Football might have its favoured teams, but sometimes fate, injury, and rising stars have other plans. While there have been many major upsets on the world stage and within the more competitive European leagues that drew attention from the press, here are some of the more infamous upsets in football history.
USA – Colombia 1994 World Cup
A normal upset comes in the form of a lower-ranked team beating a more highly touted team. Colombia and the USA in the 1994 World Cup had a bit more than that. Colombia had become a rising star on the world stage, earning a spot in 1990 after not playing since 1962. The national Colombian team was on quite the roll, with only a single loss in the team’s last 41 games.
Prior to the second-round game against the USA team, midfielder Gabriel Gómez was the target of death threats via fax and phone, with a shadowy group threatening to bomb his home if he were to take the field. If that isn’t enough of a distraction, losing a good player didn’t help.
Early in the game, Colombian defender Andres Escobar tried to defend a crossing pass but accidentally booted the ball right past his goaltender, giving the USA a 1-0 lead. Bettors placing a wager on that happening would have been better off knowing that free spins are eligible on selected games. Team USA would go on to extend their lead to 2-0, only allowing Colombia to score late in the game, resulting in a 2-1 loss for the red-hot South American team.
The loss didn’t go over well in Colombia, with the country riding high on the team’s recent performance. Newspapers lamented the humiliating loss within their headlines. Unfortunately, problems got worse. Andrés Escobar was murdered in his hometown of Colombia by a shooter with drug-trafficking associations.
Germany – England 2001 Euro Qualifying Match
Most football fans, and even non-football fans, see the game as generally low scoring. In the 2001 Euro qualifying match against England, Germany scored early, with Carsten Jancker starting the tally. England turned it way, way up and scored six more goals, with Michael Owen netting a hat trick and even Emile Heskey scoring.
One learns not to rely too much on football history when knowing that Germany previously lost only one UEFA European Championship match at home. Some blame German goaltender Oliver Kahn for making multiple errors throughout the game, but the whole team just didn’t show up.
Brazil – Uruguay 1950 World Cup Match
Brazil hosted the 1950 World Cup and, being an exceptionally talented team, made it to the tournament final on their home turf against Uruguay. To say that Brazil had played well would be an understatement, as they scored 13 goals in their first two matches, including dramatically outscoring Sweden 7-1 and pummelling Spain 6-1. They seemed to be a team of destiny, drawing an estimated 200,000 fans for the final match.
Confidence was sky high, as the mayor of Rio reportedly had gold medals ready for the team, complete with their names imprinted on them. He also gave a game day speech hailing them as winners and commissioned a new victory song to be played at the stadium in front of adoring fans.
Brazil did take a 1-0 lead, but Uruguay roared back and scored twice, with the tie-breaking blow delivered with about 11 minutes left. Brazil and their fans were shocked by the loss on their home turf, though to be fair, Uruguay came to play!
Brazil – France 1998 World Cup Final
Here’s a weird one. The Brazilian team, led by the legendary Ronaldo, seemed destined to take the cup, scoring eight goals in their first three knockout stage goals to France’s three. Soon before the final match, Ronaldo had a seizure, which he later stated was likely caused by the pressure he felt to lead his team to victory. He was initially ruled out of the final but was put back in the lineup at the last minute.
Perhaps distracted by Ronaldo, Brazil didn’t show the offensive prowess that brought them so far, and they lost to France 3-0.
USA – England 1950 World Cup
In 1950, England was doing well on the world stage. They had won 23 of their 30 international matches, which is a rather impressive record. The World Cup international roster wasn’t too strong, with some teams not showing up in the aftermath of the Second World War. For various other reasons, well-known contenders like Peru, Ecuador, and Argentina wouldn’t be there either.
The English “Kings of Football” should have had an easy time against Team USA. Instead, the USA struck first with a beautiful opposite corner header, and England simply never responded. The USA would be eliminated later in the tournament by Chile, but taking down England would be the second most memorable moment of the tournament, after the previously mentioned Brazil and Uruguay matchup.
Conclusion
Isn’t watching an underdog win just more fun? International football has a history of producing high standards for some teams, followed by underwhelming and sometimes even shocking performances. Injuries have had some impacts on the outcome of games, though in many cases, simply being underprepared and outplayed is a bigger factor. With the 2026 World Cup just a couple of years away, who do you think will be a major upset?
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Explanation: player statistics (a/b c)
a - games played this season
b - goals scored
c - team position (d - defender, m - midfielder, f - forward, g - goalkeeper).
