Goalscorer markets let bettors focus on an individual player rather than the match result or total goals, and they are among the most popular player-specific bets in football. First Goalscorer and Anytime Goalscorer are the two core versions of this market, and while they sound similar, they are priced and settled quite differently. New terms used throughout this guide, including handicap and void, are also covered in our betting glossary.
What Is the First Goalscorer Market?
First Goalscorer betting means picking the player you think will score the opening goal of the match. If that player scores first, the bet wins, regardless of what happens afterward in the game. If no goal is scored at all, bets on this market are usually void and stakes are refunded, since there is no first goalscorer to settle against.
Because only one outcome can be correct, First Goalscorer odds are generally longer than Anytime Goalscorer odds for the same player, since a player might well score during the match without being the one who opens the scoring.
What Is the Anytime Goalscorer Market?
Anytime Goalscorer betting means picking a player to score at any point during the match, whether that is the first goal, an equalizer, or a late consolation strike. This is a more forgiving market than First Goalscorer, since it only requires the selected player to find the net once, at any stage of the game.
Because there are more ways to win an Anytime Goalscorer bet than a First Goalscorer bet, the odds for the same player are shorter in the Anytime market, reflecting the higher probability of success.
How These Markets Are Priced
Bookmakers build goalscorer odds from a player’s individual scoring rate, their role in the team’s attacking structure, and the expected number of goals in the match overall, similar to the modeling used for Over/Under goals markets. A striker on a team expected to score three goals in a high-scoring fixture will have shorter Anytime odds than the same player in a match where their team is expected to struggle for chances.
Playing position also affects First Goalscorer pricing specifically, since strikers who are heavily involved early in matches, or teams that tend to start games fast, produce different first-goal patterns than sides that typically start slowly and improve as the match progresses.
Common Goalscorer Betting Markets
- First Goalscorer: betting on the player who scores the opening goal of the match.
- Anytime Goalscorer: betting on a player to score at any point during the match.
- Last Goalscorer: betting on the player who scores the final goal, settled only once the match has ended.
- To Score Two or More: a variation of Anytime Goalscorer requiring the selected player to score at least twice.
- First Goalscorer & Match Result: a combination bet requiring both the first scorer and the final result to be correct, similar in spirit to Correct Score betting, since both markets combine two separate outcomes into one price.
What Affects Goalscorer Odds Beyond Ability
- Playing time: a player who is substituted early or comes off the bench late has fewer minutes to register a goal, which shortens or lengthens odds accordingly.
- Set-piece duties: players who take penalties or free kicks typically have shorter Anytime odds due to the extra scoring chances this responsibility provides.
- Team news: a change in formation or the absence of a key creative teammate can quietly reduce a striker’s chances even if their underlying ability is unchanged.
- Match importance: some players are rotated or rested in must-win matches, and a player’s clear starting status matters as much as their season scoring record.
Common Mistakes in Goalscorer Betting
- Backing a player’s Anytime price without checking if they are actually starting or just on the bench.
- Confusing First Goalscorer with Anytime Goalscorer and misjudging why the odds for the same player are so different between the two markets.
- Ignoring set-piece duty changes, such as a new penalty taker, which can significantly shift Anytime Goalscorer value.
- Overlooking that First Goalscorer bets are typically voided if the match ends 0-0, which changes the effective risk profile compared to Anytime markets.
Key Takeaways
- First Goalscorer requires a player to score the opening goal specifically, while Anytime Goalscorer only requires a goal at any stage.
- Anytime odds are shorter than First Goalscorer odds for the same player because there are more ways to win.
- Odds are built from individual scoring rate, team attacking strength, and the expected goal total for the match.
- Playing time, set-piece duties, and team news all affect goalscorer prices independently of a player’s underlying quality.
- Understanding the settlement rules, including void outcomes for scoreless draws in First Goalscorer markets, is essential before placing this type of bet.
Goalscorer Markets vs Team-Based Markets
Goalscorer betting is fundamentally different from team-based markets like Both Teams to Score or match result betting, since it isolates an individual’s performance from the team’s overall outcome. A player can score the winning goal in a losing effort’s consolation strike, and the Anytime bet still wins even though the team result goes the other way. This makes goalscorer markets a genuinely separate category of risk, tied to player-level factors like fitness, form, and role, rather than team-level factors like defensive solidity or tactical setup.
Bettors sometimes combine goalscorer bets with team markets in a single wager, but it is worth remembering that these are two different sources of uncertainty layered together, which is why combination markets like First Goalscorer & Match Result carry longer odds than either bet placed individually.
Live Goalscorer Betting
Anytime Goalscorer markets remain available in-play and are repriced continuously as the match unfolds. A player’s odds shorten if their team goes ahead in a match with an attacking tempo, and lengthen if they are substituted or their team falls behind and shifts to a more defensive setup. First Goalscorer markets close once the opening goal is scored, since the outcome is then determined, while Anytime markets stay open until the final whistle for any player who has not yet scored.
If this topic interests you, our guides on First Half / Second Half Betting Markets Explained and Corner Betting Markets Explained cover closely related ground.
