Biggest Soccer Upsets Ever - Ranking the Top 5
Soccer is the most popular sport on Earth, with a Nielsen study from a few years ago suggesting that there are more than 3.2 billion people who consider themselves soccer fans.
One of the reasons for this is that this sport is somewhat unpredictable. In the 160+ years of soccer, there have been some huge upsets, the biggest of which I’m going to focus on in this post.
Jose Mourinho’s Porto Wins the 2003-04 Champions League
Jose Mourinho a.k.a. The Special One is thought of as one of the GOATs in the soccer coaching business, with three Premier League titles, two Serie A titles, and one La Liga title. He also has two Champions League trophies in his cabinet, one of which he won with Porto in 2004.
This feat remains one of the biggest surprises in club soccer as Mourinho’s team was a huge betting underdog. In fact, some offshore sportsbooks were giving +5000 odds on Porto winning the title that year.
January 5, 2024
But they pulled it off, beating some real heavyweights on the road to the title, most notably, Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United.
Saudi Arabia Beats Argentina 2:1 After Going 1:0 Down
Argentina arrived in Qatar as one of the top favorites to win the World Cup. Lionel Messi and his teammates were expected to dominate the tournament from the very start, but a huge upset happened in their first game – they lost 2:1 to Saudi Arabia despite being 1:0 up at halftime.
To understand how big of a surprise this was, you should know that the Saudis’ odds were +1400 at BetOnline before the match. The odds for halftime/fulltime Argentina/Saudi Arabia were +9000.
This remains the biggest upset in World Cup history as Saudi Arabia was 48 places below Argentina in the FIFA Rankings at the time.
However, the defeat was a sort of shock therapy for La Albiceleste. Messi & Co. went on to win every subsequent game of the tournament.
Otto Rehhagel’s Greece Wins the Euros in 2004
Greece winning the 2004 Euro is the greatest surprise in the history of the competition. The Greeks did it mainly thanks to their coach Otto Rehhagel.
With no major star on the roster, Greece was expected to exit the tournament early. Their odds of winning were +15000, but bookies obviously didn’t take King Otto’s tactical expertise into account.
The German manager turned this team into a defensive powerhouse that went on to concede zero goals in the knockouts.
Liverpool Produces “The Miracle of Istanbul”
One may argue that the Liverpool vs. AC Milan duel in the final of the 2005 Champions League is the greatest soccer match ever. Media dubbed it “the Miracle of Istanbul” for the fact that the Reds managed to make it 3:3 after going 3:0 down in the first half.
At the halftime break, bookmakers were giving live odds of +18800 on Liverpool winning the trophy. It seemed very unlikely, but Steven Gerard and the boys did it.
Stevie G scored one goal and so did his teammates, Vladimir Smicer and Xabi Alonso. Further, Liverpool’s goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek saved Andriy Shevchenko’s penalty when it was 3:2 for AC Milan.
After 120 minutes of play, the game went to penalties where Dudek saved another three penalties, helping his team win the shootout 3:2.
Leicester City Wins the 2015-16 Premier League
The biggest upset in the history of soccer is Leicester City winning the English Premier League in 2016. The Foxes were +500000 underdogs ahead of the season, which was only their second campaign in the English top-flight after a decade in lower echelons.
March 28, 2023
In fact, just seven years before winning the title, they played in League One, which is the third tier of the English soccer league system. How did the Foxes pull it off?
They owe a great deal to their manager at the time, Claudio Ranieri who used his trademark 4-4-2 strategy to get the most out of his men. Of course, that wouldn’t work if he didn’t have players like Jamie Vardy, N’Golo Kante, and others at his disposal.