Club World Cup Odds: Bookies Heavily Favor European Teams

Real Madrid are the favorites to win the Club World Cup (CWC), which kicks off on June 14th with Lionel Messi's Inter Milan vs Al Ahly. The full list of odds is at the bottom of this article.

For the first time ever the competition will bring together teams from all six of FIFA’s continental confederations—UEFA (Europe, 12 teams), CONMEBOL (South America, 6 teams), AFC (Asia, 4 teams), CAF (Africa, 4 teams), CONCACAF (North and Central America, 5 teams), and OFC (Oceania, 1 team). 

The teams are competing for bragging rights...and the small matter of a $1 billion prize pool, with the winner set to collect a cool $125 million. That's about the equivalent of one world class player in the current transfer market.

Real Madrid favored to win - again

Not surprisingly the bookies heavily favor the European teams who regularly ran out winners in the CWC's previous "cup format" iteration. Real Madrid have won it five times, while Manchester City are the current title holders. It was last won by a team outside Europe in 2012 when the Brazilian team Corinthians captured the prize.

But the disparity in the odds is startling. The Europeans occupy 11 of the top 12 spots in the odds table, starting with Real Madrid at a 4.1-1. Meanwhile the most favored team outside of Europe is Brazil's Flamengo at 40-1. For those who like a an underdog, Australian team Auckland City are available at 2500-1.

Tired legs provide hope to the rest of the world

The thing that might tempt punters to look beyond Europe is the question mark as to how seriously European teams will take the event. Most are coming off a long hard season and certainly won't want to risk injuries to their star players.

Still, the prize money is certainly worth competing for and Madrid are 'under new management' with Xabi Alonso taking over from Carlo Ancelotti. He'll surely want to make a good first impression along with new signing Trent Alexander-Arnold. Second favorites are Manchester City, who will be hoping to atone for their trophy-less season.

Here's the best price available for each team at time of going to press:

Club World Cup Odds

Oddschecker

The Golden Boot

Meanwhile Kylian Mbappé is 5.5-1 to be top scorer followed closely by Manchester City's Erling Haaland and Bayern Munich's Harry Kane.

We don't have long to wait to find out how right - or wrong - the bookies are.