, Fabiano only has one weak team, North Korea, to play – racking up lots of goals against the teams boasting other Golden Boot contenders Christiano Ronaldo and Didier Drogba will not be an easy task.

A double bet for Fabiano to win the Golden Boot and Brazil to win can get you odds of an exciting 40-1 from Paddy Power. The majority of others offering this bet will give you 25-1, with Ladbrokes only paying out 18-1 on this.

For Fabiano to emerge as top goal scorer but with England winning the cup, Paddy Power will give you odds of 80-1.