It would be difficult to separate gambling from football.

The world’s most popular sport attracts billions of dollars in sport betting. Reports say more than US$1 billion is placed on betting for every Premier League game. Clubs have graduated to having official betting partners and many third-party business catch into the popularity of the sports through organized betting schemes.

Research has now highlighted that the betting menace is affecting players who also put money into it, according to SoccerLens. The British Sociological Association annual conference in Birmingham will reveal this using research available from current and former footballers.

The University of Chester’s Graeme Law presented starling information after they interviewed 34 professional football stars in the Premier League and lower divisions. Some players say gambling relieves stress, pushing the action to be a break from their highly regulated lives.

“I like to bet on the bus, but it got worse when I could bet online. I was able to do it all the time with no one knowing. I lost a lot. My wife found out after a year or so and she got me help and it’s under control now. It’s the culture to gamble in football and it can get dangerous when it grips you,” one player who used to be addicted to soccer betting confessed.

Many other football players admitted to accumulating gambling debts, and that it adversely affected their performance on the pitch. One Michael Chopra said he moved to Sunderland so he could use his sign-on fee to pay off gambling debts. Eidur Gudjohnsen said he lost over £400,000 within a five-month period.

Despite betting companies advising those involved to do gamble responsibly, many increasingly get addicted. The habit is at epidemic levels in football, and it would require a lot to manage its growth.

Premier League giant Manchester United are set to play Stoke City this weekend on Sunday, October 2nd 2016.

The start to the league for Mourinho has been mixed. They started well, winning the first couple of games but a three-game losing streak raised a lot of doubts. They seem to have recovered as they thrashed Leicester City 4-1 last week and got a lone goal in their Europe League tie against Zorya Luhansk on Thursday.

United will lose to close the gap with Manchester City when they play Stoke. City will face Mauricio Pochettino’s men at White Hart Lane. Mourinho will be hoping City slip so the six-point difference between both sides can reduce. United are sixth in the standings, which is not bad. However, considering the amount spent during the summer to make instant impact, the scrutiny and criticisms have been much.

There are reports from Sky Sports that Rooney may not start like the previous league game against the defending champions. So, former Dortmund talent Mkhitaryan could start behind Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Swedish striker was absent during the Europa League game against Zorya, so he should be fresh for the game.

On the other hand, Stoke have made a slow start to the new season. They are yet to win a single game, so they would be under pressure to deliver. It would be very surprising for them to get their first win over Man United. Afellay, Ireland and Butland would likely be unavailable when they make the trip to Old Trafford.

Manchester United have a good home record against Stoke. Soccer betting fans would go 3/10 for the match. Also, since Stoke have conceded a lot of goals in the last five matches, and given United’s form, a high scoring game is anticipated. 2.5 goals at 8/13 odds isn’t bad, and Ibrahimovic to score following his 5 goals in 7 starts leaves betting odds hovering 8/11.

The current men’s national team coach of Germany Joachim Low says he will continue as the head of the team after many reports linked him with resignation from the job since he couldn’t lead them past the host France at the semi final stage of the Euro 2016 campaign. The coach broke the silence to say he will continue as the coach of the team.

The 56-year old led the German team to lift the World Cup in Brazil just two years ago, defeating the host Brazil 7-1. He was set to relive such at the Euro 2016 and they were the clear favourites after seeing off Italy despite their strong run, but the French team defeated them 2-0.

“The end of a tournament is a good time to pause. We were all disappointed after the semi final and the weeks leading up to and during the tournament were exhausting. But for me it’s clear: despite this disappointment our team did not disappoint. We had the tournament’s youngest team and I still see a lot of potential,” the coach said.

The German football boss was criticised for picking out such a young team ahead of the tournament but he defended his choice. He said he is happy with the team and would keep working with them towards the coming FIFA World Cup in 2018 set to hold in Russia. The DRB president Reinhard Grindel declared that they never had doubt that the coach would leave.

He said he wants him to continue the journey towards defending the World Cup in 2018. The president named Low as the best for the team and that the tactician will keep leading German football for years with him at the helm. The remark successfully ends speculation that the coach could leave the national team.

England may already be starting at the barrel when it comes to qualification to the Euro 2016 knockout stages, but bookmakers feel that this is not the time to panic.

Their odds continue to place England as one of the favourites to reach the latter stages of the competition. It may not come as a surprise given that England can get back in the top position of group B with a win over Wales on June 16. This game between the two home nations is regarded as a must win especially for England, but it is not the case for Wales.

England could only manage a solitary point from the opening game against Russia whereas Wales took all three from the match against Slovakia. This places them as the leader of group B going into the last two group matches. Bet Victor places England at even odds to qualify from the group, but Wales have closed the gap following their opening day victory.

Apart from being favourites to qualify from the group, England have been placed as favourites to get a win against Wales in a few days. Gareth Bale showed that he is a player to be treated with respect after opening the scoring against Slovakia. He is 19/2 to open the scoring against England.

Eric Dier may not have been the first choice to be England’s top scorer at the Euro 2016. This was reflected by his odds, which were in the 50s. However, he scored the only goal for England against Russia and it has seen the odds reduced to 8s. If he manages to score again and England failing to win against Wales, the odds could be reduced even further. France continue to remain as the tournament favourites while Germany and Spain are closely keeping tabs with Didier Deschamps’ team.

Much is expected from France at the upcoming Euro 2016 largely because the nation has performed exceptionally well when it comes to tournaments held on home soil.

The previous major success achieved by France was in the World Cup and European championships at the start of the millennium. The national team won both these tournaments when it was held on home soil. Hence, expectations are that the French will be the team to beat. Bookmakers are offering odds of 14/1 for winning the tournament. Of course, these odds will change depending on the availability of players as the start of the tournament approaches.

As of now, France are seen as one of the favourites to win the title. The Euro 2016 could see a void from reigning world champions Germany. Under the management of Joachim Loew, they won the World Cup in style by fielding a young team that was expected to dominate world football for generations to come. However, the preparation to the Euro 2016 has been less than ideal for Germany, as they have already been involved in several losses even in the friendly games. Home advantage is expected to favour the French team and the 2015 attacks in Paris will also serve as the motivation to do well.

France have a number of positives in the squad even though there is a lot of confusion surrounding the involvement of Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema. Regarded as one of the best strikers available for the French national team, Benzema may be left out of the squad due to disciplinary reasons by manager Didier Deschamps. After suffering immensely in the last decade due to disciplinary problems, the French national team will not want another dressing room failure to affect the tournament hopes. Deschamps has already stated that he will put discipline over quality in the squad.

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Everyone in the world of football is looking in disbelief as Leicester City have still managed to stay at the top of the Premier League as the team of Claudio Ranieri are displaying dominance a huge dominance in the top tier English league.

After 31 league games, Leicester City has collected a total of 66 points and are in 1rst place and for those who actually bet on them at the beginning of the season are getting a huge pay-out.

The odds of Leicester City being in pole position at these advances stages of the Premier League were of 5,000-1. According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), this was the same odds as Elvis Presley coming back from the grave and throwing a concert, in other words it simply was impossible but Claudio Ranieri has turned the impossible into a reality as Leicester City have proved their worth throughout the entire season with consistently high level performances.

Just to take things into context, the longest odds that a single match in football has ever had was back in 2951 when USA overcame England and this was a hugely surprising result as the odds of this happening was 500-1.

The biggest reason of why Leicester City was not even considered to be a club that would be able to snatch a spot in the top 5 of the Premier League is due to the fact that they were just recently promoted to the English league and had been struggling trying to get into the top tier league and were competing in the English League Championship for the past few years but things have been taking a turn for the better with the team of Claudio Ranieri just plowing through everything.

Claudio Ranieri’s team has a combined total cost of around $30 million, this is a very low amount of money for a squad that has been running rampage in this season and this another one of the reasons of why Leicester City’s campaign has been so surprising.

Italian football has a history of being plagued by scandals involving bets and illegal actions where players, managers, owners, referee were all accused of corruption.

Clubs were blamed of rigging games where they could select favorable referees and these scandals have had a big consequence with Italian clubs as Juventus was retracted from a number of titles that they had won during the season of 2004-05 and 2005-06.

The entire board of directors of Juventus resigned as well as other recognizable players, managers and referees.

Those events took place over 10 years ago but Italian football still continues being hit with claims of corruption and things of this nature.

There was a recent betting incident that occurred involving top Italian clubs including: Ac.Milan, Napoli and Lazio. A number of figures from those clubs those previously mentioned clubs have recently been targeted by Italian police investigations due to an alleged tax evasion issue but they have dismissed their roles and participation from these allegations.

Ac. Milan’s Adriano Galliani is one of the more recognizable icons in Italian football that has been accused with tax evasion but the club has recently launched a statement which read:

“Today, the public prosecutor of Naples decided to give Adriano Galliani a termination notice relating to the investigation for a series of events that are absolutely marginal and not founded and which will come to a resolution, in terms of both tax and criminal law, with a due dismissal,”

There also are a number of players who are either still performing in the Italian League Serie A or used to compete in there in the past who are being accused with tax evasions as well as a host of other issues. Diego Milito and current striker of Atalanta German Denis are a few of the players who have been put under investigation.

Doncaster Rovers will be one of the teams looking to achieve giantkilling in the FA Cup when they take on Premier League side Stoke City in front of their own supporters.

The home support will certainly provide the League One team an added advantage going into the game. This seems to be the main consensus behind many bookmakers backing Doncaster to create a giantkilling in this weekend’s third-round action. There are plenty of other fixtures in the FA Cup this weekend, but the home advantage provides the League One outfit with more than just hope.

Even though in the game, they are not providing very short odds for the above. In fact, the League One team are backed at 4/1 for a victory whereas the away team are placed at 5/4 to progress into the fourth round of the competition. Stoke City are doing well in the Premier League under Mark Hughes. The FA Cup has certainly not been their main forte in the club’s history, but this has changed in recent years. The club will want another good run in the competition before aiming to win it in the near future.

Doncaster are on a decent run of form to do something about Stoke.“If we get to Southend and get a win, I would have to say that’s a pleasing Christmas and we can reflect on where we want to go.At this point, as for 2016, we’ll wait and see.I want to keep progressing and keep progressing.I’m not going to set any targets. We just want consistency in performances and results.It’s been quite a positive start to my career at Doncaster I feel.I would be greedy and say I wanted at least another three points,” said Ferguson.