Betting in South America – Football Betting Tips & odds

Betting on the Copa Libertadores – The South American Champions League

The Copa Libertadores, sometimes referred to as just “Copa” or just “Libertadores”, was held for the first time in 1960. The tournament’s record winner is the Argentine top side CA Independiente with seven trophies. Argentina also holds the most titles at 25, followed by Brazil with 21 trophies from which Palmeiras Sao Paulo won two more in 2020 and 2021. A total of seven South American countries have already won this tournament – of all participating countries in South America, only Peru and Venezuela have so far remained without a title. Mexican clubs used to take part in the tournament, but they now play in the North American Football Federation.

The most successful title holders of Copa Libertadores

7              CA Independiente (ARG)
6              Boca Juniors (ARG)
5              Peñarol Montevideo (URU)
4              Estudiantes de la Plata (ARG)
                River Plate (ARG)
3              Club Olimpia (PAR)
                Nacional Montevideo (URU)
                FC Sao Paulo (BRA)
                Gremio Porto Alegre (BRA)
                FC Santos (BRA)
Palmeiras Sao Paulo (BRA)

The Copa Libertadores is characterized by numerous duels ‘David versus Goliath’ and when betting on the largest competition in South America, but also on the smaller Copa Sudamericana, there are a few details to consider that do not exist in Europe. For example, several teams take part in the South American tournaments, whose home stadiums are at 3,000 or 4,000 meters above sea level. These teams, although possibly inferior to the opponent in terms of quality, have a not to be underestimated advantage over the away team due to the thinner air. So it always pays off for pre-game betting as well as for live betting to take a quick look at the venue. Especially at matches in Bolivia or Ecuador, it is conceivable that the away team will run out of air in the course of the second half due to the extreme conditions.

Betting on the Copa Sudamericana

The Copa Sudamericana is the successor to the Copa Mercosur, the Copa Merconorte and the Copa CONMEBOL and has been held since 2002. In this tournament too, the Argentinians are record holders with eight trophies won. Interestingly enough, CA Independiente are current record champions with two titles. The Avellaneda team is on par with the Boca Juniors, who were also victorious twice. As in the Copa Libertadores, there is a large spread of winners and so far teams from seven countries have won a title. Also Mexico, which no longer participates in the tournament. The Boca Juniors are the only team that has managed to defend a title in the Copa Sudamericana so far.

Betting on the Copa América

An extremely traditional competition for South American national teams is the Copa América, which has been held since 1916 and basically takes place every three years, although this concept changes again and again. In 2016, for example, a hundred-year-old tournament was pushed in and it happened that the games were played every two, sometimes even every year. The Copa América is the South American counterpart to the UEFA European Championship and is considered the oldest football tournament in the world.

The most successful title winners in the Copa América

• Uruguay (15)
• Argentina (15)
• Brazil (9)
• Paraguay (2)
• Chile
• Peru
• Colombia
• Bolivia

Due to the small number of participants, there is no qualification stage for the Copa América. However, visiting teams sometimes play along. In the past this was for example the USA, Japan, Jamaica or Qatar. Argentinian Guillermo Stábile, who became the top scorer at the first World Cup in 1930, holds an impressive record: the former star, who died in 1966, won the Copa América six times between 1941 and 1957 as a coach. The “Copa” record goal scorers also played during this time: Argentinian Norberto Méndez and Brazilian Zizinho scored 17 goals each.

In 2021 Argentina won the tournament for the first time in 28 years which was also Lionel Messi’s first big title on international level.

» Bet on Brazilian Serie A now

The Campeonato Brasileiro, often referred to simply as Serie A, is the top division of Brazilian football and one of the largest pools for young talents and uprising stars. The league has been held since 1971 and comprises 20 teams that play for the title in 38 games. The predecessor of the league, the Taca Brasil, which was held from 1959, is now also recognized in the title statistics. Record champions are Palmeiras from Sao Paulo with ten titles won, followed by FC Santos with eight and the Corinthians Sao Paulo with seven trophies.

Atlético Mineiro – Cruzeiro: betting on the Mineiro derby

The Clássico Mineiro is the 100 year old derby between Atlético Mineiro and Cruzeiro, the two arch rivals from Belo Horizonte. The game has been played nearly 500 times and is considered one of the hottest derbies in all of South America. With around 2.70 goals per game, the goal per game average of the Mineiro derby is ordinary in comparison. However, the stands are far beyond average and between the 1960s and 1980s there were eight clashes between these two teams, which attracted more than 100,000 spectators. The record dates from 1969 with 123,300 viewers. Since this is one of the wildest derbies ever, live betting on cards is recommended, but also on general foul statistics. Friendliness and fair play are absolute rarities at Clássico Mineiro.

The Primera División, also known as Superliga Argentina, is the top division in Argentine football. The league contains numerous clubs with a long tradition, but has always been characterized by the big city duel of the capital Buenos Aires between the Boca Juniors and River Plate. In the league, which was held for the first time in 1891, there are seven teams that have been champions at least ten times.

Club Universitario – betting on “La U” from Lima

As in other countries, the university club from the Peruvian capital Lima is mainly called “La U”. The club plays in the 80,000-seat Estadio Monumental “U” and is the Peruvian record champion with 26 championship titles. In the newer era of football, the team was not particularly successful and the club rather lives from successes from the past. In the 1960s alone, Universitario was a five-time champion, in 1972 the club made it to the final of the Copa Libertadores. A statistical peculiarity of the Peruvian record holder are the few goals conceded in front of their home crowd. Away in the Ate district in eastern Lima, it is extremely difficult for opponents to score.

Alianza Lima – betting on the most popular club in Peru

The most popular and largest club in Peru is also something like the secret record champion: The Club Alianza Lima has won 23 championship titles so far and is just behind Universitario in the all-time list of the best. The Blanquiazules are secret record champions: Between 1978 and 1997 there was not a single title, which is also due to the fact that the entire Alianza Lima team was killed in a plane crash in 1987 and the club took a long time to digest this accident. In Copa Libertadores they made it to two semi-finals in the 1970s – before the crash. Alianza is also the number one steppingstone in the Andean state: players like Teófilo Cubillas, Jefferson Farfán, Paolo Guerrero and Claudio Pizarro took their first steps here before moving to Europe. In contrast to the rather minimalist archrival Universitario, there is always a lot going on at Alianza, there are more goals on average and just like the rival from Ate, Alianza is traditionally a very strong team at home.

Peñarol – Betting on the “master of the century” from Uruguay

Uruguay is the only country in the world in which all the championships ever played have been won by capital clubs. The most successful and largest of these clubs are Peñarol, which has so far won 50 championship titles and was named the South American “champion of the century” at the turn of the millennium. The club from the Uruguayan capital is the club with the most titles and has also been extremely successful in international competitions. The club won the Copa Libertadores five times. Some Uruguayan world champions, such as the legendary Alcides Ghiggia, started their careers here and later moved to major European clubs. Despite a few exceptions, Peñarol still plays practically for every Uruguayan championship title. The team is exceptionally strong at home, sometimes losing no home game over entire seasons, barely conceding goals and is playing particularly aggressive in front of their home crowd. With the traditionally dynamic, very running-intensive style of play, they are also seen as an explosively attacking counter team in away games.

Nacional Montevideo – Betting on Uruguay’s Tricolores

Uruguay’s second major club is no less successful than Peñarol: Nacional won 47 national championships and was even more successful than Peñarol after the turn of the millennium. The Blue, White and Red won the Copa Libertadores three times. Uruguay’s world champions team from 1930 consisted largely of players from Nacional: Among others, Uruguay’s “Black Wonder” José Leandro Andrade played for the club for six years. In 2013, Nacional fans caused a sensation when they presented the world’s largest roll-over flag in a Copa Libertadores game. It weighed 5,000 kilograms and needed 400 fans to move it. So here too it is obvious that Nacional Montevideo is a very strong team at home, although the home dominance is not as strong as Peñarol’s. Nacional is also the more pragmatic of the two top teams, which tends to appear with a more conservative game concept. In their home games in particular, there are slightly fewer goals than at Peñarol, which celebrates more goal festivals compared to their biggest city rivals.

Peñarol – Nacional: Betting on the Uruguayan classic

Together, Peñarol and Nacional won 97 national championships: an international record for two archrivals. The next best club won just four titles in Uruguay’s Primera División. It is therefore obvious that the meeting of these two teams is called Clásico del fútbol uruguayo. With the first direct duel in 1900, this game is considered one of the oldest football rivalries outside the UK. The classic has already been played over 530 times and Peñarol leads the overall balance. At just under 32%, a fairly large percentage of derbies end in a draw. An average of 2.45 goals per game makes this duel of the big rivals a “low scoring game” today, especially because the high-scoring games between these two clubs took place in the more recent history. The Superclásico between River Plate and the Boca Juniors in nearby Buenos Aires can only compare the importance of the Uruguayan Clásico in South America. In view of the practically permanently heated situation between the two clubs, live bets are recommended here, including many yellow cards and possibly expulsions.

Club Bolivar – The Strongest: Clásico Paceño

We also present the most important duels and derbies from two smaller soccer nations. We start in Bolivia, where the rivalry between Club Bolivar and The Strongest, the two largest clubs in the capital, La Paz, is one of the oldest rivalries in all of South America. This encounter is known as Clásico Paceño. Here Bolivar is the clearly more successful team that won almost twice as many championships as the opponent and are considered the international flagship of Bolivia. After almost 400 derbies played, the goal scoring per game is almost exactly 3.00. The hot duel between the two clubs from the capital La Paz, located at 3,625 meters above sea level, is therefore on average one of the highest-scoring derbies on the continent. For example, the first Clásico of 2020 went to Club Bolivar in a spectacular 5-4.

Aucas – LDU de Quito: Capital classic of Ecuador

The derby in the Ecuadorian capital Quito between SD Aucas and LDU de Quito is known as the Superclásico de Quito. The first direct duel took place in 1945 and it therefor is a young derby. Alongside the Clásico de Astillero in the somewhat more successful soccer city of Guayaquil, the Quito derby is one of two most important games in the country. In terms of strength, this is a very clear derby because LDU de Quito is the generally much more successful team and also wins more than twice as many derbies as Aucas. With just under 2.85 goals per game, this is also a derby in which a relatively large number of goals are scored.

Barcelona – Emelec: Betting on the Clásico de Astillero

The derby of the Ecuadorian soccer city of Guayaquil is also a young one and was held for the first time in 1943. Compared to the Quito derby, the Clásico de Astillero has the greater value in terms of sports. Barcelona Guayaquil and Club Sport Emelec are the two teams with the most national titles, especially since the turn of the millennium Emelec clearly has the upper hand. In the overall balance, however, Barcelona is (still) slightly in the lead and about every third derby ends in a tie. Historically, it is one of the tightest and most balanced derbies in the world. Even the goal difference between the two teams occasionally changes the overall leader. In contrast to many other Ecuadorian classics, the Guayaquil derby with an average of 2.30 goals per game is one in which caution, fight and toughness dominate. FIFA lists the port city’s traditional derby as one of the classic rivalries on the continent. Even though the two clubs from the sea largely dominate Ecuadorian league history, the team from the lowlands is often at a disadvantage in away games against teams from Quito, located at 2,850 meters, due to the thin air.