There is no doubt that football is now a global game and it is also a year-
round game. Barely had the season finished at the start of June, with Liverpool claiming the Champions League title for the sixth time after their 2-0 win over Tottenham, than a bunch of international tournaments across the world all began to get underway.
The African Cup of Nations is still very much in progress with the final between Senegal and Algeria still to come, but for many top footballers, now is the time that the hard work of pre-season begins as they work towards the start of the new season, which gets underway across Europe at various points throughout August.
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Of course, it is a busy time too for punters who will use the end of season period to take stock of their team and how they performed last season, who they have added to the squad or lost from it over the summer and then whether to place a bet on them to win their league this coming season. Betting on which team wins the league is very popular across Europe and because of this bet365 Sport have developed a brand new offer precisely for these types of bets.
League Winner Early Payout Offer
With bet365’s League Winner Early Payout Offer, simply place a bet on the To Win Outright market on any team from selected leagues up to and including Friday 13th September 2019, and if the team you back takes a lead of 10 points or more in their league, and all teams have played the same number of games, we will settle your bet early as a winner.
Offer applies to bets on the To Win Outright market for the 2019/20 season for teams from the English Premier League, English Championship, English League 1, English League 2, Scottish Premiership, Scottish Championship, Scottish League One, Scottish League Two, German Bundesliga I, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga and French Ligue 1. If your team is leading the league and the other teams have games in hand but cannot get to within 10 points of your team by winning those games, we will settle your bet early as a winner.
This offer will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out the bet will be settled on, and this offer shall apply to, the remaining active stake. If a qualifying bet is amended using your Edit Bet feature prior to 23:59:59 UK Time on Friday 13th September 2019 the bet will be settled on, and the offer shall apply to, the new selection and/or stake. This offer will not apply if your qualifying bet is amended using out Edit Bet feature after 23:59:59 UK Time on Friday 13th September 2019.
T&Cs apply. Only available to new and eligible customers.
If you are going to have a bet on which team will win their respective league or division, which are the teams you should be backing? Well we are going to leave the Premier League alone for the moment as we have a special full-length season preview coming up for you in a couple of weeks, but we will have a quick look ahead to some of the other top English league’s and who will be the main contenders in each for the season ahead.
English Championship Winners
This year’s Championship should be a very keenly contested competition with the likes of Leeds United, Fulham, Cardiff City, Stoke City, West Brom and Middlesbrough amongst the names being linked with a real tilt at winning the title.
Last season, it was Norwich City who claimed the honour and promotion to the Premier League and it seems likely that the teams listed above, if all goes well, should be in contention. Derby are a team to watch too having appointed Philip Cocu to the post of manager, although it will be interesting to see how they get on without a number of stars that were on loan at the Rams last season.
Nottingham Forest are another exciting team to watch with a new manager now at the helm and having a significant investment behind them. They have failed to turn this into a dominating performance in the Championship as yet, but they are certainly one team worth keeping an eye on.
Our tip however is Stoke City. After a poor campaign last year with far too many drawn games, I think the Potteries side are well set with a very talented squad to put on a much better display this time around and at 12/1 with bet365, they are a decent value bet.
League One – Division Winners
Two names really stand out for me in this division as the teams to watch and 
they are Sunderland, beaten in last year’s playoff final by Charlton, and Ipswich Town who were relegated into this league after a poor season in the Championship.
Sunderland look set to really push for promotion this year and with their home support, they will be tough to beat, although I do feel they need to improve on the road. Ipswich will be bolstered in attack by the acquisition of James Norwood from Tranmere who netted 31 League Goals last season for Rovers in League Two and who will spearhead the Ipswich attack.
Other teams to watch closely include newly promoted Lincoln City and MK Dons, while Peterborough United and Rotherham should also be there or thereabouts.
For me though, I think this could be a battle between Portsmouth and Doncaster for the title and I fancy Pompey to go on and take the top spot at 7/1 with bet365.
League Two – Division Winners
There’s going to be some interesting action in League Two this season with what looks likely to be a very evenly contested title race. The likes of Bradford, Mansfield Town, Plymouth Argyle and even newly promoted Salford City are being highly regarded by the bookmakers and I think they could all feature in the title race at some point.
For me though, the team to watch in this league are one of the more mid-level teams as rated by bet365 and they are Forest Green Rovers. The 16/1 shots were defeated by Tranmere Rovers in the playoffs last season after narrowly missing out on promotion and Mark Cooper has his team playing some very nice football.
They have some good players and I think Forest Green Rovers are a very good value bet to back as Champions of League two this season.