World Cup Betting
Even numbered years are kind to football fans, as in-between the World Cup Finals we get to enjoy the European Championships. Bearing in mind that seven of the top nine favourites for the 2010 World Cup are from Europe, the Euros are almost as tough a competition to win as the World Cup itself.
Held two years before a World Cup Finals, the European Championships should be a reasonable pointer towards international form. You’d expect teams that had performed well in a European Championships to fare well in the World Cup two years later. Therefore, as European Champions should we expect Spain to win in South Africa?
The simple answer is ‘no’.
Astonishingly, since the first European Championships in 1960, only one side has ever gone onto win the World Cup after winning the European Championship. The superb West Germany side of the early 1970s won the Euros in Belgium in 1972 before beating Holland in the World Cup Final in 1974.
Indeed, on only two further occasions has a European Champion gone on to reach the World Cup Final. Italy beat Yugoslavia in 1968 before losing the World Cup Final to Brazil in 1970 and West Germany won the Euros in 1980 before losing the World Cup Final to Italy in 1982.
In recent years, European Champions have a terrible record at the World Cup. Only 1996 winners Germany have had a decent performance when they reached the 1998 quarter finals. 1988 champions Holland went out in the first knockout round in Italy in 1990. 2000 winners France went out of the 2002 tournament in the first round after being beaten by Senegal and Denmark. And, surprise 1992 and 2004 champions Denmark and Greece didn’t even qualify for the 1994 and 2006 Finals.
Spain also have previous poor form in this regard. A talented Spanish side won the 1964 European Championships as goals from Jesús María Pereda and Marcelino Martínez gave them a 2-1 win over the Soviet Union in front of 79,115 at the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid. However, Spain failed even to qualify for the 1966 World Cup Finals in England.
At least this Spain side have managed to qualify for the World Cup after their European Championships triumph but at 4/1 the omens do not look great for them winning in South Africa. Taking into account the poor record of European Champions and the fact that recent winners have underperformed so dramatically at the World Cup, I’d prefer to look elsewhere.
Mind you, the beaten finalists at a European Championships have an even worse record. No losing finalist at a European Championships has ever reached the World Cup final two years later. That doesn’t bode well for Germany who, at 14/1, are many people’s tip to win in South Africa.
Spain do have a talented team and records are there to be broken. However, making them the World Cup favourites after a five decade legacy of underperformance by European Champions on the biggest stage can be questioned.
