In Sports, the term Cinderella or ‘Cinderella run’ or ‘Cinderella Team’, is often used to refer to situations in which competitors in a tournament achieve far greater success than would reasonably have expected.
Upsets happen often in football, but only in rare instances do underdogs put together a streak of surprises, not to talk of achieving success.
In pursuit of domestic glory, big teams overwhelm their lesser contemporaries (The Small Teams) with superior firepower, amassing huge points by consistently outscoring their rivals.
Whether it’s an underdog team defeating an established champion or an unheralded manager pulling off a big upset over what appears to be an impossible opponent, underdog stories may echo for months, years, and decades—and inspire another underdog team to pursue the same remarkable feats.
Article was first published on October 3 2020 and updated on November 28, 2022
10 Football teams who defied the odds
Winning a title isn’t exactly the kind of silverware that can be won by mere accident or by chance, certainly, there is always a place of luck in winning a competition, hard work, and determination.
In fact, without a doubt, rarely did any team win a trophy without an element of luck in their triumph. However, when a team triumphs in a competition or league winning over 30-40 games, it didn’t just happen by luck alone they’ve put in hard work and a lot of consistency.
- Leicester City – (England, 2016 Premier League)
The season before the Foxes went on a cinderella run winning the English Premier League, they were battling hard under Nigel Pearson to earn Premier League survival.
Following the sacking of Pearson, claiming “The working relationship between them and Nigel is no longer visible“, Leicester reacted by appointing and handling the reign of former Valencia and Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri as their new gaffer going into the 2015-16 Premier League campaign.
The veteran manager didn’t stay long before turning the team spirit around, which worked wonders in helping them stay in the topflight, combined with Ranieri’s tactical nous, hard work and experience helped in guiding the ‘Foxes’ to a great height.
Ranieri’s Leicester cinderella triumph will forever be one of the most remarkable title triumphs we’ve seen in football history, the Foxes did surprise the world of football.
Club players such as captain fantastic Wes Morgan, Danny Drinkwater, goal machine of the team Jamie Vardy, star player Riyad Mahrez and the engine cog Ngolo Kante played a key role in the team’s triumph.
Leicester and Ranieri coast home with the title in a season where the big boys decided to falter badly, except for Pochettino’s Tottenham side who gave the Foxes a bit of fight, before finally going on to achieve the unimaginable.
- Western Sydney Wanderers FC – (Australia, 2014 Asian Champions League)
WSW was founded in 2012 by FFA, with the start of the Wanderer’s first season in the Australian League approaching, Tony Popovic was appointed in putting together a competitive team for the 2012-13 A-League season, which happened to be the Wanderer’s only competition in their first season of creation.
As the A-League new season approaches, Popovic’s team was made up of relatively unknown players which includes former Japan international and Asian footballer of the year Shinji Ono, as well as Mateo Poljak, Jerome Polenz, Dino Kresinger, Youssef Hersi, and the Italian midfielder Iacopo La Rocca.
Wanderer’s inaugural season saw them win the A-League Premiership and also reached the 2013 A-League Grand Final. Likewise secured a second-place finish in their second season of the league.
In the space of two years, the Wanderers also achieved the unimaginable as they went on to win the Asian Champions League, against all odds they upsurge great teams such as Ulsan Hyundai, Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Chinese powerhouse Guangzhou Evergrande, FC Seoul, and Al-Hilal in the final.
The final of the competition was a two-legged affair between Wanderers and Al-Hilal, the first leg was won by Wanderers, defeating Al-Hilal 1-0, while the second leg ended in a stalemate with Wanderers managing a goalless draw at home.
They went on to become the first Australian side to be crowned Asian Champions, an achievement they reached in their first attempt.
- Wigan Athletic – (England, 2013 FA Cup)
Wigan Athletic board appointed former player and then manager of Swansea City, Roberto Martinez as their manager going into the 2009-10 Premier League season.
Albeit, in the 2013 Premier League season, the Spaniard gaffer couldn’t do enough to see the ‘Latics‘ from dropping to the Championship following a poor run of form in the English topflight.
Martinez, however against all odds did manage to drag the Latic into the final of the oldest competition in English football (FA Cup).
The Spaniard took his highly unfancied side to Wembley Stadium in the final, where they defeated the highly fancied Roberto Mancini’s Manchester City side by 1-0, a goal scored by a certain Ben Watson.
The unbelievable triumph of Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup orchestrated the looming departure of former City gaffer, while it’s pushed the Spaniard up to getting a new topflight job with Everton.
Wigan triumphed in winning their first major trophy as well as creating a place for themselves in the group stages of the Europa League.
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- EA Guingamp – (France, 2009 & 2014 Coupe De France)
En Avant Guingamp, a French football club founded in 1912. Some 108 years ago may not be one of the big spenders in French football unlike the likes of Paris Saint Germain, Marseille, and Monaco to some extent. However, they’ve been able to achieve some level of success despite being a very tiny club.
The side from a tiny region of Guingamp in Bretagne, are no more than 8000 if not more now in terms of population, took the French football world by surprise by winning the Coupe de France twice in 2009 and 2014.
The uniqueness of their Coupe de France triumph in 2009 and 2014, was the fact that both finals came against the same opponent ‘Stade Rennes’ from the same region.
En Avant Guingamp’s triumph in 2009 saw them play in the Europa League against HSV Hamburg, where they were severely beaten, while in 2014 they lost to Ukraine side Dinamo Kyiv in the group stages.
Those two great achievements by Guingamp will forever be remembered as a big feat in the history of the club.
- Real Betis – (Spain, 1977 & 2005 Copa Del Rey)
Sevilla FC from the city of Seville ain’t the only club from that region that has achieved great success since the club was established. There was also the crosstown rival Real Betis who surprised Spanish football by winning the Copa Del Rey, not once but twice in 1977 and 2005 respectively.
Los Verdiblancos came out triumphant in the final against the Basque side Athletic Bilbao, beating them via penalties having played a 2-2 draw in the regular time.
The final saw 21 penalties being taken by both teams respectively, as Real Betis came out triumphant with an 8-7 result at the Estadio Vicente Calderon.
The 2004-05 triumph came against Osasuna, Los Verdiblancos defeated ‘Los Rojillos 2-1 in overtime at the Estadio Vicente Calderon, as they achieved the unimaginable by lifting the trophy for the second time in the club’s history.
- Real Mallorca – (Spain, 2003 Copa Del Rey )
It is pretty rare to see a club other than Barcelona the most successful team in the competition, Real Madrid or Athletic Bilbao win the Copa Del Rey. Of the 118 Copa Del Rey finals that have been played in the competition history, Los Bermellones’ triumphs were 48 of them.
In the 2002-03 season, Los Bermellones ain’t the best of the teams, but they were fortunate enough to win the Copa Del Rey at the expense of Barcelona, following the exit of the Catalan giant to Novelda CF, while Real Mallorca defeated Real Madrid away with 5-1 in both legs.
Real Mallorca won the Copa Del Rey against a lowly side Recreativo de Huelva in the final, the goals were scored by former Argentine international Walter Pandiani and former Cameroonian legend Samuel Eto’o.
- FC Lorient – (France, 2002 Coupe De France)
The side from the port of Lorient was led by Yvon Pouliquen, in achieving the unthinkable in the history of the club since they were established in 1926.
The likes of Jean Claude Darcheville, Arnaud Le Lan, and Seydou Keita surprised the whole of France by reaching the final of the Coupe de la Ligue which they lost to Bordeaux.
However, Lorient didn’t let the defeat to Bordeaux affect their momentum, as they continued their impressive run of form in yet another cup competition, the ‘Coupe De France’ two months later.
FC Lorient was victorious against SC Bastia, defeating the Corsicans side 1-0 courtesy of a goal from Jean Darcheville in the final.
- Vincenza – (Italy, 1997 Coppa Italia )
Vicenza Calcio is one of the best clubs in the Seria A for quite a number of years in the ’60s, ’70s, as well as in the ’90s.
Despite being one of the decent sides in Seria A during their days, the only real success that came their way was the ‘Coppa Italia’ which they won in 1997.
In the final against Napoli, no one ever thought the ‘Biancorossi’ would upset Naples, although they lost the first leg away from home by 1-0. At home in the second leg, Vincenza destroyed Napoli 3-0 in extra time, in the same season they finished 9th in the league.
Having won the Coppa Italia, which qualified them into playing in the following season’s Cup Winner’s Cup, which they got to the semi-final, before being defeated by the London side Chelsea, after winning the first leg in Vicenza.
- FC Steau Bucharest – (Romania, 1986 European Cup)
Under the supervision of Emerich Jenei and Anghel Iordanescu, the Red & Blue had an impressive Championship run in the 1984-85 season.
They became the first Romanian side to reach a European Cup final, which they won against almighty Spanish side Barcelona via penalties with their goalkeeper ‘Helmuth Duckadem‘ saving all of the penalties taken by the Catalan giant after a goalless draw.
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Following their triumph in winning the European Cup, the Red & Blue became the first Eastern European team to win the European Champions title.
Steaua Bucharest’s success didn’t stop there, they continued by adding the European Super Cup to their achievement, which they won against Dynamo Kyiv in 1987.
At the time they achieved all of this success, the European Cup wasn’t held because of the whims of the mega-clubs and the global brands in modern football now. Then football didn’t enjoy huge global brands just like it’s enjoying now.
At that time, the Red & Blue were expected to be massacred by Barcelona in Seville, however against all odds they came out top.
- Hellas Verona – (Italy, 1985 Seria A Title)
In a year when referees were randomly assigned matches for the only time in the league, and following the reform of the league after a match-fixing scandal in the league.
The unfancied Hellas Verona upset the whole of Seria A by winning their one and only Scudetto in 1985 which came as a huge surprise.
Surprisingly Hellas Verona came out of the blue to win the title, although winning the title was made possible by their doggedness in defense, as they only conceded 19 goals in 30 games while Danish forward Preben Elkjaer was their star player.
As unbelievable as the Hellas Verona title triumph was, it was compared to the greatest cinderella run which transpired in the English Premier League, orchestrated by Leicester City in 2016.
Verona backed up a stunning 6th place finish in the 1984-85 season to snatch the title from Juventus, Milan, Napoli, and Inter with a record 15 wins, 13 draws, and 2 defeats to achieve the unimaginable.
- Nottingham Forest – (England, 1979 European Cup Double )
We have seen brilliant managers such as Vicente Del Bosque, Sir Alex Ferguson, Johan Cruff, Arsene Wenger, Pep Guardiola, and Mourinho.
Before all of these great managers, there was also someone (Brain Clough) who wowed the football world with his managerial nous, and brilliant tactical approaches to games.
Clough was being referred to as the cocky Yorkeshirman who took Nottingham Forest from the 13th position of England’s second-tier to become Champions of the English topflight and a consecutive Champions of the European Cup.
Their victory over Malmo of Sweden was followed by yet another win against Hamburg in 1980, completing one of the most remarkable turnarounds in sport and arguably the greatest achievement in the game of football.
Nottingham came from obscurity to become European Champions and England Champions during Clough’s reigns, that achievement will forever be on the lips of all Forest fans.
