FA Cup Betting 2024
While there are hundreds of footballing competitions around the world, none elicit more emotion than the FA Cup. Arguably, it is the crown jewel of English football, having produced countless unforgettable memories over the years. The giant killings and cup upsets still occur with regularity, so there’s plenty for punters to think about. It’s also a great starting point for football bettors to pick up free bets offers and enhanced odds when they open an account at a new bookie. See our list of the best FA Cup betting sites below.
Recommended Sites
Best Site for FA Cup Odds
Portsmouth (2008) and Wigan Athletic (2013) recently demonstrated that unfancied clubs can win the FA Cup, certainly when compared with competitions like the Premier League. From a betting perspective, this is important as it means bookmakers will differ in the odds offered for each team. For a punter, that translates as an opportunity to find better odds by shopping around. The table below shows the 2019 FA Cup odds from our recommended bookmakers:
| Bookmaker | Manchester City | Liverpool | Manchester United | Chelsea | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Sky Bet | 4/1 | 7/1 | 5/1 | 13/2 |
 | Paddy Power | 4/1 | 6/1 | 7/1 | 7/1 |
 | Betfair | 7/2 | 6/1 | 13/2 | 13/2 |
 | Karamba | 4/1 | 13/2 | 11/2 | 13/2 |
 | Sport Nation | 15/4 | 25/4 | 21/4 | 25/4 |
 | Mr Green | 4/1 | 7/1 | 13/2 | 7/1 |
 | Royal Panda | 4/1 | 6/1 | 6/1 | 7/1 |
While there is a consensus over Manchester City’s status as favourites for the FA Cup, with a handful of bookmakers giving the best price of 4/1, you can see a lot of disagreement with other teams, especially Manchester United and Liverpool. Overall the best bookmaker for FA Cup odds in this scenario is Paddy Power Sport, offering the joint-best odds on Man City and Arsenal, and the best odds on Man United and Leicester. As an aside, it is worth mentioning that Paddy Power also has some big odds for teams not on the list above. For example, Southampton at 55/1, which comes in at almost double Sky Bet’s odds of 33/1.
Verdict: Paddy Power
Best Site for Promotions and Offers
Premier League clubs don’t join the FA Cup until January 2019, so it’s difficult to find FA Cup specific bonuses and promos before the competition has kicked off. However, plenty of bookmakers do offer football betting promos.
Paddy Power offers a multitude of football betting offers, including a weekly £10 Free Bet, A risk free £10 Free Bet for new customers, football Money Back Specials and Acca Insurance. It is also worth keeping an eye on Sport Nation’s new promotion for televised football, where you will receive an instant payout on your selection if they score in the first five minutes of the match. At the moment, this only applies to Premier League and Championship games shown on BT Sport and Sky Television, but it could be extended to FA Cup games once the competition starts being televised frequently.
Verdict: Paddy Power
FA Cup In-Play Betting
It’s not always possible to live stream the FA Cup through bookmakers’ sites, especially if the games are being shown by major broadcasters. Although, you should be aware that you can stream some FA Cup games for free on the BBC website.
As for live betting, Betfair comes up trumps on nearly all fronts, including during the early stages of the competition. Its in-play markets are numerous and include regularly updated #OOT (Odds On That) markets. #OOT markets could be something simple, such as Harry Kane to score a goal in the second half, or something more complex, like Paul Pogba to score a free-kick and Alexis Sanchez to be sent off in the second-half. In addition, Betfair has a stats centre easily viewable on the live betting page. One of the best live-betting experiences online.
Verdict: Betfair
Popular FA Cup Markets
| Market | Description |
|---|---|
| Winner | Bet on the winner of the winner, anyone from 4/1 favourites Manchester City to rank outsiders Yeovil Town (2,000/1, Sky Bet). |
| Top Goal Scorer | Bet on the player with most goals in the competition. Will Grigg (Wigan) was top scorer last year with 7 goals. |
| Name The Finalist | Bet on the two teams that will contest the Final. Predicting Chelsea and Manchester United would have won this bet last season. |
| Individual Match Betting | Bet on the winner of a specific match. Drawn matches will go to a replay, where extra time and penalties are possible. |
| Correct Score | Bet on what the full-time score of the game will be. Extra time and/or penalties will not count. |
| Over/Under Goals | Bet on the number of goals scored in the match being over/under a specific number. |
| Over/Under Corner | Bet on the number of corners awarded in the match being over/under a specific number |
Tips and Predictions
Unlike, the Premier League, the FA Cup features a vast pool of teams from up and down the English football pyramid. So, it’s not entirely possible to know everything about the opposition, especially considering some teams will not have played on live television before. For that reason, it’s not a bad idea to look for FA Cup tips from experts. They may be able to provide insight into lower league and non-league teams, pinpointing strengths and weaknesses that are not abundantly clear to the casual punter.
Some well known tipsters that specialise in English football competitions include: Matt Love, who operates Football Elite website. Love covers everything from hot tips, to vulnerable favourites – an excellent blog for anyone looking the best tips for the FA Cup. If you are looking to put together multiple bets for a big-playing accumulator, the Acca Tipster website is also worth reading.
Part of the ‘magic’ of betting on the FA Cup is about finding these top bets by doing a little research yourself. Of course, getting insight from tipsters is good practice, but it should be part of your research, rather than the only area that you consult. Many punters find comfort using paid for tipping services. Some of the tipsters will have demonstrable results of profit, but the frequency of betting necessary to make the most of the service may not be compatible with your budget, nor will any tipping service concentrate solely on the FA Cup.
- League form is a big factor in the FA Cup – there have been countless examples down the years of lower league teams defeating higher ranked teams, especially those who have been struggling.
- Home advantage also plays a big role in successful FA Cup betting – while the top teams will have talented squads, those players may not be accustomed to playing in small stadiums, on poor pitches and in such close proximity to the crowd.
- Exercise management over your bankroll – the key to winning football bets is to have patience, carefully choosing your selections and not just picking teams for the sake of it. The good news is that the FA Cup is one of the best football competitions for betting odds value. But the nature of the competition means that the shocks can work both ways.
- Place your bet to as close to kick-off as possible so that you can read the team selections – this is crucial for FA Cup matches, sometimes managers from the big premier league teams will sometimes rest players and apparently ‘give up’ on the competition to concentrate on the league.
FA Cup History
You simply can’t discuss FA Cup betting without talking about the competition in question. Widely considered to be the greatest cup competition in the world, the FA Cup has a history that is almost unrivalled, with Wanderers the first team to lift the famous trophy – back in 1871.
Looking at record breakers and history makers, Tottenham Hotspur are the only non-league side to have ever won the competition, beating Sheffield United 2-0 to claim the crown in 1901.
The FA Cup has certainly played host to a few giant killings over the years too, with Warwick County kicking off the trend when they beat Stoke 2-1 back in 1888. Since then, the underdog spirit has been alive and well, with it arguably reaching its peak in 1973 when second-division Sunderland toppled the mighty Leeds United to win the cup.
In modern times, the FA Cup can be defined by dominance of the big Premier League teams – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City – punctuated with a few shocks Cup Final wins by lower ranked teams. Memorably, in 2013 Wigan Athletic won the FA Cup Final (a massive shock victory over Man City) but got relegated from the Premier League in the same season.
Arsenal have won the most FA Cups in history, landing 13 Final wins. Remarkably, seven of those titles came under their legendary, now former, manager Arsène Wenger, making the Frenchman the manager with the most FA Cup wins. Manchester United are second on the all-time list with 12 FA Cup trophies, including five under Sir Alex Ferguson.
Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea come next on the list, with eight FA Cup Final wins each. Chelsea are the current holders of the FA Cup, beating Manchester United 1-0 in May 2018. The FA Cup is, of course, played at Wembley Stadium, although it was played at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, for six years while the new Wembley Stadium was being built.
It is worth briefly mentioning the structure of the FA Cup. Hundreds of non-league teams play qualifiers in the late-summer and Autumn, before the 1st round of the main competition begins in November. At this point, teams from EFL League One and Two join the tournament. In January, the 3rd round takes place, with 44 teams added from the Premier League and EFL Championship, making 64 in total.
Traditionally, the FA Cup Final takes place the Saturday after the Premier League season is wrapped up. The 2019 FA Cup Final will be played on Saturday 18th May, with a kick of time of 5.15pm. The Final will be showed on BBC One.
Every football league in the world has an accompanying cup competition, but there’s nothing out there that can rival the sheer magic of the FA Cup. From the cup upsets to the record breakers, the competition simply has it all, so with the right wager (and possibly with the right FA Cup final bet) you might just see some of that cup magic head your way!
