Something key to learn in order to have success in your football betting is to pick something unique that you can learn inside out. Betting on corners played during a game is one of those niche things.
In football, this will probably mean putting your energy into one specific league or a selection of teams within a given location. Maybe even seeking something different to the common overall winner markets.
Bookies don’t really dedicate the same resource to their pricing of these kinds of betting markets than they do to the most popular ones.
So what this means for punters who take the time to learn about it, is a potentially very profitable experience indeed.
One thing that’s really noteworthy is that a lot of punters will opt for the corner count. The corner count is really under-appreciated stat in a game and is, therefore, a pool of potential for markets, from the most corners, the total number of corners to more complicated multi-corner options.
Before you choose a bookmaker and start betting on corner bets, it’s best to cover the bases first.
Betting on Corners, the Details…
Corner betting development has seen a surge in popularity thanks to football statistics. Before the internet was big, football reports were typically shared at half and full time. They covered what minutes the goals were scored and not a whole bunch else, so there was a lot less to bet on.
Nowadays, even the newspapers will print a variety of statistics for all matches, which include shots on target (as well as off), which team had most or least possession and how many corners each side won in total. The corner betting statistic has created a rise in the corner market niche.
This article will go into them in more detail shortly, but, on the whole, corners markets do share common rules that corner betting newbies should know about before placing corner bets with a bookmaker.
For example, if a game is abandoned, all these bets are void. If a retake happens or a corner is awarded but isn’t taken before the 90th minute they aren’t valid towards the total number of corners in the match.
A Betting Guide to the Corners Market
The basics are things like most corners. Here the betting markets essentially have three options to choose from, that being home, away or draw. The total figure is the number of corners the teams achieve in the game.
Variety in Corner Betting
Stepping up from this market, there are more options. Corners at half time are basically the same as most corners, but it’s based on the number of corners at the half-time whistle. Total corners lets betters have a choice on the total of corners scored, by each team, during the whole game.
Total Corners
Total corners are set as over, under and exactly. Here you’re guessing the total number of corners in a game will either be over, under or exactly a number.
When Team A plays Team B, you might bet that there will be under 10 corners during the game (or whatever you think is likely).
Total Team Corners
Total Team Corners is super simple to understand and follows the same over and under idea. Although it’s easy to understand, it’s very tricky to accurately predict, so it’s best avoided.
If you really want to give this type of betting a go with your chosen bookmaker, you have to do your due diligence well. Learn about past performances and general team behaviour.
How is their style? Are they aggressive on the attack? You have to really know your team inside out because you’re betting your money on just them, rather than the game as a whole.
With any bet that is hard, it’s very rewarding.
Range of Corners
The Total Corners market links with the Range of Corners market where punters predict if there will be between 0 and 7, 8 and 15 and/or more than 16 corners during the game.
There’s often a separate Total Corners market for each side independently, and also for each half. This is alongside markets predicting which team will be awarded the first and last corners during the game.
Corners Match Bet
This corner bet is great for those just starting off in this kind of market because it’s really simple. If you think a team will score more corners than their competitors, then you put that bet on and it’s likely you’d win.
The benefit of this kind of corner bet is that, with enough research, you can have a really educated guess. You’re looking for a team that has a reputation for a solid attack who take a lot of chances at the goal.
If you go with the team who are predicted to dominate the game, you should be good. The issue here, as with all betting, is that no matter how likely something seems, there is always the potential element of surprise.
With enough homework, you should be able to avoid any shockers.
Multi Corners
Things get a little more complicated here and rely on some mathematics. The bet is placed on the basis of multiplying the number first half corners by the number of that in the second.
The x Corners market is technically a multi corners bet. Here, the total corners awarded to the home team is taken and multiplied by that of their rivals.
Corners Handicap
This is a nice bet for squeezing a little extra value from your corner bet. You want to put this on if there is an especially strong favourite. If there’s a poor market for most corners for the favourite, the handicap market can help.
Here, you’re starting with one team ahead or behind the other team for corner count, before the game starts. So, for example, if Team A has a -5 handicap pre-kick off, they need at least 6 corners more than their competitor for you to win your bet. Any less and you’ll lose because your team won’t have overcome the handicap at the start.
Asian Handicap
Asian Corner betting markets offers a wild variant on the typical corner markets. Here rather than the initially mentioned three options, each team gets a handicap.
Say Man United play Liverpool. They might have a +5.5 handicap. So whilst Liverpool are -5.5, if you were to bet on them to be awarded more corners during this match, you’d need them to be awarded at least 6 corners greater than the number Man Utd get in order to see a return on your bet.
The bets that involve a .5 element don’t accept a draw as a valid outcome, so your bet is either going to win or lose. Some Asian corner bets will quote a handicap as a whole number; for example Man Utd -5, Liverpool +5. Here, if they won precisely 5 more than Liverpool, the bet would become invalid and stakes returned.
Corners Race
This corners markets is an unusual option. It’s a fun one, as it turns out, because it gets you involved in the game more. The race element means you’re betting that a team will reach a certain number of corners before the other one.
It’s fun because it’s an easy thing to understand. The more intense the game and the more goals being scored, the more corners there are likely to be.
It’s pretty thrilling to use in-play betting for this market offer. It’s not so easy to predict before the game starts, though, so that may be a negative for some.
First Half Corner
Pretty much most of the bets mentioned above, but with the stipulation that it happens within the first half of the game.
What Bets are Bad Choices?
Odds and Evens: This one seems a little too risky, even for the most thrill-seeking of punters. As suggested, you predict if the number of corners will be an odd or even number.
There’s no way to make an educated guess and there are better bets to try. The same goes for first match corner and time of first corner offer.
How do Goals Impact the Bet?
Goals are something you really need to consider, but not in such a way that you’ve probably become accustomed to.
Usually the number of corners a team takes doesn’t impact the number of goals they score, in the grand scheme of the match. When you’re betting from the corners market, the reverse is true. The score has a huge role to play.
Understanding this notion is important because it has a direct effect on your profits.
The most common situations when a goal will affect the number of corners include when one team goes ahead in the game; here, the team may pull back and aim to maintain their lead, rather than get more goals, so there will naturally be less corners.
If, on the other hand, a team starts losing, they will do the opposite and push harder, which will likely result in more corners.
If something totally unexpected occurs, say the underdog puts in a shocker of performance, this will see two teams going hard at the game and more corners than expected happening.
The way to leverage these bets in your favour is by utilising in-play betting. Not to suggest that pre-game betting isn’t going to work too, but real-time bets are a little more secure when you have an idea of how the game is going to unfold.
If you plot out what minutes the corners are awarded you’ll notice they typically come in twos and threes whilst one team aggressively chases a goal.
What are Some Good Strategy Tips?
Doing your homework will only ever benefit you.
Check out the stats for both of the teams playing on the day. Look for the number of corners each team typically wins and also the number of shots they’ve taken; the more shots, the more corners.
This information will give you some level of expectation for the game ahead. Ditto, the more shots conceded by a team during the match, more corners they’re going to be handing over.
Read the news! Find out which players will be on the pitch, or not. If a team is missing one of their best defenders and therefore they might not be blocking shots as well as usual.
If you think your team is going to use a particular tactic, for example using two attack wingers, you might see more corners.
A team who uses the width of the pitch more will likely win more corners due to more crosses being attempted.
Look into the style of play for each team, as mentioned above. Do they have a history of lots of crosses? More crosses usually mean more corners.
Do they have a history of taking long shots? Long-range shots will mean more opportunity to deflect, and therefore, more potential corners.
It’s worth looking into their fielding style, too. Are the players tall and do they score from set-pieces a lot? If they do, there will be more corners.
Avoid perfectionists. A team who is reserved and pass with accurate skill aren’t likely to give away many corners. Perhaps if you’re clever, you might use this to your advantage for an under bet, although this is really hard to predict so it depends on your betting style if you’re comfortable with this.
Check out the histories between your two teams. They might have a certain overall style, but when it comes to meeting this particular opponent, they might behave another way. If you don’t consider how they’ve done against one another historically, you could be making a fatal error.
Ultimately, you want to bet on a match where you’ve spotted a consistency from both teams on the number of shots they take and concede during an average game.
Within this background check, don’t forget what happens to each team when they’re home and away, as this has a huge impact on goals scored. Teams are naturally very settled on their home turf so they’ll probably have a more confident approach.
Final Word
Corners betting is a really niche market, but hopefully, this article has explained the corners market enough to give you confidence in how to go about the betting markets with gusto.
Any bookmaker will offer decent corner markets. All you need is some in-depth footballing knowledge of the two teams.
This is a secret gem within football markets, but there is no secret formula to getting it right.
