The 10 greatest underdog teams in football history

#7 Montpellier, 2011/12 Ligue One

The goals of Olivier Giroud helped Montpellier upset the cart in Ligue One

France’s Ligue One had been won by a remarkable four different teams in the four seasons leading up to 2011/12, but while a fifth, different team was expected to win the league title in that season, it certainly wasn’t supposed to be tiny Montpellier, who only finished 14th the previous year and had an annual budget of around £29m.

The summer of 2011 was the summer that saw Qatari Sports Investment take over Paris St. Germain and promised to make them the most powerful club in Europe. They spent millions to lure the likes of Javier Pastore, Jeremy Menez and Thiago Motta to the club and even appointed Carlo Ancelotti as manager, but it wasn’t enough.

Despite securing 79 points – usually enough for the title – they couldn’t overhaul Montpellier, who ended the season with 82.

Bolstered largely by players who’d come through the club’s youth ranks – the likes of Benjamin Stambouli, Younes Belhanda and Geoffrey Jourdren – as well as the goals of the league’s top scorer, Olivier Giroud – he hit an impressive 21 goals in 36 league games – manager Rene Girard’s side pulled off what was essentially France’s version of the Leicester City story – just a few seasons earlier.