The Best Ligue 1 Betting Sites for 2024

Free Bets

A free bet is exactly what it sounds like – your chance to place a bet without risking any money yourself. You can still win cash, although it may come with wagering requirements. If it does, that means you’ll need to bet any winnings a certain number of times before you can withdraw anything.

First Deposit Bonus

This is one of the most common bonuses you’ll receive when you join a Ligue 1 betting site. When you make your first deposit, the bookmaker will match it up to a certain percentage. This could be 50%, 100%, 200%, or more.

Your bonus funds will always come with wagering requirements, so you’ll need to place some bets before you can withdraw the free cash.

Reload Bonus

Reload is just another word for deposit, so reload bonuses work just like deposit bonuses. Unlike a first deposit bonus, reload bonuses are aimed at existing customers, which is great news if you’re a loyal customer at a Ligue 1 betting site.

Enhanced Odds

Enhanced odds, also known as boosted odds, occur when a Ligue 1 betting site increases the amount you can win when betting on a football match.

For example, if PSG v Barcelona is 0-0 at half time, you might receive a notification that the betting site you use is boosting the odds on Mbappé to score next from 5.0 to 7.0.

Although enhanced odds are often appealing, remember that they’re selected by experts working on behalf of the betting sites.

League Winner

This is a straightforward bet where you place money on the team you think will finish in the top position after 38 games. PSG are typically heavy favourites, which means you’d have to bet quite a lot to make any kind of significant return on your investment.

To Win Without PSG

Because of PSG’s dominance, all the best Ligue 1 betting sites offer you the chance to bet on the league without PSG. This means that if PSG come first and the team you bet on come second, you’ll win, as PSG are effectively ignored.

To Go Unbeaten

The quality of competition in Ligue 1 is nowhere near that of a league like the English Premier League or Serie A, and many of the smaller teams suffer regular losses to the dominant clubs. If you can foresee a team like PSG going on a huge unbeaten streak, this could be the bet for you.

To Finish Top 3

The top three slots in Ligue 1 each reward a coveted slot in the following season’s Champions League, where teams play against Europe’s biggest clubs. That means competition for a top-three slot is fierce and offers a great opportunity to bet on a dark horse for more appealing odds.

To Be Relegated

Three teams are relegated each season in Ligue 1. The two teams in the bottom two league positions go straight down, and the third from bottom enters a playoff game against a team from Ligue 2. This can make for an exciting way to bet on Ligue 1.

Top Goal Scorer

If you want to place a bet lasting the whole Ligue 1 season, you can get in early and go for a top goal scorer bet. This is for Ligue 1 only – goals in cup games don’t count.

Recent winners include Kylian Mbappé, Edinson Cavani and Zlatan Ibrahimović – all of whom were playing for PSG at the time.

Research Head-to-Head Records

If you’ve ever heard of a ‘bogey team’, or simply a team that one club never seems to beat, then you’ll know how important these records are. Studying head-to-head (or should that be ‘tête-à-tête’) games can help you find appealing odds.

For example, anybody playing PSG will likely have decent odds, but Rennes may be considered a bogey team. In a 117-game stretch leading up to 2020, PSG only lost three home matches – and two of those were against Rennes. This means you could probably get long odds on Rennes at Ligue 1 betting sites, even though they have a history of beating PSG.

Consider Recent Form

The famous quote, “You’re only as good as your last performance” was in reference to Hollywood, but somewhat applies to football as well. Form is incredibly important. If a striker is on a goal-scoring drought, or a goalkeeper has made a series of high-profile errors, their confidence can be shot, and the team can suffer.

Study the recent form to see which teams are on the up and which seem to be faltering. Try to ignore the reputation of the club and focus on the data so that you can look at it more objectively.

Check Who’s Fit

Stay on top of breaking news to discover which players are injured or unavailable to gain a huge edge at Ligue 1 betting sites. The modern era gives you plenty of avenues to find news almost instantly. For example, you can follow official club social media pages. And trusted industry journalists.

Factor in which players may be unfit and assess who are likely to take their places. If there’s no suitable replacement, will the team set up differently? And, if so, will this lead to more or fewer goals? Put all the small pieces of evidence together to build a picture of how the match may pan out.

Look at the Fixtures

Make sure you look at all fixtures on the footballing calendar. This can include competitions within France like Coup de France matches, as well as Champions League and Europa League games. And international tournaments that take place mid-season, like the African Cup of Nations.

If you notice that a team has an important fixture coming up, or that one of their key players is likely to miss some games to report for their country, you might want to back them before their odds decrease.

Ligue 1 Format

Ligue 1 comprises 20 teams, each vying to become champions. There are 38 games in a season, allowing each club to play every other club twice. One match will be at their home stadium, and one will be away from home.

At the end of the season, the team in top slot are crowned the champions. The teams who finish 1st to 3rd all qualify for the Champions League for the following season, which gives them a chance to play any of Europe’s biggest teams and make a lot of money.

The team that finishes fourth enters the Europa League, which is essentially a version of the Champions League for teams who can’t quite make the cut. Ligue 1 betting sites allow you to bet on who will make the European spots.

Ligue 1 Relegation

The bottom two teams each year are relegated to the next division down, Ligue 2. They’re replaced by the two teams who finish 1st and 2nd in Ligue 2. Interestingly, the team who finish in 18th Ligue 1 play the team who finish in 3rd in Ligue 2. The contest takes place over two legs – which means two games are played, with the total score of both games being combined.

The winner spends the next season in Ligue 1, while the losing team goes to Ligue 2. This is unlike many other European leagues, where a more straightforward system of relegating the lowest three or four clubs is in place.

Ligue 1 Dominance

Ligue 1 dominance has gone through several cycles. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Marseille won four back-to-back leagues. Lyon captured their first championship title in the 2001/02 season but went on to win it an incredible seven times in a row.

Then, in 2011, PSG became the dominant team after the ruler of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, purchased the club and began investing heavily. In recent years, PSG have crushed Ligue 1, while also showing progression in Europe’s elite competition, the Champions League.

There are exceptions, though. In 2016/17, AS Monaco upset the odds by pipping PSG to top spot. It was an impressive season for The Monégasques, who also overcame Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund en route to the Champions League semi-finals. These kinds of anomalies present some terrific opportunities at Ligue 1 betting sites.