World Cup fever may not have fully taken hold yet, but with England and Wales in action today, plenty of people will be getting the bug. The weekend saw Ecuador take on Qatar in the opener of the tournament as the Asian side became the first host nation to lose their first game of the finals.

Away from the football England lost to Australia in the second ODI of their series, whilst India despatched New Zealand in a T20. Australia were crowned Rugby League World Cup winners in the men’s and women’s sections, whilst Georgia recorded a surprise win over Wales in the rugby union autumn internationals.

With plenty to catch the eye, we have picked out three big winning spread bets from the weekend.

Please remember that unlike fixed odds betting, when spread betting losses can exceed deposits.

QATAR v ECUADOR – MULTI-BOOKINGS (SETTLED AT 800)

After years of controversy and off-field issues, Qatar 2022 finally got underway yesterday in what was a fairly muted affair, with Ecuador running out 2-0 winners. The South American side raced out of the blocks and had a goal disallowed early on as VAR gave an offside in the build-up to Enner Valencia’s opener.

The former West Ham man didn’t have to wait long to open his World Cup account after he converted a penalty which he won when being brought down by the goalkeeper. He doubled Ecuador’s lead with a sublime header just after the half hour mark and that was that as the visitors largely cruised through the rest of the match.

The big winning spread market was on Multi-Bookings which was 310-390 before kick-off and thanks to plenty of niggle fouls made up at 800 as Qatar collected 40 Booking Points with Ecuador being shown 20 of their own.

Buyers got their tournament off to a flying start as they won 410x their initial stake.

NEW ZEALAND v INDIA – NZ/IND SUPREMACY (SETTLED AT -65)

Following Friday’s washout, New Zealand and India were finally able to get underway as two beaten semi-finalists from the recent World Cup clashed at the Bay Oval.

New Zealand were priced as favourites on the Supremacy spread which was 17-25 before the match. The visitors batted first and their innings was meandering a touch until the supremely talented Suryakumar Yadav came to the crease and began a destructive knock which saw him score 111 off 51 deliveries with 11 fours and seven sixes. That knock helped India to 191/6 and all of a sudden, New Zealand were up against it.

The Black Caps were further up against it when Finn Allen was out after just two balls of the innings and although there was a small fight back, the final six batsmen to the crease added just ten runs between them as New Zealand’s tail fell apart.

The hosts finally fell to a 65 run defeat which meant the Supremacy settled at -65 and sellers landed a win of 83x their stake.

PUNCHESTOWN 20^th NOVEMBER FLORIDA PEARL NOVICES CHASE – DARRENS HOPE 50-25-10 (SETTLED AT 50)

The feature of Sunday’s card at Punchestown was a Grade 2 Novices Chase and five went to post with not much between Idas Boy and Minella Crooner at the head of the market. Due to the low sun, the fences down the back were taken out in a race that saw a fine front running performance from Darrens Hope.

The 8-year-old mare was priced 5-7 in the 50-25-10 market and although it appeared she was going to be beaten by Minella Crooner (25-28), she stayed on stoutly to win by a head and reward connections with a wonderful victory.

It was a superb ride by Danny Mullins and buyers will have been raising a glass in his name as they came away with a win of 43x their original stake.

Please note that these are examples of winning bets from the past week, and it is important to remember that spread betting carries a high level of risk to your capital and can result in losses larger than your initial stake/deposit.