Both teams to score, usually shortened to BTTS, is one of the most searched football betting markets at every major tournament. It is a simple idea that new fans pick up quickly, but understanding when BTTS is more or less likely to land takes a bit more digging. This guide walks through how the market works, what the data from recent World Cups tells us, and how to apply that thinking heading into the 2026 tournament in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
What does both teams to score mean in football betting
A BTTS bet wins if both teams find the net at least once during the 90 minutes plus stoppage time. It does not matter who wins the match or by how much. A 4-1 win counts as a BTTS winner just as much as a 1-1 draw does. Extra time and penalty shootouts in knockout matches are not included, since the bet is settled on the result at the end of normal time and stoppage time.
This market is popular because it sidesteps two harder questions, who wins and by how much, and replaces them with one simpler question, will both sides manage to score. For a beginner, that makes it feel more approachable than match result or correct score markets, even though predicting it well still requires some thought.
Who will win the 2026 World Cup betting tips and how that connects to BTTS
Punters chasing outright winner tips often look at the same team data that BTTS bettors need, just from a different angle. A team built around defensive solidity and game management, the kind of team that often goes deep into a tournament, tends to be involved in fewer BTTS matches because their opponents struggle to break them down. A team built around fast attacking transitions can be more exciting to back for the outright title, but their matches often see goals at both ends, since their own defensive shape can be more exposed in the process.
Knowing this connection helps you avoid backing contradictory bets. If you believe a team is going all the way to the final because of their defensive discipline, that same belief should make you cautious about backing BTTS yes in their matches, especially in the knockout rounds.
How BTTS connects to clean sheets and why that matters
There is no need to guess at BTTS rates directly, since clean sheet data tells most of the story. If a team keeps a clean sheet, BTTS automatically loses, because the other side failed to score.
This means clean sheet trends are one of the most useful tools for thinking about BTTS likelihood at a World Cup.
Clean sheet rates have been rising at recent World Cups. 38 per cent of matches at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar saw at least one team keep a clean sheet, up from 35 per cent at the 2018 tournament in Russia and 33 per cent at the 2014 tournament in Brazil. That is a clear upward trend across three consecutive tournaments, and it points toward defenses becoming better organized at the international level over time.
For a beginner, the practical reading is this. In recent tournaments, roughly one in three matches ended with at least one clean sheet, which by definition rules out a BTTS win. That puts a rough ceiling on how often BTTS yes can land across a full tournament, even before you start looking at individual matchups.
Group stage versus knockout stage BTTS patterns
Just like with the over/under goals market, BTTS behaves differently depending on the stage of the tournament, and the clean sheet data shows this clearly. Group stage clean sheets sat at 34 per cent in recent tournaments, compared to 44 per cent in the knockout phase. Since a clean sheet rules out BTTS yes, a higher clean sheet rate in the knockout rounds means BTTS yes becomes harder to land as the tournament progresses.
This lines up with the broader pattern in goals per match. Group games have averaged 2.69 goals per match across recent tournaments, compared to 2.31 in the knockout rounds, supporting the idea that group stage football tends to be more open. Teams in the group stage sometimes need a specific result to advance, which can push both sides to commit players forward even when it is risky, while underdogs with less to lose in early matches may also play more freely than they would later in the competition.
Once the knockout stage begins, single elimination changes team behavior. A mistake ends the tournament, so coaches tend to prioritize defensive solidity over open, attacking risk taking. This naturally makes BTTS yes a tougher bet to back blindly in the later rounds, even when two attack-minded teams are involved, since the stakes alone tend to produce more conservative game plans.
What goal timing data tells us about BTTS patterns
A detailed academic comparison of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups looked closely at how and when goals were scored across both tournaments. The study found that in both tournaments, the majority of goals were scored in the second half and especially toward the end of matches. This pattern matters for BTTS bettors who like to follow a match in progress, sometimes called in-play betting, since a 0-0 or 1-0 scoreline at halftime does not necessarily mean BTTS yes is dead. A lot of World Cup goal scoring history shows games opening up in the final third of the match, as fatigue sets in and teams chasing a result start taking more risks.
The same study also found a difference in how goals were created between the two tournaments.
There was an increase in goals scored from open play, particularly positional attacks, in 2022 compared to 2018, while the 2018 tournament had seen more goals from set pieces and a record number of own goals. Teams in the 2022 tournament recorded a higher quality of scoring chances and converted more of them, which the researchers measured using expected goals data, suggesting attacking play had become slightly more clinical and structured. None of this guarantees how 2026 will play out, but it shows that the way goals are scored at a World Cup can shift from one tournament to the next, not just how many goals there are in total.
Comparing 2018 and 2022 to think about BTTS in 2026
Putting the goals and clean sheet data side by side helps build a fuller picture. The 2018 World Cup produced 169 total goals at 2.64 per match, while the 2022 World Cup produced 172 total goals at 2.69 per match, making 2022 the highest scoring World Cup of the modern era despite the rise in clean sheets. That might sound contradictory at first, more goals overall but also more clean sheets, but it actually points to football becoming more polarized. Some matches are turning into one-sided, multi-goal affairs while others are becoming tighter and more defensively organized, rather than every match settling into a similar, predictable pattern.
The 2026 tournament adds a major new variable, since the field expands from 32 teams to 48. A bigger field usually means a wider gap in quality between the strongest teams and nations playing in their first or a rare World Cup appearance. Big mismatches can sometimes produce one-sided wins where the weaker side fails to score at all, which would count against BTTS yes despite a high overall goal count in that match. At the same time, a bigger and more unpredictable group stage, along with an extra knockout round before the existing last 16, could also produce more shock results where unfancied teams find the net against stronger opposition, since shock results have already been a feature of recent tournaments. Saudi Arabia’s win over Argentina in the 2022 group stage is one well known example of how quickly an expected outcome can be turned upside down in a short tournament.
Conditions specific to the 2026 hosts are also worth factoring in. Matches played at altitude in cities like Mexico City, and matches played in high heat during the group stage in some American host cities, can affect player fitness as a match wears on. Given that goal timing data from recent World Cups already shows more goals arriving in the second half, conditions that increase fatigue could reinforce that pattern further, though this is a reasonable expectation rather than a certainty.
Practical tips for new bettors approaching the BTTS market
Check the stage of the tournament before assuming BTTS yes is a safe bet. The knockout rounds have produced more clean sheets than the group stage in recent tournaments, so BTTS yes becomes a tougher sell as the competition narrows.
Look at both teams’ defensive record in their warm up matches and recent competitive games, not just their attacking reputation. A team known for goals can still be involved in a low scoring, BTTS no match if their opponent is well organized defensively and the game state encourages caution.
Remember that BTTS does not care about the final result. A heavy favorite can still win 3-1 and trigger a BTTS yes, so this market is not really about predicting who wins, it is about predicting whether the weaker or more cautious side can find one goal.
Be cautious with BTTS accumulators that string together several matches. Needing every single leg to land both teams scoring is a tough ask across an entire matchday, especially once you reach the more cagey knockout rounds.
Treat all historical data as a guide rather than a guarantee. The figures in this guide come from real recorded statistics across the last several World Cups, but each match is still an individual contest, and any given game can break from the wider pattern.
A simple way to think about BTTS before you bet
If you take one thing from this guide, take this. Clean sheets have been rising at recent World Cups, and they rise even further once the tournament reaches the knockout stage, which makes BTTS yes a more situational bet than a default lean. Use the stage of the tournament, the attacking and defensive profile of both teams, and recent form as your starting points, then weigh how much both sides have riding on the result. That approach gives a new bettor a much stronger foundation than guessing based on team reputation alone.
This guide is for informational purposes to help you understand how the BTTS market works. It is not a guarantee of any outcome, and you should always bet responsibly and within your means.
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