The increasing popularity of the English Premiership and European football in general has seen betting on football explode over recent years and now accounts for more than half the sports bets placed at online bookmakers. Football advertising has grown to new heights with sports betting companies clambering over themselves to sponsor different aspects of the beautiful game. This has led to many more betting related advertisements around the side of football pitches to Bet365 sponsoring various football programs on Sky Sports and Blue Square even lending its name to a whole division!

As the biggest and most popular team sport in the world, it's no surprise that online bookmakers focus so much attention onto football betting. With so many fans around the world it's also no surprise that online bookmakers have developed so many different types of football bets for us all to bet on. Popular football bets include predicting the first goalscorer, a correct score or the total number of goals scored in a match. PaddyPower have even developed moneyback specials that refund losing bets if certain conditions are met. This includes refunding losing bets if the last goal was scored with a volley.

A recent development has been in-running betting where punters are able to bet on football matches after they've started. Basically an online bookmaker constantly adjust their odds on a match to reflect developments on the pitch. Betting can then be done right up to the final whistle and opens up a whole new world of football betting opportunities.

Another online betting company worth mentioning is Betfair, who's odds are regularly used on sports programs to highlight the opinion of punters from around the world. Football betting is definitely at the core of every online bookmakers portfolio with horse racing the only other real contender. Football betting surges around the time of large tournaments like the World Cup or the European Championships with betting on the English Premiership and Champions League also drawing massive interest.

Another major factor to in the increase in football betting can be attributed to all the free football bets that online bookmakers have started to offer. With so many online bookmakers competing for our custom, free bets were introduced as a way to incentivise us all into opening new betting accounts. This is great news for punters, especially those opening many different accounts to be able to bet with the bookmakers offering the best odds. Check out all of the latest free bets being offered by all the online bookmakers we feature.

What ever type of football bet you like to place you can be sure that all the online bookmakers that we feature have been thoroughly tested and represent the cream of the crop when it comes to betting on football. Check out our online bookmaker reviews to help you decide which bookmaker is right for you. Our handy guide to online betting is also worth a look at if your totally new to betting online and want to understand the basics.