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How accurate are the Europa Conference League odds?

The closing prices of 1,781 finished games since Thu 30 Sep 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

1,781 games, 2 bookmakers
  • Closing favourite won 58% 1,041 of 1,781 games
  • Market Brier score 0.541 0 is perfect; a coin flip scores 0.667
  • Average closing payout 92.9% 100% minus the bookmakers' margin
  • Games covered 1,781 Thu 30 Sep 2021 to Thu 15 Oct 2026

206 of the 1,987 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 5.3% of 319 selections 10-20% chance: happened 15.1% of 935 selections 20-30% chance: happened 23.5% of 1,854 selections 30-40% chance: happened 35.2% of 685 selections 40-50% chance: happened 46.3% of 529 selections 50-60% chance: happened 63.7% of 377 selections 60-70% chance: happened 62.6% of 302 selections 70-80% chance: happened 73.7% of 232 selections 80-90% chance: happened 92.1% of 101 selections 100% 0%
Market said 0%100%
Happened
Market chancePriceSelectionsMarket saidHappenedDiff
0-10% 10.00 or longer 319 7.0% 5.3% -1.7 pts
10-20% 5.00 to 10.00 935 15.4% 15.1% -0.3 pts
20-30% 3.33 to 5.00 1,854 25.5% 23.5% -2.0 pts
30-40% 2.50 to 3.33 685 34.2% 35.2% +1.0 pts
40-50% 2.00 to 2.50 529 44.8% 46.3% +1.5 pts
50-60% 1.67 to 2.00 377 55.1% 63.7% +8.6 pts
60-70% 1.43 to 1.67 302 64.7% 62.6% -2.1 pts
70-80% 1.25 to 1.43 232 74.8% 73.7% -1.1 pts
80-90% 1.11 to 1.25 101 84.3% 92.1% +7.8 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 46.3% 48.3% +2.0 pts
Draw 23.6% 22.3% -1.3 pts
Away win 30.1% 29.3% -0.8 pts

The market's average closing chance for each outcome over all 1,781 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 1,627 0.539 +0.001 93.1%
Bet365 1,666 0.542 0.000 92.8%

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 Europa Conference League odds?
Across 1,781 finished Europa Conference League 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 46.3% on average and home wins happened 48.3% 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 0.541 in this league; the lowest single bookmaker is Unibet at 0.539. 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 7.1% here, still has to be cleared: the closing line value calculator shows what a price needs to beat.