French Ligue 1 Soccer Betting Guide for 2024

Ligue 1 has been and continues to be home to some big names in soccer. This is our detailed betting guide to the best league in France.

French Ligue 1 betting in Canada is particularly important because there’s a shared heritage with that country. On this page, you will see:

What the best Ligue 1 betting sites are
Popular wagers and types of odds available
French Ligue 1 betting advice on how it works and a brief history

Top Online Soccer Betting Sites in 2024

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An Introduction to Ligue 1

First thing’s first, a good place to start our guide to French Ligue 1 betting is by making sure you understand the basics. Here are our top 10 facts about this league:

There are 20 teams in total, who all play each other home and away during the regular season
Points are awarded for a win (3) and any matches that end in a tie (1)
The team with the most points after all 38 games have been played are crowned Ligue 1 winners and champions of French soccer
Teams that finish in the top three places qualify for the UEFA Champions League the following season
Whoever finishes fourth goes into the UEFA Europa League
The two teams that finish bottom and second bottom in the Ligue 1 table are automatically relegated to Ligue 2
Those teams are replaced with the top two sides in Ligue 2 for the following season
Whoever finishes third bottom goes into the relegation/promotion play-offs that also involve the teams that were third, fourth and fifth in Ligue 2 during the regular season
If two teams finish level on points, then goal difference and goals scored are used to separate them
Even if two teams are still level after those tiebreakers, then head-to-head goal difference and fairplay rankings are used to classify them in the final table

How Ligue 1 Odds Work

There may be some of you out there who have never placed a bet before. If that’s the case, then this section where we explain how French Ligue 1 betting odds work should be instructive:

PSG

1.80

Draw

3.25

Lyon

5.00

These prices above are typical for betting on the match result of a Ligue 1 game. PSG, that’s the popular abbreviation of Paris St-German, are favourites to win.

For every C$5 you stake on PSG, you will receive C$4 in profit if they do indeed justify favouritism and win. That is a total return of C$9 on your bet as you get your stake back.

You can bet on a draw or tied game in soccer. A C$4 wager on the score being level here returns C$13 – that is C$9 profit.

Lyon, the popular short form of Olympique Lyonnais, are the outsiders. Betting C$1 on them gives you a return of C$5 and C$4 of profit.

We’ve used decimal odds in our example, but the American money line system is also popular in Canada. You may also see prices quoted in fractions – the British way – and there’s more on how these compare in the odds calculator below:

Ligue 1 Betting Options

It’s good to know your options. Here are some of the most popular Ligue 1 betting types available on sportsbooks:

Match result

As you can see above, betting on soccer is most straightforward when you place a wager on the match result. Either team can win or the game can end in a tie.

Eg:

PSG

1.80
Correct Score

What will the exact final result in goals be between two teams?

Eg:

PSG

3-2
17.00

Lyon
Goalscorer markets

You can also place various bets on who will score goals in a match. These can be anytime, first, last, two or more and even a hat-trick (three goals).

Eg:

Neymar to score two
or more
3.75
Total goals over/under

Will the number of goals scored in total be over or under certain brackets?

Eg:

Under 2.5
goals
1.33

Over 3.5
goals
4.50
Handicaps and spread betting

Certain big teams can dominate league matches and will be a short price for victory in the regular match result market. Betting on them with a handicap is an alternative way to find value.

Traders at sportsbooks will set brackets or margins, often referred to as spreads in North America. These are pretend deficits based on current form and other stats for favourites to overcome or advantages for the underdog to hold.

A winning bet is said to have covered the spread or handicap.

Eg:

PSG with
-2.5 goals

2.70

Saint-Etienne
with +1.5 goals

1.90
Outright winner

Futures markets that last for the entire season are also popular for Ligue 1 betting in Canada. Who will win the title is the most common.

Eg:

PSG
1.50
Relegation betting

Who will be relegated from Ligue 1 at the end of the season? Remember, the bottom two teams automatically go down from this league, while the promotion/relegation playoffs follow the regular season.

Eg:

Toulouse
9.00
Top goalscorer

Which soccer player will score the most goals in the regular Ligue 1 season?

Eg:

Kylian Mbappe
1.25

What is Ligue 1 Live Betting?

Ligue 1 betting odds are also available on matches as they happen live
This is known as live or in-play betting
Regular fixed odds markets end when a soccer match starts
Live betting then kicks in with prices constantly updating to reflect what’s happening on the pitch
Popular live betting markets include next team to score and next goalscorer

A Brief History of Ligue 1

The French league enters its professional era with Ligue 1 originally called National and later Division 1

1932

Jean Nicolas scores a record seven goals in a single Ligue 1 game for Rouen against Valenciennes

1938

Racing Paris score a record 118 goals, the most by any team in a single Ligue 1 season

1960

Josip Skoblar sets the Ligue 1 record for most individual goals in a single season with 44 for Olympique de Marseille

1971

Saint-Etienne win a record 19 home games in Ligue 1

1975

Saint-Etienne win the last of their record 10 Ligue 1 titles

1981

Delio Onnis sets the record for most Ligue 1 career goals with 299 scored

1986

Marseille win the UEFA Champions League, but are stripped of a fifth consecutive Ligue 1 title due to a bribery scandal

1993

France win the FIFA World Cup on home soil with many Ligue 1 stadiums used for tournament finals games

1998

Ligue 1 adopts its current name

2002

Jeremy Menez becomes the youngest player ever to score a Ligue 1 hat-trick aged 17 years and 260 days

2005

Lyon win a record seventh consecutive Ligue 1 title

2008

Mickael Landreau sets the record for most Ligue 1 appearances with 618 games played

2014

Zlatan Ibrahimovic equals the record for most consecutive Ligue 1 games scored in with nine, also achieved by Vahid Halilhodzic in 1985

2016

Monaco match PSG’s record for most wins in a single Ligue 1 season with 30 on route to the title

2017

Conclusion

That’s all from our guide to betting on Ligue 1. French soccer really resonates in Canada and you should now have everything you need in order to get betting on this league.

For even more Ligue 1 betting advice, see the FAQs section below that holds answers to common queries.