The FIFA World Cup has held 17 tournaments. Oddly enough, there have been only seven different nations that have won the championship. Spanning the entire history of the tournament, here are the winners: Brazil 5, Italy 3, Germany 3, Argentina 2, Uruguay 2, England 1 and France 1. Amazingly, six of these wins at the World Cup were by the host country. This would indicate that the host nation has a distinct advantage. There have been some notable upsets along the way however. The underdog USA team of 1950 defeated a highly touted English team. North Korea beat Italy in 1966 and Cameroon won over Argentina, a super power in the sport, in 1990. If you are looking to lay down a bet on the World Cup, historical and tournament structural facts are important to consider.

The structure of the tournament can be one of the things to look closely at when trying to decide who is the favorite. Head-to-head match-ups are not the only thing to consider. Fatigue comes into play when evenly talented opponents meet in an early round. So you have to consider that even if Brazil is victorious early on, will they still have the stamina to go the distance? There is also some luck involved in the structure of the final groupings. The top 8 teams are separated as #1 seeds for groups A through H. Germany and Brazil get their free pass as top seeds because they are respectively the host nation and the previous champion. The remaining clubs are simply drawn at random from a bowl.



The pools for the World Cup have been chosen and their seeding in descending order looks like this:

• Group A; Germany, Costa Rica, Poland, Ecuador
• Group B; England, Paraguay, Trinidad-Tobago, Sweden
• Group C; Argentina, Ivory Coast, Serbia-Montenegro, Netherlands
• Group D; Mexico, Iran, Angola, Portugal
• Group E; Italy, Ghana, United States, Czech Republic
• Group F; Brazil, Croatia, Australia, Japan
• Group G; France, Switzerland, South Korea, Togo
• Group H; Spain, Ukraine, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia

Group A: Germany is a very tough opponent, and they are on their home field, which makes them one of the favourites. However, Poland has a legitimate shot also. Group B: It is important to note that Sweden has not lost to England in 37 years. Group E: The Italians are the team to beat in this group but the Czech Republic will be a tough opponent. Group C: The two toughest powerhouse teams in one single group are Argentina and the Netherlands (Holland). One of these two will no doubt emerge victorious in 2006.

When placing a bet on the World Cup one must remember that the odds are set for a reason. The experts have supreme confidence in their ability to loosely predict the outcomes. Currently, the favorites in the FIFA World Cup are Brazil (3.7), Germany (8), England (9), Italy (10), Argentina (10), France (13), Holland (14) and Spain (17) at Sportingbet.

Betting on the underdogs can be rewarding. Have a look at some the odds for these strong teams: Croatia (71), Ukraine (67), and Czech Republic (31). The biggest payoffs come from Trinidad & Tobago, Angola, Iran and Saudi Arabia all a 751 chance to win the cup at Sportingbet!

There are countless other ways to lay bets on this titanic tournament. Wagering on a team to place or show, group winner, group qualifying, head-to-head match, final pair, and most goals are just a few of the opportunities for bettors. Betting is a mix of luck, art and statistics. There are a number of ways to multibet, or combine your bets, within one sport or through a combination of various sports. These types of bets are a great way to increase your possible payoff, but they are often difficult to hit because of the way the combinations are often presented. If you know what you are doing, or you just have a gut feeling about two or more match-ups, parlaying your wagers into one can offer a bigger payday than just a straight bet.

In World Cup betting, you can also get campaign betting on particular nations. The Australian and the England campaign are two of the most popular at Sportingbet. A bettor predicts at what phase of the tournament either of these clubs will exit, or even if they will go on to win it all. Betting within the groups is another popular form of betting in the early rounds. Any big upsets at this stage can produce an adequate return on your investment and these are generally much easier to predict than which teams will win, place or show in the tournament.

We believe that the team to beat in Germany are the Germans because they are a very good team and are playing as the host country and the home team has won six of 17 tournaments. We also like Brazil's, England's and Italy's chances.

Brazil probably has the best and most talented team in the entire field. Just like any other tournament, it isn't necessarily the best team that will emerge victorious; it is the team that builds the most momentum through confidence and emotion to perform at their peak potential.

The 2006 FIFA World Cup is an event unlike any other. With all its adversity, triumph and tragedy, it is the defining international event for the soccer world. From the 9th of June to the 9th of July 2006, this epic contest will be fought on German soil and just about the entire world will be watching. Read more World Cup articles here...