Austria v Azerbaijan Betting Tips [24 March 2023]

Austria and Azerbaijan will meet at the Raiffeisen Arena to get Group F of the Euro 2024 qualifiers underway on Friday. Group F looks anything but straightforward, with these two sides joined by Belgium, Sweden, and Estonia, all battling it out for the top two spots. The hosts failed to qualify for the World Cup, which means that their last competitive match came last September when they were involved in League A Group 1 of the UEFA Nations League. Unfortunately, they were unable to make much of an impression there either, ending bottom of their group with four points in their six matches. In their defense, they were drawn in arguably the most difficult group, which included Croatia, Denmark, and France. Since then, though, Austria has played two friendlies against Andorra and Italy, winning both in November last year. Ranked 34th in the world, Austria will fancy their chances in this match, but it could prove to be more difficult than it seems on paper against an opponent that has been very impressive in recent times. 

Placed 121st on Fifa’s rankings, Azerbaijan may not seem like much of a threat to most onlookers. However, they have been one of the most improved teams worldwide in the last feew months and proved it in their most recent UEFA Nations League showing. After a poor start to the tournament, the visitors finished in second place in League C Group 3, qualifying in a group that included Kazakhstan, Slovakia, and Belarus. Since the nations League, Azerbaijan has also played two friendlies, winning both over Moldova and North Macedonia. With those two friendly wins, Azerbaijan has now won their last five consecutive matches in all competitions and may prove to be the sleeper in this group, which Belgium and Sweden are heavily tipped to dominate.

Austria is the third-most fancied side to qualify from this group, and with over 90 places separating them and this opponent in rank, the hosts come into this match as the overwhelming favorites. However, despite their 12.0 odds to win, the visitors have the better recent record and could prove to be a banana skin for the bigger sides in these qualifiers. We’re going against the odds here and fancy the visitors to avoid defeat. Our Austria v Azerbaijan prediction is on the double chance market for a draw or a win for the visitors.