If you’re looking for an exciting World Cup soccer market, look no further than corners. FIFA World Cup corners betting has experienced an uptick in popularity thanks to the exceptional value on offer.
The reason that this market offers great value is that there are often odds discrepancies which help bettors win more.
To put it into perspective, corners had a major impact on the 2018 FIFA World Cup with no less than 76% of the goals scored from corner kicks determining the match result.
FIFA World Cup Average Corners
An average of 9.5 corner kicks per match were taken in the 2018 World Cup which proved to be slightly less than the previous World Cups, with the average number of corners per game hovering around 10:
| Year | Corners per match |
| 2018 | 9.5 |
| 2014 | 10.4 |
| 2010 | 9.8 |
| 2006 | 10.2 |
| 2002 | 9.7 |
There are various ways to anticipate which World Cup teams are most likely to win corners and which ones are more likely to concede corners.
The core basics of corners are:
- An attacking team needs to have possession
- The team needs to shoot for goal
- The defending team need to deflect the opposing team’s shot
Naturally, there are various other ways for corners to be awarded, but keeping it simple helps us to analyze and assess valuable data such as possession and shots.
Possession
If we look at Brazil’s stats below, you’ll find that they have an average of 58.6% possession in the 2018 World Cup and that they also recorded an average of 8.2 corners per 2018 World Cup match.
Comparing these stats to Sweden with an average of 37.6% possession, we’ll see that they recorded fewer corners – an average of 3.2.
This supports the basic premise that more possession results in more corners and vice versa.
Shots
A positive indicator of offensive dominance is that a team takes a lot of shots. Shots originate from possession and flows to corners, as shots are often deflected or saved which results in a corner.
If you take a look at Germany’s 24 shots per match, the stats correlate with more possession and average corners.
| Team (games) | Corners | Average Corners | Possession | Average Shots |
| Brazil (5) | 41 | 8.2 | 58.6% | 20.8 |
| Croatia (7) | 40 | 5.7 | 56.6% | 16.1 |
| Belgium (7) | 40 | 5.7 | 52.9% | 15.1 |
| England (7) | 39 | 5.6 | 54.4% | 13.4 |
| Switzerland (4) | 26 | 6.5 | 58.8% | 14.3 |
| Russia (5) | 26 | 5.2 | 37.6% | 9.6 |
| Germany (3) | 25 | 8.3 | 72.0% | 24 |
| Spain (4) | 24 | 6.0 | 74.7% | 18 |
When comparing these points in the table, the connection between possession, shots, and corners becomes obvious.
World Cup corners markets
There are a variety of corner betting markets on offer at Sportsbet and Cloudbet. The most basic market is to bet on the total number of corners won by both sides in a match.
A crypto sportsbook will often set a limit of say 10.5 corners, and your bet will be based on whether you think there will be more or fewer corners than this number. Since a team cannot be awarded half a corner, the winning result is limited to just two selections.
Other markets with corner betting rules applied to them include half-time corners, which is the same market as the total number, but the cut-off point is at half time.
Live betting on corners
The fluctuation of odds in live corners betting is a great reason to choose this specific market. It’s widely accepted that corners come in clusters. This doesn’t necessarily mean that one corner will always be followed by another one, but that corners usually come in bursts of 2, 3, or more.
Time intervals
During the 2018 World Cup, more corner kicks were taken in the middle time interval of both halves of the match:
- 107 corners (17.7%) between the 16th and 30th minutes
- 126 (20.8%) between the 61st and 75th minutes
Corners per half
Despite corners kicks in both halves, the second half featured more corners than the first half:
- 1st half – 265 corners (43.7%)
- 2nd half – 341 corners (56.3%)
Historically the most World Cup corner kicks were taken in the first and last 30 minutes of the matches.
Popular corner betting types
Over/Under corners betting
The total number of corner kicks taken during regular time.
Example:
In a match between Brazil and Germany you’ll be able to predict the corners combined will be
Over 8.5 corners (9 or more corners): 1.9
or
Under 8.5 (8 or less corners): 1.8
Handicap corners betting
This bet works the same way as an Asian handicap where one team is given an advantage (+) and the other stronger team a disadvantage (-) to level the playing field. The team that gets the most corners victories.
Example:
Brazil +3 corners: 1.7
Germany -3 corners: 2.1
In this example Germany would have to win 4 or more corners than Brazil for the -3 bet to win. Brazil would have to win more, the same, or anything up to 2 fewer corners than Germany in order for +3 bet to win.
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