First Goalscorer Bet

What is the most famed position on the football field? Go on, have a think. Most people would probably say a striker – they are usually the ones scoring the goals, and when it comes to football betting, it is all about the goals.

Were you aware of how many First Goalscorer Betting Sites there are in 2024 with excellent promotions?

Best First Goalscorer Betting Sites

From our research, we have found the best First Goalscorer Betting Sites.

Popular Football Bet

It is little wonder that online bookmakers now offer a whole range of goalscorer betting markets to their punters, one of which being a first goalscorer bet.

We are going to take a look at the first goalscorer market bets in more detail, so you know exactly what it is and what it involves, which markets offer the highest odds, the terms involved and some of the most frequently asked questions around these markets.

The basic idea behind the first goalscorer market is that you are quite literally placing a bet on which player will score the first goal.

The bookmakers will offer prices for any player with a chance of starting the game, and as you can imagine, some of these players will come with big odds, which is what attracts punters to these goalscorer markets and encourage them to place first goalscorer bets.

What Happens If your First Goalscorer Doesn’t Start the Game?

You are probably wondering what happens if you place a bet on a potential first goalscorer only to find that they are on the bench at the beginning of the game. After all, if they are not playing, they can’t possibly score the first goal, so you have wasted your bet, right?

WRONG.

Punters can breathe a sigh of relief because if they back a player who stays on the bench for the entire game, or only comes on after another player scores, their bet will be considered void, and their stake will be refunded back to their account.

What Happens If the Game Ends With No Goals?

In the first goalscorer betting market, there is almost always an option to place a bet on there being no goals in a game, so if you do back a particular player to score the first goal, and it ends in a 0-0 draw, you have lost your bet.

Do Own Goals Count in the First Goalscorer Betting Market?

When it comes to the first goalscorer betting market, own goals are not counted. If the first goal is an own goal, and the player you bet on was the second one of the game, your bet is a winner, and you will receive a payout on your bets,

Is there Another Goalscorer Market to Bet On?

In the goalscorer market, there are plenty of variations so you can really customise your goalscorer bet, and can even combine various bets to maximise your chances of a successful bet.

For example, you can combine two players to score the first goal in the double chance market, or combine the first goalscorer bets with a correct score bet, or even who will be the second goalscorer.

A popular variation of the first goalscorer bets is an each-way bet, which, as the name suggests, allows you to bet on a goalscorer each way for the first goal, effectively giving you two bets and increasing the odds of you winning.

Goalscorer Markets

Here are some of them in a little more detail:

  • Scorecast: Scorecast is a type of market where your chosen betting site combines a first goalscorer bet with a correct score wager. In this variation, scorecast bets will only pay out if the player you have chosen scores first and your predicted final score proves to be correct at the end of the game.
    Because of this, they usually have higher odds than either individual correct score or first goalscorer bets because of the accumulator effect.
  • Wincast: A wincast bet is similar to a scorecast bet in that it requires the punter to make a prediction on the first player to score a goal in that days game and which team will win, but not the exact score of the game.
    Because of this, they are easier to win than a scorecast bet but do have lower odds.
  • Timecast: A timecast wager is as it says in the name – punters can place bets on which team will score first and at what point. For example, it might be that Manchester City scores the first goal in the first 32 minutes of the game.
  • Last goalscorer: Again, this is exactly as the name describes. Rather than place a bet on the first goalscorer, you are placing a bet on the last one of the game. These are particularly good if you are backing a sub to come off the bench!
  • Anytime goalscorer: Where first and last goalscorer bets only pay out on one particular player per match, an anytime goalscorer wager will pay out on any player that scores a goal during the game at any point. However, the odds for these are obviously a lot lower than the first and last markets.

Strategy

What strategy should you be taking when getting involved in goalscorer betting?

You will find that there are pretty decent odds on most players in the first goalscorer betting market, which can be very tempting, but online bookmakers are not going to be taking any chances with the goalscorer market and are obviously not going to be giving you any big chances with the odds on the obvious players – you can probably forget getting much back from placing first goalscorer bets on players such as Gareth Bale and Christiano Ronaldo!

What you need to be doing with these bets are looking strategically and at game tactics. Think about which position scores most of the goals in a football game – it is a striker, right? Their odds are likely to be lower.

The next position along from the goal is the midfielder, and then the defender. The general rule of thumb is the closer they are to the goal they are playing towards, the lower the odds on them scoring.

Tips for Goalscorer Betting

What you need to be doing is keeping a very watchful eye out on a change of role or position for a player, and placing your bet on them being the first goalscorer.

Sometimes a football manager can switch things up by playing a centre half as a centre forward or allowing a defender to take a penalty or playing a different system altogether.

Keep an eye out because if your player scores first, you are in for some serious cash, especially if the odds were high!

Another thing to take into consideration is their approach to the game. Teams approach that days game depending on how they are standing in their league tables. They may be happy with a draw, so take on a less attacking attitude than usual, or maybe they need to up their goal difference so play a more attacking role. This will have an impact on whether they are likely to be the first goalscorer.

The final thing that you need to think about your bet on the first goalscorer is the home advantage. It doesn’t matter what teams are playing; statistically, the side playing at home in that days match is more likely to score the first goal, so factor this into your first goalscorer bet strategy.

As a whole, the odds for these types of bets are calculated by looking at the current form of the team, past match data and statistics, the goals scored in past matches and player stats, so if you have an analytical eye, it is worth spending some time looking through them and decide whom you are going to back!

James has over two decades of experience in the sports betting industry. From owning racehorses to winning multiple iGaming awards he uses his experience to research the bookmaker's best free bets and try to help punters get the highest sign up offers.