Football is definitely a sport where anything can happen, and it’s about the agony and ecstasy, as such without one there won’t be the other, in other words, there are teams who are considered to the best in football, despite being the best they’ve also been cases where they were on the receiving end of some shocking, humiliating, and embarrassing defeats. No wonder it is regarded as the best and most exciting sport that comes with action-filled moments for the fans.
As a football enthusiast, when you watch your darling team play, there is nothing you wished for than a scintillating victory, but when the team experienced a bad day or experienced the cruel side of the game, it very hard to take and can be heartbroken.
Some defeats can be so infuriating and humiliating, whether it’s a match on the biggest stages or not, no humiliating defeat is usually easy to the stomach or take with a good heart.
So have you ever sit and ask yourself what are the most humiliating football moments or embarrassing defeat your team has experienced or you’ve witnessed as a fan?
To refresh your memory in this period when football enthusiasts are patiently waiting for football to return, after a three-month break due to the coronavirus pandemic, today Cheapgoals will bring to you some of the embarrassing defeats in football history.
(Selecao) Brazil 1-7 Germany (Die Mannschaft)
The 2014 World Cup in Brazil hosted by the Selecao is one tournament that the Brazilian fans, the players selected by then manager Felipe Scolari to play for the ‘Selecao’ and the football enthusiast all over the world will never forget in a hurry, not because of anything, but because of the humiliating defeat that befell the Brazilian national team in front of their home fans.
The 1-7 embarrassing defeat in hands of Germany at the Belo Horizonte Stadium on July 8, 2014, happens to be the second biggest defeat the Selecao would ever experience.
Having experienced their first-ever biggest defeat against one of their arch-rival Uruguay 6-0 at the Vina Del Mar, Stadium in Chile, on September 18, 1920, perhaps you would say that’s when football was still in its infant age or era as the case may be.
Perhaps you might want to cut the team some slack, having lost two of their biggest players in the team to injury and suspension, however losing in such an embarrassing manner despite being one of the best footballing nations in the world in terms of the kind of players they parade, sounds humiliating.
The defeat was so bad that the Germans had to apologize to Brazil and their fans for beating them in such an embarrassing manner, a loss that brought embarrassment to the whole country and the Brazilian team, which caused many of the players to broke down in premium tears due to the annihilation.
(Socceroos) Australia 31-0 American Samoa (The Boys From The Territory)
If you are a football enthusiast and you saw the highlight of the match on your television screen or you heard of the result from a friend, one question you would likely ask is, is the match a basketball match between Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers?
Why, because that is one sport that is synonymous with such a result.
Although it’s not every day that a team is been beaten mercilessly in such a manner the American Samoa team was beaten when it happens fans can not but marvel at such a humiliating defeat which happens to be the biggest defeat in an international match for the 2002 World Cup qualifiers.
When you heard of 31-0, no doubt it’s a match that should provide a lot of goals and goalscorers, as such Archie Thompson scored a ridiculous 13 goals out of the 31 goals scored in that embarrassing defeat, which prompted FIFA to introduced a preliminary round for Oceania qualifying so that such humiliating defeat wouldn’t happen again.
(Catalan) Barcelona 6-1 Paris Saint Germain (Les Parisiens)
These embarrassing defeat to PSG is one of the matches I will never forget in a hurry as a football lover and as a sports journalist, it’s actually the day in which ‘Les Parisiens‘ decided to act foolishly and annoying in such fixture, after winning the first leg of UEFA Champions League against Barcelona 4-0 in Paris.
That said, of course, the Spanish giant are no strangers to a glorious and unimaginable come back themselves, as such Paris Saint Germain were at the receiving end this time at the Camp Nou, to ease them out of the money-spinning Champions League with an emphatic, humiliating, and embarrassing 6-1 win.
One player that orchestrated ‘Les Parisiens’ defeat back then in the late stages of the return leg at Camp Nou was Neymar who his now their player, was a thorn in the flesh of Paris Saint Germain defense that night, as they became the first team to exit the competition after winning the first leg at home under the tutelage of Unai Emery.
(Red Devils) Manchester United 8-2 Arsenal (Gunners)
Quite sure this particular match will forever remain in the memories of Arsenal’s faithful not because of anything, but for the humiliating feeling, while it will be remembered by United fans as a triumph that comes with a sweet bragging right against the Gunners fans, even though as a neutral fan you’d still find it hard to fathom how Arsenal was beaten in such a shameful manner.
Understandably before that match, Wenger’s team was battling with a lot of injuries, as such ‘Le Professeur’ had to field a fringe defense of Johan Djourou, Laurent Koscielny, Carl Jenkinson, and Armand Traore, but then that’s no excuse for the Gunners to had lost in such a disgraceful manner despite been one of the top team in the Premier League.
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Even at the post-match interview, United manager Alex Ferguson was also surprised at the manner Arsenal lost to the Red Devils, according to him “When you play Arsenal you don’t expect a result like that, two English giant had gone toe to toe for so many years, but this was quite the opposite” That statement is a testament to the fact that Fergie was shocked and wasn’t expecting such an embarrassing result against Arsenal.
Arsene Wenger responds with spending considerable sums of money on securing the services of 5 players within a matter of hours right on the deadline date.
(Red Devils) Manchester United 1-6 Manchester City (The Citizens)
This is one of the strange results you wouldn’t have expected to see in a match of this magnitude considering the rivalry, as such it’s was expected to be a keenly contested match, but unfortunately, it’s turned out to be a massacre for the red part of Manchester.
The match came as United’s worst home loss since February 1955, and these time around the defeat was orchestrated by Mario Ballotteli et al, with his popular ‘Why Always Me‘ celebration, as the win edged City closer to the title and it was won on goal difference that season under Italian manager Roberto Mancini
(The Reds) Liverpool 4-0 Barcelona (Catalan)
‘Karma’ they say is the idea that one reaps, what one sow, in other words, that was exactly what happened to the Spanish giant, Barcelona had had a foot and four toes in the Champions League final after beating Liverpool 3-0 at the Camp Nou in an utterly enthralling encounter. In semblance to what happened between them and Paris Saint Germain.
Heading to the Merseyside in England, seemed unthinkable that the Spanish giant would go crashing out, for Barcelona they were humbled, disgraced, and embarrassed on a Champions League night many had thought they would go through to the next round because of their first-leg triumph.
(La Furia Roja) Spain 1-5 Netherlands (The Oranje)
This game was a rematch of the 2010 World Cup final, as such it’s definitely had everything to fight for, which was the bragging right, secondly the crucial three-point involved in a World Cup group stage.
Fortunately for ‘The Oranje‘ of Netherlands four years after the reigning World Champions defeated them, they got their chance to humiliate and massacre Spain despite drawing the first blood through Xabi Alonso’s goal, thereafter the table turned in favor of the Netherlands as Robin Van Persie and Arjen Robben put the reigning champions to the sword.
Their loss was the worst ever for a defending champions team in the group stage, as the victory for the Netherlands was an utter embarrassment to La Roja fans, the players, and the neutrals.
(The Stars & Stripes) USA Women 13-0 Thailand (Chaba Kaew)
There is these saying that goes thus, ‘There are no more minors in world football‘, but sometimes the so-called minors do comes out of their shell to spring a surprise against the best team in world football. Apparently, this time around the cliché didn’t play out that way as the minor was dealt with seriously.
The USA Women national team faced an atrocious criticism for their overzealous celebrations as they inflict a humiliation upon Thailand women national team the biggest defeat ever seen at the FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament, as the resources, talents, available to the respective teams made the American behavior very hard to stomach by the Thai’s.
(The Citizens) Manchester City 6-0 Watford (The Hornets)
Yes, there is no shame in losing to an excellent citizens side and champions of the league though, but as a fan of Watford when your team loses in such a disgraceful manner you felt heartbroken and pained.
The Hornets weren’t only beaten, they were embarrassed by Pep Guardiola’s side in the 2019 FA Cup final, a humiliating defeat that left the Watford side red-faced in front of their fans, and the watching world in one of the biggest game in their history.
(Spurs) Tottenham 2-7 Bayern Munich (Bavarian)
Everything Bayern Munich hit on that night in the UEFA Champions League against Tottenham this season went in, the Bavarian had 10 shots on target that night, as Serge Gnabry and mates made things very difficult for the North London side.
The defeat suffered by Spurs was their worst ever European defeat earlier this season, which prompted Mauricio Pochettino’s five-year project with Tottenham to edged closer to an unfortunate end to his management at Spurs.
(Catalan) Barcelona 5-0 Real Madrid (Los Blancos)
The whole world most have expected something great from then Jose Mourinho side Real Madrid when his team filed out in his first ‘El Clasico’ showdown against Barcelona, unfortunately, Los Blancos fans were disappointed likewise the neutrals who loved Mourinho passionately.
The 5-0 bashing of Real Madrid in the El Clasico was more like a blow to Mourinho’s pride, as the likes of Xavi Hernandez, David Villa, Pedro, and Jeffren orchestrated an embarrassing Clasico defeat for Real Madrid.
It was arguably the worst ever defeat for Los Blancos, and it also marked the bitter beginning for Mourinho to the famed rivalry with Pep Guardiola.
(The Saints) Southampton 0-9 Leicester City (The Foxes)
The Brendan Rodgers side did show why they’re called ‘The Foxes‘, in 2019/20 Premier League season, Leicester didn’t only defeat Southampton but massacre the Saint in front of their home fans on a freezing night at the South Coast double blow of course, as they equaled the 24-year-old record for the biggest Premier League defeat.
Perhaps, if there ain’t reduced to 10 men on the night, maybe they would have tried to save face and put up a fight to avoid been dismantled in such an embarrassing manner, which won’t be forgotten anytime soon.
(The Dons) MK Dons 4-0 Manchester United (Red Devils)
United are expected to experience a torrid time post-Ferguson era, but not in a manner in which they’re were disgraced by League One side MK Dons, the minor defied the odd right? Yes, they did.
The Louis Van Gaal side may not have filed out with the strongest team on the day, but with the players like Javier Chicharito, Danny Welbeck, Jonny Evens, Shinji Kagawa, and David De Gea, you would expect at least a decent performance from United, but unfortunately for them, it’s turned out to be a bad day for The Red Devils.
(Boro) Middlesbrough 8-1 Manchester City (The Citizens)
Courtesy of the Arab billionaire takeover, only God knows what would have become of Manchester City in an era where money-baggers invested in football, and specifically in the English Premier League, in the past, they may not so domineering but now they’re a team with a lot of qualities.
A Middlesbrough side with Fabio Rochemback, Stewart Downing, Adam Johnson, Jeremie Aliadiere, and Afonso Alves one of the league flops, as a fan you would expect to see more of a balanced encounter between the two teams, ironically it didn’t turn out that way as City were whitewashed with an emphatic 8-1 defeat with a man down.
(The Blues) Chelsea 6-0 Arsenal (The Gunners)
Arsenal’s defeat to Chelsea in the 2013/14 season would have probably given Arsene Wenger temporary insomnia as it was the worst match to celebrate the Frenchman’s 1000th game in charge which turned horribly sour and ended in a humiliating 6-0 defeat.
Andre Marriner sent off Kieran Gibbs instead of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in a case of mistaken identity for a handball inside the area. and the Gunners humiliation was completed at the end of 90 minutes.
(Red Devils) Manchester United 9-1 Ipswich Town (The Tractor Boys)
The mauling of Ipswich by United would remain unmatched as the joint biggest Premier League victory for a long time to come, after losing 3-2 at Portman Road earlier in that season, United got their revenge against Ipswich as Andy Cole one of the prolific strikers in the league bagged 5 goals.
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Trust the Ferguson’s United during the era of Andy Cole and teammates to always delivered topnotch results and performances, but sometimes the lowly team could string a big surprise, but in this case, Ipswich was thoroughly dealt with.
(Spurs) Tottenham 9-1 Wigan (The Latics)
The most embarrassing thing about the Wigan loss was that they were only 1-0 down at halftime with Peter Crouch’s early header for the North London side, but unfortunately for Wigan in the second half, it rains goals.
It’s was in the match that Jermaine Defoe scored the Premier League’s second-fastest hat trick in seven minutes, in the first 15 minutes of the second half he did add two more to his goals, to be the third player to score five goals in a Premier League match.
Although Wigan did manage to pull one back, then a 9-1 defeat isn’t the kind of result their fans would stomach easily.
(The Reds) Liverpool 8-0 Besiktas (Black Eagles)
The 8-0 mauling of Besiktas by Liverpool in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League was a semblance to how Real Madrid massacre Sevilla in 1957 in the first leg quarter-finals of the European Cup.
Ironically, this time around in the Champions League qualifying rounds at Anfield in 2007, Liverpool humiliated Besiktas 8-0 in front of the noisy Anfield fans.
(Die Nationalelf) Germany Women 11-0 Argentina Women (La Albiceleste)
Imagine a Women World Cup without the German women team, perhaps the tournament will lack spark and rush of adrenaline, but trust them when they’re in their blistering mood they tend to score a lot of goals.
What a way to open a tournament and even went on to defend the title, Germany women opened the 2007 World Cup in Shanghai with a record-breaking win over Argentina, and they ended the tournament pretty well, becoming the only team in the women World Cup to win it back to back.
(La Verde) Bolivia 6-1 Argentina (La Albiceleste)
This humiliating defeat came under the former World Cup winner and manager Diego Maradona, who had just come in to rescue the struggling ‘Albiceleste‘ to qualify for the 2010 World Cup, but funny how the nature of football turns out, Bolivia put a huge dent on their chances in April 2009.
The 6-1 defeat in Bolivia was Argentina’s worst in a World Cup qualifying round, and it comes on the back of their three victories, and no goals conceded since Maradona was appointed as the manager in November 2008.
