Israeli football stars and betting odds

Football is one of, if not the most popular sport in Israel. The national team might not be challenging for the World Cup any time soon, but it has been a formal part of the Asian Football Association since 1955, and FIFA since 1994. In short, it’s an established part of continental and global football. 

For a relatively small country, Israel has certainly produced its fair share of top-class footballers. Former Premier League stalwarts like Yossi Benayoun and Tal Ben Haim immediately come to mind. More recently, we’ve seen an impressive crop of promising players like Manor Solomon, Oscar Gloukh, and Liel Abada burst through, with other pros playing in top leagues across Europe and the Middle East. 

In short, this is an exciting time not merely to be a football fan, but to specifically root for Israeli players. In turn, this has unsurprisingly had a clear and sizable impact on football betting within the country. Here are the three main areas in which this is proving true. 

Match Betting

Many bettors, especially as they’re getting started, will stick purely to betting on specific games. That’s perfectly understandable, since these are short-term wagers, and - arguably - enhance the experience of watching the game in question. 

The problem, of course, is that there’s basically a never ending stream of football, meaning your first challenge is actually deciding what matchup to bet on. 

For Israeli fans, following homegrown stars immediately helps to narrow those many options. If there are 10 games in a typical Premier League weekend, for example, and Manor Solomon has a good chance to play, then Spurs (his current team, at the time of writing) become an immediate target. 

If you want to go further afield, teams like Celtic and RB Salzburg - currently home to Liel Abada and Oscar Gloukh respectively - not only play entertaining (and usually winning) football. They also let you root for, and bet on, young Israeli stars. 

On that note, this approach can also help to guide the specific bet types you use. Rather than simply predicting the match result, all top betting sites nowadays will instead let you take player props, like Anytime Goalscorer, to specifically back an Israeli player. 

Outright Betting

Outright wagers are long-term propositions, usually covering an entire competition. They present fewer options, but are less susceptible to randomness than betting on a single game, in which anything can happen. 

Following Israeli stars can also really guide the betting odds you target here. If they’re playing outside of the Israeli Premier League, their overseas teams can be the first sides you look at for an Outright Winner pick. Take a side like RB Salzburg in the Austrian Bundesliga, for example, and you’ll not only be backing Oscar Gloukh, but also be almost guaranteed to win your wager.

The other main outright option is to predict awards winners. Top Goalscorer is the most straightforward option, but all leagues will also have some form of ‘Player of the Season’ trophy you can bet on. 

Transfer Betting

The popularity of transfer rumours and news has grown massively in the past decade or two. In turn, so has the popularity of betting on player moves. 

Again, prioritising Israeli stars can give you focus here. It’s a simple fact of life that - if a hot prospect is excelling in the Israeli Premier League - they’ll get a move abroad sooner rather than later. While this can be frustrating for fans of the domestic game (and the team involved), betting on the player’s destination can still be both fun and profitable. The trick, of course, is finding the sweet spot between higher betting odds and less trustworthy rumours, versus much lower odds when the player’s move is more-or-less confirmed.