Ahead of Euro 2024, Betby has supplied Gambling Insider with exclusive data on the curtain calls of the European club football season – the Europa League and, more importantly Champions League, finals.

Share per team

But it was a very contrasting tale for sports betting companies on Betby’s partner network, with Real Madrid’s predicted victory seeing almost 75% of the money backing the now-15-time champions.

The Europa League, conversely, saw over 85% of the money backing Bayer Leverkusen – who duly lost 3-0, making it a profitable day for the brands utilising the sportsbook supplier’s solution.

Live vs pre-match betting

The Champions League and Europa League final also saw differing trends in the in-play betting markets. Indeed, Real Madrid’s 2-0 win against Dortmund saw most bets placed pre-match, according to Betby data, with over 67% of turnover also coming from pre-match wagering.

In the Europa League final, while the majority of bets were, again, pre-match, the actual money wagered was almost 50-50. This means those betting ‘live,’ or in-play, were betting bigger.

One possible reason for this is Atalanta’s fast start, convincing many who had backed Bayer Leverkusen before the game to try and recoup their losses on the other team.

Bets by market

How were players betting overall, and on which markets?

Betby’s data shows us that the 1X2 market remains king for both bets and turnover (although less so here).

In the Champions League final, over 53% of bettors opted for the 1X2 market (which means win, draw or loss). This dwarfed the under 5% of wagers on which team will win the final. Clearly, bettors are more excited by the prospect of seeing a winner within 90 minutes and are happy to risk losing their bet if the match goes to extra time (neither did).

In the Europa League final, there was a greater percentage of bets on the totals market. This may have been due to Bayer Leverkusen’s unbeaten record and bettors expecting the German team to win heavily.

In-play, this may have also been linked to Atalanta’s convincing start, with bettors guessing whether they would score more or less than the three goals they ended up netting.

Player markets

Betby’s data also shows us which of Europe’s players were most bet on. Betby measured the top 10 in each final; we have compiled a combined list of the top 10 that took the greatest percentage of bets or turnover in their respective matches.