Here are some tips for building your La Liga betting knowledge…
For avid fans of football who also like a flutter, focusing bets on a league they’re familiar with makes sense. If you’re in the UK, then the chances are you’ll have plenty of knowledge about the Premier League, the teams, the players, and the latest gossip. Easy access to all this information helps to make more informed decisions when betting because, as the old adage goes, knowledge is power.
When it comes to finding useful information about other leagues around the world, getting the details and insight you need for your bets can become a little more difficult, especially if you don’t know where to look for the lowdown on teams and players in English. Beyond just the numbers and statistics, getting an expert view on the general feel for how teams are performing or delving beneath the headlines for more in-depth analysis can also help betting decisions.
Wherever there’s a ball being kicked competitively these days, you can be certain the UK online bookmakers will be offering a wealth of free betting offers and varied markets to spread your betting wings, but if you aren’t familiar with a particular league or its teams, then each bet you make can carry greater risk because of your lack of knowledge.
Two of the most followed teams in world football, Spain’s ‘big two’, usually have the most varied betting markets for their matches. FC Barcelona are 4/7 favourites for the title with bet365 after their excellent start to the season, whilst Real Madrid has seen their odds lengthen to 6/4 after a sluggish opening run of games, despite winning a double of La Liga and the Champions League last season.
What about the other 18 teams in La Liga then? Don’t worry, the press bias towards the ‘big two’ is also a bone of contention for fans of the ‘other’ clubs in Spain. More of the clubs themselves are starting to become a little more proactive, offering social networks and websites in English, but the information on offer can be fairly limited.
If you don’t understand Spanish, building your betting knowledge for teams and players can be a tad difficult. However, there’s a growing number of British ex-pat journalists and football experts based in Spain, providing a rich depth of content and analysis – priceless knowledge that you can put to good use when planning your bets. Listed below are those we consider to be amongst the best to follow.
The Spanish Football Pod
Although most of the podcasts are only available to their Patreon subscribers, The Spanish Football Pod does offer regular free podcasts, discussing all the latest talking points in La Liga.
Sid Lowe is already a name familiar to many followers of Spanish football, due to his popular columns in The Guardian or at ESPN. He is joined by Real Madrid TV presenter Phil Kitromilides, with both offering an entertaining and insightful look at the game in Spain.
Follow them via @tsf_podcast on Twitter, or individually via @sidlowe and @PhilKitro for their thoughts, discussion, and views on Spanish football as it happens.
Talking LaLiga
Arriving on the scene for the 2017-2018 season, Talking LaLiga is a new venture from journalists David Cartlidge and Simon Harrison, who are both hugely passionate about Spanish football.
Every weekend, they are at different matches around the country and, more often than not, talking about teams other than Barcelona and Real Madrid. Along with a Patreon subscription channel for podcasts and video content, they offer plenty of free content at their talkinglaliga.com website.
Fans are highly recommended to follow both via @davidjaca and @simonhfootball on Twitter. They are prolific tweeters of insightful analysis, commentary, opinion, and much more. They’re like having your own scouts in Spain and both have experience working with bookmakers too.
Football Espana
Since 2012 and, whilst other Spanish football news websites have come and gone, football-espana.net remains highly active, publishing regular news and opinions about every team in La Liga.
Featuring a lengthy list of experienced football journalists amongst their regular writers, most of whom are based in Spain, their daily news and information are always reliable.
MARCA in English
A household name amongst the dedicated sports newspapers in Spain, the online presence of MARCA has grown significantly over recent years, including an English section with all the major news and features, plus a Twitter feed via @MARCAinENGLISH with regular updates throughout the day.
All their English content is provided by a team of international journalists with a wealth of knowledge about Spanish football.
LaLiga Betting in English
Finally, huge improvements in the quality and depth of content at the official website of LaLiga in English, over the last two or three years, make it a must for your browser bookmarks.
Importantly, the site features not only regular news and features for Spain’s top two divisions, but also a wealth of team and individual player statistics, league tables, fixtures, and results, plus much more. There’s also a dedicated English feed via @LaLigaEN on Twitter.
