Despite its obvious inferiority to the Champions League, the UEFA Europa Cup shouldn’t be overlooked as a betting contest. Indeed, with bookmaker attention regularly focusing on Europe’s premier competition, there is plenty of value available on this competition.

It’s important to remember that the full line-up of teams in the UEFA Cup won’t be realised until the Champions League group stages have finished. Therefore, unless you see a stick-out price, it’s worth holding back from a bet until the eight third-placed teams from the CL are placed into the competition in December.

In the UEFA Cup, it regularly pays to oppose the so-called big names, even more so than in the Champions League.

Teams that enter the UEFA Cup after finishing third in their Champions Lea