Postponed or abandoned match: what happens to your bet and your accumulator?
When a match is postponed, your bet stays live only if the match is played within the time the bookmaker's terms allow: from 24 hours to three calendar days at the 16 licensed bookmakers whose terms we read. After that the bet ends in a refund of the stake, and in an accumulator that leg counts at odds of 1.00. We checked 2,280 matches from 37 leagues postponed to another date: 0.1% of them were played within 48 hours and half only after more than a month, so a refund is close to certain. When a match is abandoned, markets already decided are settled, and the rest are refunded if the match is not completed in time.
Key takeaways
- 1
A postponed match stays on your slip only if it is played within the time the bookmaker's terms allow, from 24 hours to three calendar days at the 16 licensed bookmakers we read; after that the bet is refunded, and in an accumulator the leg counts at odds of 1.00.
- 2
Of 2,280 matches in 37 leagues postponed to another date (2018–2026, without 2020), 0.1% were played within 48 hours, 9.1% within 3 days and more than half only after a month, so a refund is close to certain at any bookmaker.
- 3
About 3% of league matches a year are postponed, half of them in December, January and February, most often in England's lower divisions (League One 9.7%, against 5.2% in the Premier League) and least often in Germany (Bundesliga 0.45%).
- 4
An abandoned match is rare: in the match commentaries of 37 leagues we found 269 from 2003–2026, 45% abandoned because of the weather and 21% because of fans or security, and 37% were completed on another day.
- 5
When a match is abandoned, markets decided before play stopped are settled, such as over 1.5 goals at 2-0, and the rest are refunded if the match is not completed within the time the terms allow.
Where the numbers come from
- Terms: the terms, settlement rules and notices of 16 licensed bookmakers in one regulated European market, read on 4 October 2026.
- Postponed matches: matches of 37 national leagues recorded in our database as postponed to another date, from 2018–2026, matched with the game between the same teams played later in the same season. We count 2020 (the pandemic, 24% of matches postponed) separately.
- Abandoned matches: league matches of the same leagues from 2003–2026 for which the match commentary records that the match was abandoned, with the reason and what happened to the match afterwards.
A kick-off moved to another time on the same day is not a postponement in this data, just as it is not for bookmakers: the bet stands if the match starts within the time in the terms.
How long bookmakers wait for a postponed match
How long the 16 bookmakers wait for a postponed football match, by type of rule:
| how long the bookmaker waits | bookmakers (of 16) | variants |
|---|---|---|
| 24 hours from the original kick-off | 2 | one of them says "until the next day" in its football rules |
| 30 hours | 1 | – |
| until 23:59 the next day (24–48 h) | 2 | one counts in the local time of the venue |
| 48 hours | 9 | one wants the result within 48 h of the start, two a new date announced within 12 h and a kick-off within 48 h, one extends the window to 14 days when the date was changed before the match |
| two calendar days from the next day (48–72 h) | 1 | – |
| up to three calendar days | 1 | – |
Tennis, basketball, ice hockey and combat sports often have limits of their own, and three of the 16 bookmakers give different rules in different documents. For tennis, the same survey found limits from 96 hours, through "during the same tournament", to waiting for the official result with no time limit at all, as we describe in our article on tennis retirements and walkovers. What always counts is the time from the match's original date, not from the moment you placed your bet.
How often matches are postponed
| year | postponed matches | matches played | share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 213 | 11,092 | 1.9% |
| 2019 | 140 | 11,660 | 1.2% |
| 2020 | 2,212 | 9,104 | 24.3% |
| 2021 | 479 | 12,494 | 3.8% |
| 2022 | 427 | 11,471 | 3.7% |
| 2023 | 329 | 12,044 | 2.7% |
| 2024 | 348 | 11,742 | 3.0% |
| 2025 | 276 | 11,952 | 2.3% |
| 2026 (to 20 October) | 267 | 9,296 | 2.9% |
In 2022–2025, 2.9% of league matches were postponed, roughly one match in 34. In 2020, during the pandemic, it was one in four. Postponements cluster in winter: in leagues that play from August to May, 49% of them fell in December, January and February (frozen and waterlogged pitches, snow, the crowded festive fixture list), and only 1.5% in May.
The leagues with the highest and the lowest share of postponed matches in the 2021/22–2025/26 seasons:
| league | postponed | share of matches |
|---|---|---|
| England, League One | 271 | 9.7% |
| England, League Two | 207 | 7.4% |
| Ireland, Premier Division | 55 | 5.8% |
| England, Premier League | 99 | 5.2% |
| England, Championship | 119 | 4.3% |
| France, Ligue 1 | 19 | 1.1% |
| Italy, Serie A | 20 | 1.1% |
| Spain, LaLiga | 19 | 1.0% |
| Germany, Bundesliga | 7 | 0.45% |
| Sweden, Allsvenskan | 5 | 0.41% |
| Germany, 2. Bundesliga | 4 | 0.26% |
England and Ireland postpone the most matches: in winter, on lower-division pitches without undersoil heating, and in the Premier League also because of cup fixtures, the COVID waves of the 2021/22 season and a whole round called off in September 2022 after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. In Germany, where clubs in both Bundesligas must have undersoil heating, a postponement happens once or twice a season across the whole league. In France, Italy and Spain it is about one match in a hundred: 19 out of 1,694 played in Ligue 1, 20 out of 1,901 in Serie A and 19 out of 1,900 in LaLiga.
When a postponed match is played
How many days after the original date the 2,280 postponed matches of 2018–2026 (without 2020) were played:
| played at the latest after | share of matches |
|---|---|
| 1 day (24 h) | 0.0% |
| 2 days (48 h) | 0.1% |
| 3 days (72 h) | 9.1% |
| a week | 13.5% |
| 2 weeks | 21.6% |
| a month | 48.3% |
| 2 months | 77.1% |
| never played | 1.3% |
The median is 31 days. A postponed match usually goes into a free midweek date or after an international break, not into the next day. For bets this means:
- At the 13 bookmakers with a window of 24–48 hours, a bet on a postponed match ended in a refund in 99.9% of cases.
- At the two whose window reaches 72 hours, the bet stayed live more often: at the one that waits until midnight of the second day after the match in about 7% of cases, and at the one that allows up to three calendar days in 9–11%. These are mostly matches moved from Saturday to Monday evening or to Tuesday: 6.9% of postponed matches were played within 54 hours of the original date, though only 0.1% within 48 hours.
- At the one bookmaker whose window is 14 days when the date was changed before the match, the bet stayed live in one case in five (21.6%).
A refund does not depend on whether the new date is already known. If a Saturday match is moved to Wednesday, the bookmaker usually refunds the bet once the window has passed and lists the match again, with new odds.
Abandoned match: what is settled and what is refunded
A match abandoned during play is settled differently from a postponed one, because some bets may already have been decided:
- Markets decided before the abandonment are settled. If the match is abandoned at 2-0 in the 70th minute, over 1.5 goals and every first-half bet are already decided.
- Undecided markets wait for the match to be completed within the same window as a postponed match. If it is not completed in time, they are refunded: 1X2, over 2.5 at 2-0, the handicap, the correct score.
- Bookmaker A: a match abandoned and not resumed within 30 hours is void, except bets already decided.
- Bookmaker B: a match abandoned and not resumed by 23:59 the next day is void, and bets decided before play stopped stand.
- Bookmaker C: when the outcome of a bet is already certain, it is settled on the score at the moment play stopped, and a match not completed by 23:59 the next day, local time at the venue, is void.
All 16 bookmakers in the survey settle an abandoned match this way. Where they differ is the time allowed to complete it, which is the same as for a postponed match.
How often matches are abandoned
An abandoned match is far rarer than a postponed one. In the commentaries on matches of 37 leagues from 2003–2026 we found 269 abandoned matches, on average 11 a year out of more than 11,000 played, or about one in a thousand. That is a lower bound, because not every abandoned match has a commentary.
- Reasons: the weather in 121 matches (45%: downpours, storms, snow, fog, a waterlogged pitch), fans or security in 56 (21%: flares, crowd trouble, a pitch invasion), a floodlight failure in 27 (10%). The rest include serious injuries and other incidents.
- What happened next: 100 matches (37%) were completed on another day, 17 were decided by the governing body (a walkover or the result left standing), and 79 are recorded as cancelled.
Completing a match days or weeks later does not save the undecided bets: the time in the terms has long passed, so they are refunded. The result of the completed match counts only at a bookmaker whose window had not yet run out.
Accumulators and system bets with a postponed match
In an accumulator, a postponed match, or one abandoned and not completed, does not cancel the whole slip. That leg gets odds of 1.00 and the rest of the slip plays on:
- A £100 slip: 1.80 × 2.00 × 2.20 = 7.92, so the potential return is 100 × 7.92 = £792.
- The third match is postponed by a week. The bookmaker gives it odds of 1.00: 1.80 × 2.00 × 1.00 = 3.60.
- If the other two legs win, the return is 100 × 3.60 = £360. If either of them loses, the slip loses.
In a system bet, that leg gets odds of 1.00 in every combination it is part of. In a 2/3 system (three doubles), the combinations with the postponed match therefore become singles on the other leg. The details, and an example with a tennis retirement, are in our article on bet settlement rules.
Walkovers, protests and a change of venue
- A walkover or a result changed after the match does not change the settlement at most bookmakers: the result on the pitch counts. Nine of the 16 say so in so many words. One takes into account protests decided within 24 hours, and two treat the result as final 72 hours after settlement.
- No official result means a refund after 24 hours at one bookmaker, after 48 hours at another, after three days at a third and after 14 days at two more.
- A change of venue usually voids a bet only when the home side become the away side. Seven of the 16, however, reserve the right to void bets on any change of stadium.
- The match does not start on time but kicks off the same day: the bet stands, because that fits every window in the table above.
What to do when your match is postponed or abandoned
- Check the new date and the window in the terms. What counts is the time from the original date. If the new date falls outside the window, the bet will be refunded, though the settlement may come only once the window has passed.
- Do not bet on the same match again before the old bet is settled. The bookmaker may list the postponed match again and settle the old bet as a refund only after the window has passed.
- If the match was abandoned, check which markets were already decided. A winning over 1.5 at 2-0 should be settled as a win, not a refund.
- If the settlement looks wrong, complain within the time the terms allow. What to check first and what to put in the complaint is in our article on bet settlement rules.
Summary
At the 16 bookmakers we surveyed, a postponed match almost always means a refund: the window to play it runs from 24 hours to three calendar days, and of 2,280 postponed matches in 37 leagues 0.1% were played within 48 hours, 9.1% within three days and half after more than a month. About 3% of league matches a year are postponed, most often in winter and in England's lower divisions. An abandoned match happens roughly once in a thousand matches: markets decided before play stopped are settled, and the rest are refunded if the match is not completed in time. In an accumulator and in a system bet, the void leg counts at odds of 1.00 and the rest of the slip plays on. A walkover awarded after the match changes nothing at most bookmakers: the result on the pitch counts.
FAQ
If the match is played within the time the terms allow (from 24 hours to three calendar days at the 16 bookmakers we read), the bet is settled as normal. If not, it ends in a refund, and in an accumulator that leg counts at odds of 1.00 and the rest of the slip plays on. Of 2,280 postponed matches in 37 leagues, only 0.1% were played within 48 hours.
Markets decided before play stopped are settled, for example over 1.5 goals at 2-0. The rest wait for the match to be completed within the time the terms allow, and if it is not completed, they are refunded. Of the three bookmakers whose abandonment rules we quote, one waits 30 hours and two until 23:59 the next day.
At the 16 licensed bookmakers we read: 24 hours at two, 30 hours at one, until 23:59 the next day at two, 48 hours at nine, 48–72 hours at one and up to three calendar days at one. One of them extends the window to 14 days when the date was changed before the match.
In 2022–2025, 2.9% of league matches in 37 leagues were postponed, roughly one in 34. Half of the postponements fall in December, January and February. In the 2021/22–2025/26 seasons the Premier League postponed 99 matches (5.2%), League One 9.7%, Serie A 20 out of 1,901 (1.1%) and the Bundesliga 0.45%.
Yes, but only in the situations its terms list: a match postponed beyond the window, abandoned and not completed, played at another ground with home and away swapped, an obvious error in the odds (a palpable error) or no official result. A void leg in an accumulator counts at odds of 1.00.
At most bookmakers, no: the result on the pitch counts. Nine of the 16 we read say so in so many words. One takes into account protests decided within 24 hours, and two treat the result as final 72 hours after settlement.