The 10 greatest underdog teams in football history

#3 Greece, Euro 2004

Greece's victory at Euro 2004 was a massive shocker

With the likes of France, England, the Czech Republic and hosts Portugal looking incredibly strong going into Euro 2004, nobody considered Greece – a defensive side largely made up of journeymen – as contenders to win the tournament.

Even after they defeated Portugal 2-1 in the tournament’s opening game, it didn’t mean a lot – upsets had happened in opening games of tournaments before, after all.

A draw with Spain and a loss to Russia was enough to put Greece into the quarter-finals, but their run looked to end there as they were faced with France, a side which contained two of the world’s best players in Zinedine Zidane and Thierry Henry.

But somehow the Greeks soaked up the pressure, and a header from Angelos Charisteas put them into the semi-finals. Another 1-0 upset over the Czechs – this time in extra-time – followed to put them in the final.

The side they’d face? Hosts Portugal, who seemed to have a sense of destiny on their side and were gunning for revenge for the first game. But try as they might, Cristiano Ronaldo, Deco, and Luis Figo couldn’t break the Greek defence and another goal from Charisteas allowed the Greeks to pull off a wild upset.

It wasn’t entertaining football, but due to tremendous organisation and an unbreakable will, Greece had pulled off one of the all-time great underdog stories.