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This years Premier League title race is shaping up to be the most exciting one in its history as Leicester City and Tottenham have the potential to cause a major shock. With this in mind, we’ve decided to take a look at some of football’s most unlikely champions.
Any team can upset the odds in a one-off match but what about those sides that lifted trophies, defied the odds and caused some major shockwaves to travel around the world?
1) Nottingham Forest win consecutive European Cups.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day, but then again I wasn’t on that particular job”.
When Brian Clough was re-united with Peter Taylor at Nottingham Forest the club were lying in 13th position in division two. Four years later, they won the European Cup and retained it the following season. The duo had already proved their managerial genius by winning the league title with unfancied Derby County in 1972 – they also narrowly lost a controversial European Cup semi-final against Juventus during their in charge of the Rams- but Clough’s spell at the City Ground was nothing short of a miracle.
In the 1978-79 European Cup, Forest had already knocked out the current holders Liverpool and the German champions FC Köln on their way to the final in Munich. In the Olympic Stadium, they defeated Malmo 1-0 thanks to a Trevor Francis header and they retained the trophy the following season, beating Kevin Keegan’s Hamburg 1-0. To put this achievement into perspective Clough’s side became the first club to win the European Cup more times than their own domestic title.
2) Deportivo La Coruna reign in Spain.
It may seem bizzare, but there has been some seasons in Spain where the La Liga title has been won by teams apart from Barcelona and Real Madrid! Atletico and Rafa’s Valencia may have claimed the Spanish title in recent years but the achievement of Javier Irureta’s Deportivo La Coruna team in 2000 deserves a special mention.
Football fans may even remember Depor’s famous heartbreak on the last day of the ’94 season when they wasted a golden chance to win their first league title. Miroslav Djukic had to score with 90th minute penalty against Valencia on the last day of the season to clinch the title but he missed.
The Galician club didn’t have to wait too long to redeem themselves though and they finally became top dogs in Spain six years later, largely due to their gifted playmaker Djalminha and the predatory finishing of Roy Makkay.
The team went on to scale even bigger heights in Europe though when they reached back-to-back Champions League quarter finals. They also lifted the Copa Del Rey in ’02 but their most memorable hour came during that famous 03/04 Champions League match against AC Milan when they fought back from a 4-1 first leg deficit against the Italian giants to win 5-4.
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3) Mechelen : The original ‘Sugar Daddy’ club.
Before Chelsea, Manchester City or PSG there was KV Mechelen. Who?
Well, in the mid ’80s, Belgian electronics tycoon John Cordier took over the small provincial club and injected millions of his own personal fortune into the side. His money helped build an impressive squad that was led by the Belgian ‘keeper Michel Preud’homme, Leo Clijsters, John Bosman and Israeli winger Eli Ohana.
In their first ever European campaign, they won the Cup Winners Cup – they went undefeated throughout the entire campaign and eventually beat an Ajax side containing Danny Blind, Aron Winter and Dennis Bergkamp 1-0 in the final.
Mechelen are still the last Belgian side to have ever won a European trophy.
4) Mon Dieu! Montpellier stun PSG.
“Montpellier champions of France?!?! If I was Marseille, Paris, Lyon, Lille or Rennes, I’d stab myself in the arse with a sausage!”
These were the famous words of Louis Nicollin, the eccentric chairman of Montpellier, and their title winning campaign was made all the more incredible given the rise of the nouveau riche PSG.
In 2011, the Parisians were taken over by the Qatar Sports Investment group and PSG’s new owners wasted no time in flexing their financial muscle, splashing out £82m on new players. Carlo Ancelotti’s side were expected to usher in a new era of domestic dominance but nobody told Montpellier.
The minnows , whose annual budget was less than what PSG spent on their marque signing Javier Pastore, ended the season as champions largely thanks to the 21 goals from Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud.
It was ex-Portsmouth striker John Utaka though who proved to be the hero because his brace against Auxerre on the final day of the season secured a famous title for the southern club.
5) Iraq win the Asian Cup against impossible odds.
In July 2007, screams were heard throughout Iraq as tears flooded the nation. This time though they were tears of joy because for the first time in Iraq’s history, they had won the Asian Cup.
The sheer scale of what the Lions of Mesoptamia achieved , in spite of the bloodshed, war and turmoil in their country, was nothing short of a sporting miracle.
On the pitch, they surprised everyone by beating the pre-tournament favourites Australia before knocking out the holders South Korea in the semi-final. Iraq went on to win the final 1-0 against Saudi Arabia thanks to a 71st minute header from captain Younis Mahmoud.
In pure sporting terms, the win was impressive given the quality of the teams that they faced but the achievement resonated beyond the pitch. Journalists in the country have said that the victory temporarily united a divided country largely due to the fact that the team included Sunni and Shia Muslims as well as Kurds.
For one brief moment, almost a hundred thousand Iraq citizens took to the streets in sheer jubilation and happiness. Their joy was short lived though because the cruel reality of daily life returned later that evening. Insurgents detonated bombs that killed 50 people across Baghdad.
6) Verona shakes the established order in Italy.
In 1985, Verona was more renowned for being the city where Romeo and Juliet fell in love rather than any of its sporting achievements but this was soon to change.
The club had only been promoted to Serie A two years earlier – finishing fourth and sixth respectively – but no one could have predicted what was to come though as the Gialloblu stunned the world by winning their one and only Scudetto.
The title success was built around a solid team ethic that was heavily reliant on a water tight back-four, they only conceded 19 goals all season and to put things into perspective, Giuseppe Galderisi was Verona’s top scorer that year with just 11 league goals.
The sheer scale of this achievement shouldn’t go unnoticed though because after gatecrashing Diego Maradona’s Napoli debut and finishing the opening day on top of Serie A, they never moved from that position for the rest of the season.
For the first time in 15 years the Scudetto had a home that wasn’t in the cities of Turin, Milan and Rome. A Shakespearean tragedy this was not.
7) Uruguay stun the world.
Arguably the most famous upset in football history was when Uruguay beat tournament hosts Brazil 2-1 in the World Cup final of 1950.
The win has become so famous that it has even spawned its own Portuguese bogey name “Maracanazo” . The format of the World Cup back then was completely different to what we’re familiar with because instead of a knockout stage, the preliminary group stage was followed by another round-robin group.
Brazil entered the final group match knowing that they only needed a draw to win the World Cup. A Brazilian paper was so confident of lifting the World Cup that they even printed a photo of the Seleccao squad with the caption “These are the champions”. The World Cup organizing body had also already engraved 22 medals with the names of the Brazilian players.
This confidence seemed to be well placed when Brazil took a 46th minute lead but Uruguay had different ideas. La Celeste equalized moments later and in the 79th minute Alcides Ghiggia wrote his name into the history books with the winning goal. 200,000 fans inside the Maracana were stunned silent as Uruguay lifted the Jules Rimet trophy for the second time.
8. Aberdeen and Alex Ferguson announce themselves.
Its been over 30 years since a club outside of the Old Firm has won the Scottish title but the world quickly learned the name of the Aberdeen manager who guided them to title success in 1985.
Under the management of Alex Ferguson, the Dons won three league titles, four Scottish Cups and a Scottish League Cup but their finest moment was lifting the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup and Super Cup in 1983.
Ferguson built his team around a strong spine of Jim Leighton , Alex McLeish and Gordon Strachan but they were to face the ultimate test in the showpiece match against the then six-times European Cup winners Real Madrid.
Eric Black gave Aberdeen an early lead however Real equalised from the penalty spot in a tense and rain soaked match in Gothenburg. The game stayed level until extra-time before substitute John Hewitt’s diving header gave Ferguson his first ever European trophy. Aberdeen went on to add the Super Cup with a 2-0 win over Hamburg and they remain the last Scottish team to win a European trophy.
I’m not sure what Ferguson did with his career after!
9) A shock in the European Championships…again!
To be fair, Greece had warned us right from the opening match. Greece had already beaten Portugal in the tournaments opener and they fought their way out of a tough group that also had Spain and Russia.
The fairytale was supposed to end though when they met France in the knockout stages but no one told the 100-1 outsiders. The Greeks knocked out the holders before breaking the hearts of a wonderfully entertaining Czech Republic side.
The team didn’t rely on a single marque name but they the performances levels from Charisteas, Zagorakis and Karagounis were superhuman. Their tactically astute coach Otto Rehhagel didn’t care about being aesthetically pleasing, they frequently played five across the back and relied set pieces.
The final in Lisbon was supposed to be a coronation for Cristiano Ronaldo and a fitting sendoff for Luis Figo but Greece tore up the script. Greece’s victory wasn’t the first time that the European Championships sprung a surprise. Denmark did the same in 1992 which was all the more shocking because the Danes were a last minute replacement for Yugoslavia.
There are plenty of other trophy success that we may have missed out on.
What about Wigan winning the FA Cup against Man City, Mourinho’s Porto in ’03, Jack Walker and Kenny Dalglish upsetting the established order with Blackburn Rovers, Zambia beating the Ivory Coast on penalties in the African Cup of Nations, Wimbledon shocking Liverpool in the 1988 FA Cup Final or Steaua Bucharest lifting the Champions League?
Let us know if you’ve got your own favourite trophy winning shock.
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