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How accurate are the Copa Libertadores odds?

The closing prices of 749 finished games since Tue 13 Jul 2021, set against what happened: the chance the market gave, with the bookmakers' margin removed, next to how often it came in. A record of what the market did, not a tip.

The market's record

749 games, 2 bookmakers
  • Closing favourite won 58% 431 of 749 games
  • Market Brier score 0.532 0 is perfect; a coin flip scores 0.667
  • Average closing payout 93.6% 100% minus the bookmakers' margin
  • Games covered 749 Tue 13 Jul 2021 to Fri 16 Oct 2026

6 of the 755 games finished in that time are left out: no bookmaker had a closing price on every outcome.

Market chance against what happened

0-10% chance: happened 4.2% of 142 selections 10-20% chance: happened 10.0% of 379 selections 20-30% chance: happened 25.5% of 655 selections 30-40% chance: happened 34.4% of 459 selections 40-50% chance: happened 49.1% of 212 selections 50-60% chance: happened 54.8% of 146 selections 60-70% chance: happened 66.4% of 125 selections 70-80% chance: happened 83.5% of 79 selections 80-90% chance: happened 95.6% of 45 selections 100% 0%
Market said 0%100%
Happened
Market chancePriceSelectionsMarket saidHappenedDiff
0-10% 10.00 or longer 142 7.1% 4.2% -2.9 pts
10-20% 5.00 to 10.00 379 15.4% 10.0% -5.4 pts
20-30% 3.33 to 5.00 655 25.7% 25.5% -0.2 pts
30-40% 2.50 to 3.33 459 33.7% 34.4% +0.7 pts
40-50% 2.00 to 2.50 212 44.9% 49.1% +4.2 pts
50-60% 1.67 to 2.00 146 55.0% 54.8% -0.2 pts
60-70% 1.43 to 1.67 125 64.4% 66.4% +2.0 pts
70-80% 1.25 to 1.43 79 75.2% 83.5% +8.3 pts
80-90% 1.11 to 1.25 45 83.1% 95.6% +12.5 pts

Every priced outcome of every game is one selection. "Market said" is the bookmakers' average implied probability with the margin removed; "Happened" is how often that outcome came in. On the diagonal the market was right on average; above it, that kind of result happened more often than the prices said. Bands with fewer than 30 selections are left out.

Home, draw and away

OutcomeMarket saidHappenedDiff
Home win 48.8% 49.9% +1.1 pts
Draw 25.7% 26.8% +1.1 pts
Away win 25.4% 23.2% -2.2 pts

The market's average closing chance for each outcome over all 749 games against the share of games it won, settled on the regular-time score. "Home" is the first-named side.

Bookmaker accuracy

lower is better
BookmakerGamesBrier scorevs market averagePayout
Unibet 630 0.516 -0.001 92.7%
Bet365 702 0.530 +0.003 94.4%

Each bookmaker's own closing prices, margin removed, scored against the results of the games it priced; "vs market average" compares it with the bookmakers' average on the same games, so a negative figure means its prices were the closer. Bookmakers with fewer than 50 priced games are left out. Differences of a few thousandths are noise; a much higher score usually means the bookmaker's last price was captured well before the start, so it is the price in our archive being scored, not the trader.

Odds accuracy FAQ

How accurate are Copa Libertadores odds?
Across 749 finished Copa Libertadores games since 2021, the closing favourite won 58% of the time. The market's closing chance, with the bookmakers' margin removed, gave the home side 48.8% on average and home wins happened 49.9% of the time. The bands above show the same comparison price by price: a well-calibrated market has outcomes happening about as often as its prices say.
What is a Brier score?
The squared distance between the chances a bookmaker's prices gave and what happened, averaged over games: 0 would be perfect foresight, and on a three-way market a coin-flip price scores 0.667. The market average's closing prices score 0.532 in this league; the lowest single bookmaker is Unibet at 0.516. Differences of a few thousandths between bookmakers are noise, not skill.
Does a well-calibrated market mean the odds cannot be beaten?
Calibration says the market is right on average, not on every game. A band where outcomes happened more often than the prices said is where the closing market under-priced that kind of result over these seasons, which is often the draw or the outsider. The bookmaker's margin, about 6.4% here, still has to be cleared: the closing line value calculator shows what a price needs to beat.