Bet: Oshane Grant, 42, of Easton, Bristol, was expecting to pocket £9,250 if France, Serbia and Argentina's football teams all scored at least three goals in their World Cup 2014 qualifiers (dailymail).

Football transfers are not cheap. To have a player strengthen their ranks, teams are willing to pay big money. The football transfer considered to be the most expensive in the sport's history was that of Gareth Bale leaving Tottenham to play at Real Madrid. The Spanish club paid not less than £86 million (about $133 million at today's exchange rates) to have the player among its own. But recent news suggest that this record might be broken this year. According to reports in the media, UK Premier League team Manchester United is willing to almost double that amount.

Migingo is a tiny 2,000-square-metre (0.49-acre; 0.20-hectare) island, about half the size of a football pitch, in Lake Victoria. Migingo is a tiny rock island, less than half-an-acre or about half the size of a football field, located in Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa and the largest tropical lake in the world. Although tiny in size, the island is home to 131 people (according to 2009 census) living in crammed huts made of corrugated sheets and wood. Despite shabby living conditions, Migingo Island boasts of five bars, a beauty salon, a pharmacy as well as several hotels and numerous brothels.

Ethnic San Chi women dressed in traditional costumes play a friendly football match as part of the Soong Co festival celebrations in northern Vietnam's Quang Ninh province on April 24, 2021. (Photo by Nhac Nguyen/AFP Photo)

Mikel Merino of Spain and Maya Yoshida of Japan react on the pitch following a collision during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games men's semi-final football match between Japan and Spain at Saitama Stadium in Saitama on August 3, 2021. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

A boy kicks a football in Dudley Page Reserve as storm clouds gather over the city skyline on September 30, 2021 in Sydney, Australia. The Bureau of Meteorology has issued severe storm warnings for the city. (Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)

Millonarios' midfielder David Silva controls the ball during the Copa Sudamericana group stage second leg football match between Colombia's Millonarios and Uruguay's PeÒarol at the Nemesio Camacho “El CampÌn” stadium in Bogota, on May 23, 2023. (Photo by Juan Barreto/AFP Photo)

A Cameroon fan waits for the start of the Qatar 2022 World Cup Group G football match between Switzerland and Cameroon at the Al-Janoub Stadium in Al-Wakrah, south of Doha on November 24, 2022. (Photo by Hannah Mckay/Reuters)