Less than a week from the biggest game of the European football calendar in Moscow, UK bookmaker William Hill have revealed that they expect £10,000,000 to be bet on the Champions League Final.
This is the first time in the history of the fifty-three-year-old competition, first founded in 1955 and restructured by UEFA to its current day format in 1992, that two English teams have competed in the final. This, in concordance with the absence of any British teams in Euro 2008, is thought to be the reason for the unusually high prediction by William Hill.
A spokesperson for William Hill said, ‘The amount being bet on the final is high as it is the first time that two English teams are meeting in the final of a European competition. Also one should remember that none of the UK countries have made it to the Euro 2008 finals.’
William Hill has cut the odds on Chelsea manager Avram Grant clinching the double, but also set a new price on the Israeli leaving the club before the start of the next season. The new odds on Grant’s departure are 10/1.