Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) is the soccer betting odds-on favorite to win the 2016-2017 France Ligue 1 – which would be the fifth straight championship win and seventh overall. Counter-intuitively, people who bet on soccer continue to favor PSG even though they will undertake the defense of their title without their top goalscorer – in Ligue 1 in particular and official competitions in general – Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Odds To Win 2016-2017 France Ligue 1 (kick-off Friday, August 12th)
• Angers +65100
• Bastia +65100
• Bordeaux +30000
• Caen +65000
• Dijon +65100
• Guingamp +65100
• Lille +15000
• Lorient +65000
• Lyon +1225
• Marseille +7050
• Metz +65100
• Monaco +1825
• Montpellier +50000
• Nancy +65100
• Nantes +65000
• Nice +20000
• PSG -990
• Rennes +25000
• St Etienne +15000
• Toulouse +65100
To say that the 34 year old Swedish striker was instrumental in PSG’s four-title streak would be an understatement. Before Ibrahimovic joined the team in 2012-13, PSG was celebrating the 19th anniversary of their last championship victory in 1993-94. In his first season in France, the Swede scored 30 goals and led the team to the first of four titles in a row. Managers have come and gone – including decorated Italian Carlo Ancelotti, French-born Laurent Blanc, and relative unknown Spaniard Unai Emery – but the reference point throughout that string of trophies has been – or should I say, was – Ibrahimovic. The numbers speak by themselves; 156 goals in 180 games comprising Ligue 1, Coupe de la Ligue, Trophée des Champions, UEFA Champions League, and UEFA Cup/Europa League. Having come, seen, and conquered, the Swedish forward crossed the English Channel to join Manchester United for the 2016-17 season.
Does his departure improve other teams’ soccer betting odds? Hard to say at this point in time, but at the very least French Ligue goalkeepers won’t have to worry about having their nets perforated by Ibrahimovic’s shots. Or getting kicked in the chest. Moving on; Olympique Lyonnais (Lyon) comes the closest to threatening PSG’s dominion, at least in terms of soccer betting. Les Gones finished last season in 2nd place with 19 wins, 8 draws, and 11 losses, as well as 67 goals for and 43 goals against. Sounds like pretty decent numbers; not so much so, however, when one considers that there was a 31 point difference between Lyon and PSG. Similarly, Lyon had a +24 goal difference, compared to PSG’s +83 (then again, if we took away Zlatan’s 38 goals, PSG goal difference would drop to +45… Hmm, that would still be almost double than Lyon. Forget I said anything).
Another contender would be AS Monaco FC. Monaco finished third in the league in 2015-16 with as many points as Lyon, but with a +7 goal difference. Nonetheless, not bad enough for a team only in its third year back from Ligue 2. Rounding up the top 5 favorites to win the 2016-17 Ligue 1 are Olympique de Marseille, and Lille and St. Etienne tied at +15000. And on the other side of the spectrum is Toulouse (+65100) but what would you expect from a team with that name?