Everyone loves a good upset in sport, a giant-killing, a David vs. Goliath story, and luckily for us, football often gives us those stories, and the best place to find them is in international tournaments.
With that in mind, and Euro 2024 being less than a year away, Football FanCast has created a list of the ten best upsets ever at the European Championships.
10
1988: The Republic of Ireland beat England 1-0 in the group stage
For as much of a football-mad country England is, the Three Lions have their fair share of disastrous international campaigns to their name, perhaps none more catastrophic than the 1988 European Championships.
The English didn’t go into the tournament as outright favourites, but with a team full of talented players, there was an expectation that they would at least get past the groups, and there was indeed an expectation that they would cruise past their first opponents, Ireland.
It was the Irish’s first appearance at a major international tournament, but you wouldn’t have guessed from how they started the game, as it took just six minutes for Ray Houghton to loop a header over Peter Shilton and give the men in green an early lead.
The following 84 minutes was all England, and in any other game, they would have scored several times over. Still, somehow, the Irish held onto their lead and produced one of the most surprising results in the history of the European Championships.
The English would lose against the Netherlands and the Soviet Union and end their tournament with zero points.
9
2004: Latvia hold Germany to 0-0 draw
What’s the old saying? Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes, and at the end, the Germans always win? Well, while that might usually be the case, it certainly wasn’t when Latvia faced off against the international giants at Euro 2004.
It was the second round of group games when the two teams came to play each other, and neither one had gotten their campaigns off to the best of starts as the Germans played out a 1-1 draw with their bitter rivals, the Netherlands, while Latvia had actually lost their first game to the Czech Republic.
Despite their early stumble against the Dutch, the Germans were naturally overwhelming favourites going into the game and, by all accounts, dominated their Baltic opponents, taking 21 shots to Latvia’s four. Still, it just wasn’t enough, and they once again failed to collect all three points.
Both sides would ultimately crash out in the group stages, but where it was seen as an unmitigated disaster in Germany, the Latvian team were lauded for their Herculean efforts against the then three-time world champions.
8
2000: Romania beat England 3-2 to send them out of the competition
We’re sorry, England fans, but your second appearance on this list is another defeat and another group-stage one at that.
The Three Lions went into Euro 2000 with a determination to do one better than 1996 and make it to the final in Rotterdam, but a disastrous group stage scuppered any such ambitions.
The previous competition’s semi-finalists lost their first game 3-2 to Portugal but managed to beat the reigning champions Germany 1-0 in their second game, so a win against Romania in their third game was all that was needed to ensure they made it to the quarter-finals.
Unfortunately for Kevin Keegan and Co, Romania played like a team possessed in that final group game, and an 89th-minute penalty was enough to see them progress into the knockouts at the expense of the English.
7
2020: The Czech Republic beat the Netherlands to reach the quarter-finals
The delayed 2020 edition of the European Championships threw up plenty of surprise results, from Scotland holding England to a 0-0 draw at Wembley Stadium to Hungary earning a point against Germany in Bavaria. Still, perhaps the biggest surprise of them all came in the knockout stage as a resurgent Netherlands side was booted from the tournament by an unfancied Czech side.
The Dutch had topped their group and scored eight goals in the process, whereas the Czechs had only got out of the group as one of the better third-placed sides – scoring just three goals in the process – and so a Dutch victory was seen as a forgone conclusion when the sides met in the round of 16.
However, the Czechs were not going down without a fight, and when Matthijs de Ligt was sent off in the 55th minute with the score still 0-0, the momentum swung in favour of the underdogs.
Two goals in 12 minutes secured passage into the quarter-finals for the Czech Republic and sent Dutch fans home in disbelief.
6
2008: Turkey beat Croatia to reach the semi-final
From unlikely quarterfinalists to even more unlikely semifinalists, the Turkey team at Euro 2008 secured their nation’s best-ever finish at the European Championships when they beat Croatia on penalties.
Going into the game, Croatia were clear favourites thanks to their excellent performances in the group stages. In contrast, Turkey just about managed to get out of their group thanks to some very late winners against Switzerland and the Czech Republic.
While Croatia dominated the game, Turkey’s heroic defending forced extra-time. However, it looked like all of their efforts were going to be in vain when Klasnic gave Croatia a 1-0 lead in the 119th minute, but the Turkish didn’t know when to quit, and a 122nd-minute goal from Semih Senturk sent the game to penalties.
The Crescent-Stars won the shootout 3-1 and reached the semi-finals for the first time ever.
5
1996: The Czech Republic reach the final
The 1996 European Championships was a brilliant tournament, and while it’s primarily associated with Paul Gascoigne, Gareth Southgate and penalty heartbreak on these shores, it’s remembered very differently in the Czech Republic.
Before their split from Slovakia, the Czechoslovakian football team was a real force in world football, winning the 1976 European Championships and finishing runners-up in two World Cups. Still, following their split, they have made just a single appearance in a major international final, and that was in 1996.
In their first tournament as the Czech Republic, they finished second in their group, beat Portugal in the quarter-finals, beat France in the semi-finals, and only just lost to Germany in the final courtesy of a heartbreaking golden goal in the 95th minute.
For a newly formed team, they exceeded everyone’s expectations and provided a brilliant story for neutrals to follow throughout.
4
2016: Portugal win the European Championships
Right, onto the first outright winners on this list, and it’s none other than Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal side from Euro 2016. We say Ronaldo’s side, as the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, truly took on the role of leader and talisman in this competition, even if he didn’t play much of the final himself.
The Portuguese were a real dark horse pick ahead of the tournament, and the fact that they only got out of the group as one of the best third-placed teams certainly didn’t increase anyone’s confidence in them either.
They just about managed to beat Croatia in the round of 16 thanks to a 117th-minute winner from Ricard Quaresma, and they weren’t much better against Poland either, needing a penalty shootout to get past them.
Their first impressive performance of the entire tournament came in the semi-finals, where they beat a spirited Wales side 2-0, and so when they were set to face hosts France in the final, few gave them a chance.
A Portuguese win looked even less likely when Ronaldo went down injured in the 25th minute, but somehow, the underdogs managed to survive France’s 25 shots and emerge victorious thanks to an Eder goal in the 109th minute.
3
2016: Iceland beat England 2-1 in the Round of 16
Sorry, England fans, this is your third appearance on this list, and it’s another in which the Three Lions come out on the losing side – at least it wasn’t in the groups this time.
The 2016 Euros was a brilliant tournament, one remembered for a plethora of great moments: Portugal’s win over France in the final and Wales’ run to the semi-finals, but perhaps more than anything else, it will be remembered as the tournament in which Iceland punched well above their weight and made it to the quarter-finals.
The island nation had a population of just 335,000 people in 2016, but they managed to get out of their group thanks to draws against the eventual champions Portugal and Hungary, as well as a 2-1 win over Austria.
Had the fairytale stopped there, they probably would’ve still made it onto this list as nobody predicted they would be able to get out of the group, let alone make it past the Round of 16, but that is precisely what they did.
Their opponent in Nice was Roy Hodgson’s England, a team with some real star power in Wayne Rooney, Harry Kane, and Raheem Sterling, but lacked form after winning just one game – against Wales – in their group.
That said, it looked like it would be a long night for Iceland when Rooney slotted home a penalty in the fourth minute to give England the lead. However, the Scandinavians composed themselves and once again demonstrated the kind of fight that got them to the finals in the first place.
Within 14 minutes of England going ahead, Iceland had scored two goals of their own and were now firmly in the driving seat. The rest of the game saw the English desperately searching for an equaliser but ultimately succumbing to the grit and determination of a team that simply refused to be beaten that night.
While their journey would eventually cease at the hands of France in the quarter-finals, Iceland well and truly etched their names into football folklore – and we all love the Viking clap.
2
1992: Denmark win the European Championships
The runners-up on our list are another championship-winning team, and one of the most shocking at that, Denmark.
The fact that Denmark won the 1992 European Championships should be surprising enough when they were up against the likes of Germany, the Netherlands, France, and England, but the fact that they hadn’t even qualified just adds another level.
It was initially Yugoslavia that qualified for the tournament ahead of the Danish, but due to the breakup of the country and ensuing conflict, they could not take part, so Denmark took part in their place.
The Danes finished second in their group thanks to a draw with England and a 2-1 win over the French. They beat the Netherlands on penalties in the semi-finals and then comprehensively outplayed the Germans in the final, beating them 2-0.
As far as unlikely winners go, only one can beat them.
1
2004: Greece win the European Championships
Here we are, our pick for the biggest upset in the history of the European Championships, and really, what else could it be?
Denmark’s triumph in 1992 is certainly a close second, but Greece’s tournament triumph in 2004 is the stuff of footballing legend and should be viewed as not just one of the most outstanding achievements at the Euros but in all of football.
In the weeks building up to the tournament, nobody – not even Greek fans – was predicting the Greek national team to win the tournament; in fact, many didn’t even have them down as getting out of their group, considering both the hosts, Portugal and Spain were in the same group as them.
That said, they kicked things off with a 2-1 win over Portugal, which was followed up with a 1-1 draw with Spain and a somewhat surprising 2-1 loss to Russia, three results that meant they progressed from the group in second place, ahead of the Spanish.
In the quarter-finals, they came up against defending champions France but came out the other side as 1-0 winners and played out the same result against the Czech Republic in the semi-finals.
The final saw them come up against Portugal for a second time in the competition, and despite having already beaten them, they were massive underdogs.
However, a 57th-minute goal from Werder Bremen forward Angelos Charisteas gave the Greeks the lead and silenced the home crowd.
The Portuguese gave everything they could to find an equaliser, but they just didn’t have the time, and as the final whistle went, Greece achieved what many thought was impossible just a few weeks prior and were crowned champions of Europe.
And there you have it, our top ten most significant upsets in European Championship history; let’s hope that Germany 2024 can provide us with a few more.
