TRADER CHAT Q&A: World Cup 2026

With the FIFA World Cup fast approaching, excitement is building for one of the biggest sporting events on the planet. In this exclusive Trader Chat Q&A, trader Ciaran Quigley shares his insights on the tournament, market trends, and answers some of the biggest questions ahead of kick-off.

⭐️ STARSPORTS.BET WORLD CUP MARKETS ⭐️

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🗣️ Firstly, how excited are you for the World Cup? Do you think it’ll be a good tournament?

“I’m very excited for the World Cup this summer. It’s one of the few sporting events that garners the attention of fans of every sport, and even those not interested in any. Half of the nation must be in a form of sweepstake. That sort of interest is perfect for me as a Trader as the matches should see more bets than any other tournament. To match the hype, we make more markets than ever such as my personal favourite ‘Top Team Goalscorer’ – which is only ever available on these premier international events.

“With more teams than ever before this tournament could be better than ever. Teams like Curacao, who some people may have not even heard of before, have made the World Cup and are supposedly more likely to win than when Leicester won the Premier League at 5000/1. The potential for Dark Horses is huge. 

“This World Cup also hosts more Premier League players than ever, long gone are the days of young unknown Bulgarian striker shocking the world. But it’s also great to see many players you know, so in response we’ll be offering great prices for those players to score first, with the bonus of a chance to win a free £100, with our first goal minute promo (T&Cs apply)”

🗣️ How has pre-tournament business been – has it hit the levels you were expecting?

“The business so far has been good, but with so much sport on currently it’s hard to capture the attention of punters until the day finally comes. We’ve seen many attempt to build accumulators that run onto their World Cup picks; one found 6 winners on the final day of the EFL and is now hoping France goes all the way. However, we fully expect to see the bulk of our antepost business from now until the beginning of the tournament as the interest turns.”

🗣️ How is the ante-post book looking, what have you laid so far?

“So far, we’ve seen interest in a few of those Dark Horses. Currently Senegal is our worst result, possibly predicting the Europeans won’t be able to cope with the American heat or rather have an underrated squad. Netherlands are a close second. We were intentionally ‘Top Price’ them for a while as we think their squad will struggle, however our punters seem to disagree. England currently stands as a winner in our book, but we expect that to change due to our “Believe in England” campaign.

“Some other notable bets we’ve seem is some large bets on the top teams to qualify from their groups, and Cristiano Ronaldo to be Top Portugal Goalscorer, and even Top Goalscorer for the tournament which I personally could not have at all.”

🗣️ What are your views ahead of the World Cup?

“My money was on France months ago. I believe they were hovering around 7/1 to Win – which was far too big for what is in my opinion the best squad. Currently they sit at 9/2 with Spain slight favourites – but once they inevitably get passed their tricky group, I’m certain they will be favourites. Unfortunately, it could be a tournament for the Unders. Draws being enough to qualify from the group and along with the heat it may suggest less goals than usual. If so, Ecuador could be the outsider. Arsenal has already proven that a strong defence can take you far in a cup run and no one has a better defensive record than Ecuador.”

🗣️ What promos are Star Sports running through the tournament?

“As for promos, we have the aforementioned First Goalscorer bonus, commitment to be Top Price England for their matches, Top prices on FGS and CS markets and regular Build-A-Bets promos on many of the matches to look out for.

We are currently Top Price 7/1 for England to lift the World Cup and offering 5 places on our popular Tournament Top Scorer market.”

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