You Can Bet on English Europa Woes

Posted by Rob Shepherd on Wednesday, March 1, 2017

For anyone who loves betting on football, the holy grail is successfully betting on the underdog. Not only do you get a lot of satisfaction from predicting something no-one thought was possible but you also get amazing odds which will really boost your bankroll.

It is quite a strange stat that English clubs really struggle to impose themselves in the Europa League with only Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea winning Europe’s 2nd tier competition. But why is that?

Part of the reason could be the dreaded 2nd season syndrome, teams so often fail to replicate the previous seasons form which saw them qualify for Europe. Another reason and one that I suspect is true, is that English clubs underestimate their continental cousins.

Because of the prestige and reputation of English clubs the odds offered for English clubs don’t really reflect the likelihood of them winning, betting on the English clubs losing at least one of the legs could be very profitable.

This was highlighted in this seasons Europa with Tottenham losing to lowly Gent, the odds on this happening was over 12-1. Tottenham have a star studded team with players such as Harry Kane, Dele Ali, Christian Eriksen and Hugo Lloris in their ranks. This year wasn’t a fluke though, as you will see in this article, English clubs have long underperformed in this competition.

English Clubs History in the Europa League

2009-2010

This was the first year of the Europa League having changed from the UEFA Cup which ran from 2004 – 2009. Three English teams progressed to the group stage, Liverpool, Fulham and Everton. Aston Villa had already been knocked out on away goals in the play-off round by losing away at Rapid Wien 1-0 and winning at home 2-1.

Everton went out at the round of 32 to Sporting CP, winning the home leg 2-1 before a 3-0 collapse away from home.

Liverpool went out in the semi-finals after extra time on the away goal rule. Losing 1-0 to Atlético Madrid in Madrid and winning 2-1 at Anfield.

Fulham went all the way to the final and even to extra time before Atlético Madrid won 2-1.

2010-2011

This year saw two English clubs in the competition, Liverpool and Manchester City. Both went out in the round of 16. Manchester City lost 2-1 on aggregate to Dynamo Kyiv, losing 2-0 away and winning 1-0 at home.

Probably the biggest shock was Liverpool losing to Braga 1-0 on aggregate, losing 1-0 away and a 0-0 draw at home. Braga are currently ranked 53 in the UEFA rankings.

2011-2012

There were six English teams this year, Manchester United, Fulham, Tottenham, Manchester City, Stoke City and Birmingham.

Tottenham, Fulham and Birmingham City failed to get past the group stage.

Tottenham lost 2 games and finished third in their group. Losing to PAOK (58th in UEFA rankings) and Rubin Kazan (44th in UEFA rankings).

Birmingham lost 2 games and finished third in their group. Losing to Braga home and away (53rd in UEFA rankings).

Fulham lost 2 games and finished third in their group. Losing to Twente (142nd in UEFA rankings) and Wisła Kraków (138th in UEFA rankings).

Stoke went out in the round of 32, losing both legs 1-0 to Valencia (21st in UEFA rankings)

Manchester United lost both legs in their round of 16 game to Athletic Bilbao (27th in UEFA rankings) 2-3 and 2-1.

Manchester City went out on away goals after losing the away leg 1-0 and winning the home tie 3-2 against Sporting CP (54th in UEFA rankings)

2012-2013

This is the year that Chelsea won the tournament. Also in the competition this year were Tottenham, Liverpool and Newcastle United.

Liverpool went out in the round of 32 on away goals to Zenit Saint Petersburg (18th in UEFA rankings). Losing the away leg 2-0 before winning the home leg 3-1.

Tottenham reached the quarter-finals in which they lost on penalties to Basel (22nd in UEFA rankings).

Newcastle also reached the quarter finals, they lost to Benfica (8th in UEFA rankings) 3-1 away and drew 1-1 at home.

2013-2014

3 English clubs participated in the Europa League, Tottenham, Swansea and Wigan.

Wigan failed to make it past the group stage and only won 1 of their 6 games. They suffered losses against Zulte Waregem (132nd in UEFA rankings), Rubin Kazan (44th in UEFA rankings) and Maribor (94th in UEFA rankings).

Swansea City went out in the round of 32, they progressed past the group stage despite suffering two defeats. They lost at home and away to Valencia (21st in UEFA rankings). In the round of 32 they were held 0-0 at home and lost away to Napoli 3-1 (16th in UEFA rankings).

Tottenham steamrolled their way through the group stage winning all 6 games. In the round of 32 they met Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (35th in UEFA rankings). Tottenham lost the away leg 1-0 but at White Hart Lane they secured a 3-1 win.

In the round of 16 they met Benfica (8th in UEFA rankings) and lost 3-1 at home and drew the return leg 2-2 to go out 3-5 on aggregate.

2014 – 2015

Tottenham, Liverpool and Everton were the English contingent this year. Hull City were knocked out at the third qualifying round losing to Trenčín (202nd in UEFA rankings).

Tottenham only managed to reach the round of 32, losing 2-0 in Fiorentina (23rd in UEFA rankings) and drawing 0-0 at home.

Liverpool also fell at the same stage with Turkish team Beşiktaş (52nd in UEFA rankings) winning on penalties after beating Liverpool at home after Losing at Anfield 0-0.

Everton reached the round of 16, after winning 2-1 at home they lost 5-2 at Dynamo Kyiv (24th in UEFA rankings).

2015-2016

This year saw sweeping changes brought in, the main one was that the winners of the Europa League would qualify for the following year’s Champions League.

Tottenham, Liverpool, Manchester United and Southampton entered the competition this year.

Southampton only reached the play-off round where they were beaten by Midtjylland (119th in UEFA rankings) 2-1 on aggregate after a 1-1 draw at home and a 1-0 defeat away.

Tottenham reached the round of 16 after topping their group. They did lose to Qarabağ (106th in UEFA rankings) in the group stage. In the round of 16 they lost to Borussia Dortmund (7th in UEFA rankings) 3-0 away and also 2-1 at home.

Manchester United went through the round of 32 stage by beating Midtjylland (119th in UEFA rankings). This was despite losing the away leg 2-1 before winning at home 5-1. They lost to Liverpool in the round of 16.

Liverpool went all the way to the final losing to serial winners Sevilla.

So as you can see, even when English clubs do well, it’s not unusual to see them lose at least one leg to teams they would be expected to beat. As Jose Mourinho stated recently about Manchester United being in the tournament, “It’s not a competition we want to be in”, does this indifference filter through to the players?