FIFA WORLD CUP FINALS

The FIFA World Cup is regarded by many spread betting enthusiasts as the greatest sporting events in the world.

The festival of football brings together some of the great, and sometimes the not-so-great, footballing nations of the world for the tournament to decide the best national on the planet.

In 2006 it was Italy, considered as dark horses by many football betting fans, who triumphed in Germany as French midfielder Zinedine Zidane lost his mind in the final match of his career.

But whilst the names on the role of honour may not surprise many, the World Cup has provided us with some memorable football betting shocks.

Granted, you’d have would’ve to be an extreme football betting optimist to have backed Zaire to beat Brazil in 1974, given their knowledge of the rules of the game, but in recent years we’ve seen the relative minnows stun the big-guns.

Ray Houghton’s wonder goal to give Ireland victory over Italy in USA ’94 is an incident replayed as often as Roberto Baggio’s penalty miss. In 2004, Senegal stunned the reigning world champions France in the tournament’s opening game with France, Argentina, Cameroon and Croatia exiting the tournament at the group stage to the surprise of the football betting markets.

In 2006, it was the turn of the Czech Republic to suffer a shock departure, being dumped out of the group stages by Ghana.

With so many more teams capable of qualifying and progressing in the competition, these so-called football betting shocks may not be considered such big shocks in the future.

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