Football predictions

Football predictions are priced opinions on matches that have not been played yet: a pick, the probability we give it and the scoreline we rate likeliest. Ours cover the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga, the Champions League and the top African leagues, with a reason in one line beside every call. South African readers who searched for a soccer prediction are in the right place too, because the arithmetic does not change with the name of the game.

Think of the weather forecast before a long bus journey. A 70% chance of rain does not promise a wet afternoon, and the forecaster was not wrong if the sky stays clear, because three days in ten were always going to be dry. A prediction in football deserves the same reading, so what follows explains how to read the number and how to hold us to it afterwards.

What Are Football Predictions, And How Do You Read One?

Every call carries the same parts, whichever league it belongs to. The pick is the outcome we rate likeliest in that market. The percentage shows how often we expect it to land, and the scoreline is the single most probable final score. A reference price sits beside them so that the opinion can be compared with what is on offer. The conversion is simple division: one divided by the probability gives the fair decimal price, so a 50% call is fairly priced at 2.00, and the gap to the offered price is what the market is charging or paying you.

Four markets make up most of the list. The 1X2 result is the oldest of them, with 1 for the home side, X for the draw and 2 for the away side, and our percentages for those outcomes together cover every possible result. Both teams to score, written GG/NG on slips from Lagos to Kampala, asks only whether each side finds the net. Over/under goals sets a line, usually 2.5, and asks which side of it the match total falls. Correct score is the hardest, since one exact result has to beat all the others, and that is why even the likeliest scoreline carries a small percentage.

Which part should you read first? We think the percentage, because the pick alone hides how close the call was. A home win at 45% and a home win at 70% look identical as a pick, yet the first loses more often than it wins. Double chance and draw no bet appear where the result is tight, and the table sets out what each market needs in order to win.

What Do The Most Confident Pick And Other Mean On A Slip?

Two pieces of slip language confuse more readers than any others, and both deserve a straight answer. The label bettors use for the pick they feel most confident about on the day, usually the one an accumulator (an acca) is built around, suggests certainty. We do not put that label on our own calls, because the most likely pick on any card is still a probability and never a certainty. So, where you might look for that word, you will find the highest percentage in the list with its reason, which we find tells you rather more.

Other, in a correct score market, means any final score that the list does not name. How many goals is that? There is no set number, because it depends on how long the list is, but it is nearly always a high scoring result. If the listed scores stop at four goals for either side, for instance, then a 5-1 or a 4-5 is settled as Other. Perhaps Other is best read as a bundle of unlikely results sold under one name, and not as a single score.

Where Do You Find The Latest Predictions And Kick-off Times?

The fixture list is ordered by date and then by kick-off, so the nearest kick-offs come first and later games follow. Each kick-off is shown on four clocks together: WAT for Nigeria, EAT for Kenya and Uganda, SAST for South Africa, and GMT, which is also the time in Ghana. WAT runs one hour ahead of GMT, SAST two and EAT three. So, a match starting at 15:00 GMT begins at 16:00 in Lagos, 17:00 in Johannesburg and 18:00 in Nairobi and Kampala, and the late European kick-offs that suit a West African evening run close to midnight on the East African clock.

The European card covers the Premier League (the EPL to most readers in Nigeria and Kenya), La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga and the Champions League. The Premier League has had 20 clubs playing 38 matches each since the 1995-96 season, which keeps the list busy for most of the year. Beside it sit the leagues readers here grew up with: the NPFL in Nigeria, the FKF Premier League in Kenya, the Premiership (PSL) in South Africa, the Ghana Premier League and the Uganda Premier League. And, when the calendar brings them round, AFCON matches and the CAF club competitions join the same list.

Local fixtures get the same working as European ones. A Mashemeji Derby between Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards, Hearts of Oak against Asante Kotoko, or KCCA against Vipers each arrive with a percentage and a reason beside the pick. The Soweto Derby between Amakhosi and the Bucs does too, and it carries a famous South African connection, since Lucas Radebe played for Kaizer Chiefs from 1990 to 1994 before his years at Leeds United from 1994 to 2005. It could be argued that derbies are the hardest games to call, since form seems to count for less when a whole city is watching.

How Is Each Football Match Prediction Made?

Each football match prediction starts from six inputs, and none of them is a secret. Recent form shows how a side has been playing, head-to-head results show how the two have matched up before, and goals scored and conceded show what each attack and defence usually produces. Home advantage is added because sides tend to win more often on their own ground. Team news is weighed late, since a missing goalkeeper or a returning striker can move a percentage on its own.

That leaves expected goals, or xG, the input that needs the most explaining. It gives every shot a probability of becoming a goal, using models trained on historical shot data, so a shot worth 0.3 xG is expected to go in about 30% of the time over many repetitions. An early study of 930 shots from the 2002 World Cup (Ensum, Pollard and Taylor, 2004) found that distance, angle and nearby defenders mattered most. What does that add to a call? It shows how many good chances a side creates and allows, which is steadier evidence than the scoreline alone.

But, xG has limits that we keep in view. Figures from different data providers are not directly comparable, because the models use different data and features, and any single match is volatile. The 2026 World Cup final is a fair reminder, since Spain beat Argentina 1-0 after extra time on 19 July 2026, one goal settling a tournament of 104 matches. As such, our confidence is the percentage itself: higher when the inputs agree and the sample is long, lower early in a season, in knockout ties, after heavy squad changes or when team news arrives late.

How Accurate Are The Predictions?

How accurate are they? The honest answer sits on the record, where every settled call is listed with its result and the losses stand beside the wins. Nothing is taken down after the final whistle. The record updates itself as matches finish, so the figures there will always be more current than anything prose could tell you.

The fair way to judge a record is calibration, a plain idea with a technical name. If we give a set of calls 60% each, about six in ten should win and about four in ten should lose. A record where 60% calls win nine times in ten would mean our numbers are too timid, and one where they win four times in ten would mean they are too bold. Either would need correcting, even though the first sounds like good news.

Sample size matters as much as the percentage does. Ten calls tell you very little, because luck over ten matches can flatter anyone, while a few hundred begin to say something. No prediction is certain, and the likeliest result is often one that happens less than half the time. Arsenal's unbeaten 2003-04 campaign remains the only Premier League season completed without a defeat, which shows how rarely even the strongest sides avoid losing for long.

Looking For Prediction Z Or Z Predictions?

Many readers arrive after typing prediction z or z predictions into a search bar, usually wanting a quick list of upcoming matches with a pick beside each. That list is here, and it is built to be read in seconds on a phone with a modest data bundle. The difference lies in what sits next to the pick: a stated probability and a likely scoreline, with the reasoning in one line, so that you can disagree with us on the evidence.

If a market name in the list is unfamiliar, the betting guides explain each one from first principles, with the sums written out in decimal odds. A football prediction is only as useful as your grasp of the market it belongs to, so a few minutes with a guide is time well spent before you open the list, whatever name you searched under.

How Do You Follow The Matches From Africa?

Most football in our five countries is watched on a phone, with pay TV at home and a crowded bar for the big nights. Where the feed carries a broadcaster or stream for your country, it appears beside the fixture as information, alongside the four kick-off times. The Premier League is broadcast in 212 territories, and more than 1.4 billion people watched live games in the 2024-25 season, so an EPL match is seldom hard to find. Local league coverage varies more, which is why it is listed country by country.

The African connection is the angle we take on every card. Kenya followed Victor Wanyama at Southampton from 2013 to 2016 and at Tottenham Hotspur from 2016 to 2020, Ghana followed Michael Essien at Chelsea from 2005 to 2014, and South Africa followed Benni McCarthy at Blackburn Rovers from 2006 to 2010. Premier League viewing runs especially deep in Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya, while Harambee Stars, Uganda Cranes and Bafana Bafana internationals are followed just as closely at home. Team news about them feeds straight into the percentages, and international windows matter too, because a club without its African internationals is a different side to price. At the 2026 World Cup, DR Congo returned for the first time since 1974 and Cape Verde made their debut.

National team football has its own long story here. The Africa Cup of Nations began in 1957 in Khartoum, where Egypt beat Ethiopia 4-0 in the final, and Egypt have won it more often than any other nation. Ghana have won it four times (1963, 1965, 1978 and 1982), South Africa once, at home in 1996, and Uganda reached the final in 1978. The finals have had 24 teams since 2019.

How Should You Use A Prediction Responsibly?

A prediction is an opinion with a number on it, and the number is there because the result cannot be known in advance. Even a call rated at 75% is expected to lose one time in four, and losses tend to arrive in clusters more often than people expect. So, decide what you can afford to lose before you open the list, and do not chase a losing run with a bigger slip. Betting is for adults aged 18 and over, and only with money you can spare. If play stops feeling like entertainment, the support line for your country is shown with the 18+ notice, and using it early is the sensible move.