A problem that faces many football fans when betting is that they want to back a team for the win, but the odds are quite short and hence the returns should they win will be far from astronomical.
Fortunately, there are numerous ways to back a team for victory while getting a better price. Popular options include ‘to win to nil’, ‘win with a -1 goal handicap’, and ‘win and both teams to score’. There is also another alternative that many punters sometimes turn to, which is ‘to win both halves’.
For the ‘to win both halves’ market your objective is to pick a team you think will score more goals than their opponents in both the first half and the second half. One way to treat this market is to think of each half as two separate games and ask yourself if you think a team will win both “matches”. There is no consolation prize for backing a team that wins one half but loses or draws the other so it’s very much an all-or-nothing bet.
Remember, it is not the end result that matters but the scoreline of each half, treated independently. If a team takes a 4-1 lead in the first half but the second half is goalless (draw) this is a losing wager. By contrast, if you were to back a team that wins a game 2-0, courtesy of one goal in each half, then you would have yourself a winning bet. So, for this market, you have to consider the likely distribution of goals not just the final result.
Other ‘To Win Both Halves’ Markets
If ‘To Win Both Halves’ isn’t quite what you are after, there are some other relatively close options worthy of consideration.
- Half-time/Full-time – Although this market initially seems to be very similar, there is a major difference. With this, you are betting on a team to be leading at both half-time and full-time. So, if a team takes a 3-0 halftime lead and the full-time result is 3-2 this is a winning bet whereas it would not be for ‘to win both halves’
- To Win Either Half – Less challenging than ‘to win both halves’ as you simply need the selected team to win either the first half or the second half irrespective of the final result
- To Win the First-Half – A simple one this, just pick the team you think will be leading by the time the half-time whistle blows
- To Be Winning at HT or FT – For this market you need to pick a team you think will be winning at either HT or FT (if they are winning at both, it is still a winning bet). So, if you pick a team that trails 0-1 at half-time but ends up winning 2-1, this is a winner
- To Score in Both Halves – Pretty straightforward, you just need to pick a team that will score at least one goal in both halves of the match
To Win Both Halves Betting Rules
To Win Both Halves is so straightforward that it doesn’t really come with any specific rules. Some general football rules may however impact a ‘to win both halves’ bet so it is important to be aware of these.
- Extra Time – This market, like most others, is settled after the full-time whistle (90 minutes plus injury time). Any action that occurs during a period of extra time does not count
- Abandonment – If a game is abandoned, all bets will usually be made void unless they have already been settled as losers (the game is abandoned in the second half but your selected team failed to win the first half)
- Postponement – Policies can vary but generally bets will stand providing the match is only postponed by just a day or two after its original date. For longer delays, most bookmakers will void bets and return punters’ stakes
To Win Both Halves Stats
To give you a little background into the frequency of ‘to win both halves’ we thought it would be useful to take a look at a full season of a popular football league. The chart below includes data from the 2022/23 Premier League season and the teams that saw the highest number of matches in which they won both halves.
During this Premier League season, there were a total of 293 wins of which 83 of them involved the victorious side winning both halves, a rate of 28.6%. So, roughly speaking, if a team does manage to win their match, there is around a one in four chance they win both halves while doing so. Let this be a very general reference point when placing your bets. While it is useful to know the averages, also be aware that there can be significant fluctuations between teams. If you were to look at the table ranked by proportion of victories that saw a team win both halves, it looks distinctly different (top five and bottom five included).
Looking at this chart makes for even more interesting viewing because even though Leicester won few matches (so few, in fact, that they were relegated!), when they did get three points, they often won both halves of the match. By contrast, Tottenham and Fulham had more productive seasons with 18 and 15 wins respectively yet they really struggled to express superiority during both halves.
Although previous season stats often have no bearing on the following season, this is an illustrative example that helps give you some general insight. It is not a particularly unusual season either as looking at the same Bundesliga campaign, you also had outliers like Monchengladbach who won both halves in seven of their 11 victories. By contrast, Union Berlin, who won 18 matches, only won both halves three times. Examples like this show why it’s important to do a little bit of research before placing your bets. Fortunately, finding ‘won both halves’ stats for the latest season is rarely too hard to find.
Strategy
To Win Both Halves can make for a tempting betting market but we have two main tips to consider before wagering your money.
- Look at ‘To Win Both Halves’ stats – It can be tempting to opt for this market because you are just wanting some way of boosting the odds on the match favourite. This would be a rookie move however as data shows that some teams that win regularly struggle to win both halves of the match. A little bit of research will alert you to these potential ‘trap’ teams and instead highlight some better options for you
- Check the opposition – While ‘to win both halves’ data is important to look at, it only helps you learn about the team you are betting on, not the opposition. For this, you will want to look at a table (if a league game) split into the first and second half. By doing this you will be able to see if the opposing team tends to score/concede goals disproportionately in one half or if they perform relatively consistently across both. Ideally, you want the other team to be similarly weak across both