The Sport Loved Worldwide
European Football is the world’s most popular sport. Millions of fans watch from every corner, root for their favorite teams, watch the television, and see their favorite players battle. Sometimes it’s their local league or they are watching their heroes from across the world dribbling pass defenders and shooting goals on a foreign pitch. Ultimately, people will bet on these matches for these exact reasons. From huge wins to extreme accumulators that don’t just seem to defy odds (check out odds for euros), but break statistics; there has been some incredible stories.
The Accumulators
From the top of the list, would be the “unknown person”. The unnamed scored over half a million pounds to himself and goes down in history as the most successful bet, particularly for football. At exactly 683,739 pounds won, he placed just a one pound bet himself. The unknown named gentleman won on a 19 game accumulator that ended with a goal from Glen Johnson of Liverpool. In 2011, after Johnson scored that goal, the odds of this outcome were weighed at 683,738/1. Coming in at second, would be a wager placed in 2001. This was 500,000 pounds received for a 30p bet. Again, this bet was an accumulator that got up to 14. The odds were in fact even higher at 1,666,666/1, This wager ended with Bayern Munich defeating Valencia in the UEFA Champions League final. What’s truly incredible is this was the second large haul from the same gentleman. In 1999, he won a £157,000 that included Manchester United to win the Champions League. This was a 14 game accumulator that started with just a £2.50 bet.
The Million Pound Competition
When speaking statistically, these two gentlemen had some of the highest odds against them, and two of the most successful accumulators in history. When talking sports betting though, and specifically football, obviously it is about how much money you made at the end of the day. For a common middle or lower class citizen, becoming a millionaire is all too surreal. Daman Chick was a bathroom fitter at the time who placed his bet on Ederzito António Macedo Lopes, a man who goes by Eder commonly. Thirty-two year old Daman Check wagered on the 84th minute he would score the goal and that was the closest bet in the Million Pound Goal competition. Portuguese striker Eder went on to help Portugal win against France in the Euro 2016 final, and Chick brought home 1.43 million dollars. Whether you’re a fan of betting or of football, some incredible history has been made.
