Originally only open to the eight teams competing in the Women’s Super League (WSL). This tournament was known as the FA Women’s Super League Cup but is now simply the FA Women’s League Cup.
Since the Super League’s split to two divisions to accommodate 22 teams. However, this tournament has expanded as well with the cup’s tenth anniversary fast approaching. The cup gained ever more exposure via TV and of course betting markets.
Founded in 2011, the cup was first won by Arsenal who was completing a treble at the time. The Gunners remain the most successful team in the competition with five wins up to 2020.
Read on for our guide to English FA Women’s League Cup Betting.
English FA Women’s League Cup Betting Format
As of the 2019-20 campaign, 23 teams can take part in the FA Women’s League Cup with a group stage kicking things off. The groups are regionalised and contain 5-6 teams each playing each other just once to create a final league table. At the end of the first stage, the top two from each group qualify for the quarter-finals.
From this point on the tournament is a standard knock-out competition. Teams play each other only once and drawn either at home or away. It's much in the same style as the men’s FA Cup.
Strictly speaking, neutral venues are not used in the one-off semi-final matches. This means that two of the teams may enjoy a form of home advantage. The games are played in late January each season.
When the two finalists are known, they face off in late February in a one-off match in a neutral stadium. The winners are crowned champions.
Biggest Teams in the Women’s League Cup
There are a lot of familiar names in the Women’s League Cup as the teams are closely associated with major men’s clubs, Chelsea, for example, winning 2020 final with a win over Arsenal while Manchester City, Manchester United, Aston Villa and Brighton all made the quarter-finals too.
Success in this cup mirrors that in the Women’s Super League pretty closely, the top teams there in recent times has also been Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City and Man United.
FA Women’s League Cup Betting Markets
In the most recent group stage of this competition, when teams are little less well-matched perhaps, the goal average was 4.1 per game. This is a massive total and comes from the fact that many of the top teams are simply hammering the lesser lights, but that can work to our advantage in a betting sense.
During the six quarter-final and semi-final games, 16 goals were scored (2.66 per game) which tightens things up a bit but is still slightly above average. Four of the 6 games were won by the home side too which is above average.
The previous season, these stats were 22 goals (3.66pg) and five home wins out of six which shows us where the opportunities lie. Finals in that time have ended 0-0 and 2-1 however, so with all of that in mind here are the best markets to concentrate on:
Total Goals – from the group stages up to and including the semi-finals when teams have home advantages, the total goals tend to be high. Rather than betting on heavy home favourites, looking for value away teams or even going for Both Teams to Score, betting on over 2.5 or over 3.5 goals looks like being the way to go.
- Match Betting – betting specifically on home sides can clearly give us confidence in the knock-out stages, but only when home advantage is involved so take out the final in this case. With 75% of all quarter and semi-finals games having been won by the home side across two seasons, this would appear to be able to outweigh the odds and offers a chance to build accumulators.
- Antepost Market – the final itself tends to be tight, knocking out the chance to confidently back one team or another or even play on the goals market. This competition has been won only by the top teams though, so check out the ante-post market and make your play early before being able to sit back and just watch the tournament play out.
Place Your Bets on the FA Women’s League Cup Now
Now you know a little more about the Women’s League Cup in England, you can bet on the tournament with renewed confidence. Place your bets now via any of Roger.com’s highly recommended online bookmakers to ensure you are getting the best possible value for money!
