Football is one of the favorite and most popular sports across the world. It is exciting, fun, entertaining, intriguing, challenging and above all it is unpredictable. This unpredictability is what makes football so interesting and attractive for punters. After all, football betting is one of the most popular sports wagered on, with millions of bets generated everyday by sportsbooks and this is why every totalizatori invests most of their resources in building a competitive list of markets concerning the particular sport.
One of the greatest things about football is that as a sport it has given us, fans, some of the most powerful moments to remember. And these moments largely concern unexpected outcomes and turnaround of matches, where outsiders eventually got to score big wins and stun their opponents, despite being the absolute favorites! Such upsets are quite common in football, but there are some turnarounds that have left their own distinctive mark on the sport itself.
Let’s see the biggest upsets in the history of football.
#5 Greece winning the Euro 2004
Some nineteen years ago Greece did the unthinkable. It was the 2004 UEFA European Championship when the team listed at the bottom places of sportsbooks regarding their chances of getting the title, managed not only to go deep in the promotion but also win the Euro in the end. In the final against Portugal – which was named the clear favorite of the match – Greece scored one goal that changed its route and brought the team on top, winning their first ever international championship.
#4 United States beating England in the 1950 World Cup
England was favored to win the match and so they came into the field very confident about their forthcoming victory. But things turned out to be different when they confronted the United States, who despite having a team of “inexperienced part-timers”, managed to beat all the odds and win England in a match that remains until today one of the most shocking rivalries in the world of football. Although the United States did not win the World Cup – in fact they were far from winning the title – they created an unforgettable football moment for us.
#3 Senegal’s stunning victory over France in the 2002 World Cup
France were the reigning World and European Champions back in the opening of the 2002 World Cup. Senegal were making their debut in the World Cup. Chances were that France would smash Senegal in their opening game. But to everyone’s surprise Senegal made an astonishing performance which not only did not go unnoticed by audiences and fans, but it also led the team to beat the defending title France.
#2 Denmark winning the Euro 1992
This is an absolute fairytale. A Cinderella story. Denmark was given the chance to be in the European Championship back then only because Yugoslavia could not participate due to the war. And what was dreadful for them, trivial for their qualifying opponents and a surprise for football fans, ended up being one of the greatest upsetting stories in football history. Denmark was given one week’s notice to get prepared, but what they did was amazing. They managed to achieve in one month what they would never be able to achieve again in their course of football life: to win their one and only title.
# 1Leicester City winning the 2015-16 EPL
Well, this is the greatest upset in football history for the die-hard fans of the sport. Leicester City was given 5000/1 odds for winning the English Premier League, reflecting quite obviously the extremely low chances of them getting the title. But Leicester showed everyone otherwise and proved them wrong. Having escaped relegation the previous year, Leicester was committed to writing history and they did so.
