World Cup Football

Bookmakers are now offering markets including outright winner of the World Cup, top goalscorer, group betting and team and player specials.  Use our free bets to get your free bet on the World Cup 2006!

Bookmakers are now offering markets including outright winner of the World Cup, top goalscorer, group betting and team and player specials.

In the outright market, will five-time World Cup winners Brazil pick up the trophy, or will the likes of England, Argentina, or host nation Germany be victorious?

The top scorer market is likely to be hugely competitive - will Portugal's Pauleta continue his goal scoring form from the qualifying rounds, or will Brazil's Ronaldo make it two Golden Boots in a row? Perhaps one of the young stars will make a claim for the prize with England's Wayne Rooney in sparkling form and Real Madrid star Robinho likely to make a big impact for Brazil.

With the playoffs completed, the full line-up is now known. The 32 teams who will be competing in Germany are:

Angola, Cote d'Ivoire, Togo, Ghana, Tunisia, Japan, Iran, Korea Republic, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Ukraine, Netherlands, Poland, England, Croatia, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Serbia and Montenegro, France, Switzerland, Spain, Czech Republic, USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, and Paraguay.

Following the Final Draw in Leipzig on 9 December betting is now also available on each of the eight groups as well as special betting on how far selected teams will progress in the tournament. Will England break their recent poor record and reach the final for the first time since 1966 when they won the coveted Jules Rimet Trophy? Will there be a surprise performance again from one of the 'minnows' like South Korea in 2002.

With only 7 different winners in the competition's history, and 6 of the most recent World Champions winning while playing as hosts, a flutter on Germany as the outright winner might look like the proverbial home banker, but the hosts are not the European powerhouse they were in the days of Beckenbauer or Matthaus. A 5-1 home thrashing at the hands of England is still fresh in everyone's memory.

Five time winners Brazil go into the World Cup as favourites, closely followed by Argentina, Germany, Italy and England. Holland, France, Spain and Portugal also all feature among the leading fancies to lift the glittering FIFA World Cup Trophy at the Olympiastadion in Berlin on 9th July.