England, take heart. They may be underdogs going into the Euro 2024 Final against Spain this weekend, but far bigger underdogs have won Euros finals in the past. In fact, in the entire 64-year history of the Euros, there have been numerous instances in which the most favoured team going into the final has lost, even when they have been playing at home.
The gold standard for upsets in the finals of major international tournaments remains the Maracanazo, which translates as the Maracana blow or even Maracana disaster. That, of course, was the 2-1 defeat in the 1950 World Cup that Brazil suffered at home to neighbours Uruguay, in the final that was not a final. Instead, it was actually the last group match of the last group stage, and Brazil had only needed a draw to win the tournament.
However, even the Euros have seen shock victories for underdogs in its finals. Here, in ascending order of unlikeliness of victory, are the five greatest underdogs that have won Euros finals.
Five Underdog Wins In Euro Finals
5. 1960: Spain 2, USSR 1
Before it became known universally as “The Euros”, the European Football Championship was formally called the European Nations’ Cup and the first five editions (from 1960 to 1976) only really consisted of the two semi-finals and final. In addition, from its very beginning the European Championship was bound up with Cold War politics, in ways that still resonate today.
In the first ever Euros qualifying tournament in the late 1950s, General Franco, Spain’s Fascist dictator, expressly forbade the Spanish national team from travelling to Moscow, the epicentre of global Communism, to play the Soviet Union or USSR. As a result, Spain was disqualified from the tournament, which the Soviet Union went on to win in Paris.
Half a decade or so later, Spain and the Soviet Union, having won their respective semifinals against Hungary and Denmark, met in the 1964 final at Real Madrid’s stadium, the Santiago Bernabéu. With Franco himself among the near-80,000 crowd, Spain was generally considered to be underdogs against the reigning champions, even though they were playing at home. Nevertheless, they were supremely motivated to win, not least because players and staff genuinely feared retribution from Franco if they lost, and striker Marcelino scored an 84th minute winner.
Thus, Spain claimed their first ever major international trophy (and last for more than 40 years, until the tiki-taka generation of the late noughties) and Franco claimed what he considered a huge propaganda victory.
4. 1976: Czechoslovakia 2, West Germany 2 (Czechoslovakia won 5-3 on penalties)
The last “four-team finals” in the history of the Euros was held in Yugoslavia in 1976. Although it was small in terms of number of teams, it was high in quality of matches, with the three main matches (the two semi-finals and the final) producing a staggering 14 goals between them. (Even the largely irrelevant third-place play-off between hosts Yugoslavia and the Netherlands produced a further five goals, with the Netherlands winning 3-2 after extra time.) That has led some football historians to argue that it is the greatest Euros ever, at least in terms of goals scored.
What is perhaps easier to argue is that Czechoslovakia’s triumph in Euro 76 featured the best semifinal and final wins in the history of the Euros. That is because they came over the two World Cup finalists from 1974: runners-up Netherlands, who Czechoslovakia beat 3-1 after extra time; and the 1974 hosts and winners, West Germany.
Indeed, in the entire history of European football, only Germany’s victories over hosts Brazil (in the famous 7-1 semi-final, which was Brazil’s worst home defeat since the Maracanazo nearly 70 years earlier) and an Argentina featuring Lionel Messi (in the final) at the 2014 World Cup rank more highly.
Of course, the 1976 Euros final is most famous for the first ever outing of “the Panenka”. That was the name given to the brilliantly chipped penalty that Antonin Panenka scored to win the penalty shoot-out and secure victory for Czechoslovakia.
It is a quirk of football history that Panenka is the only footballer ever to have had a particular move or shot named after him. (Even the famous “Cruyff turn” is always referred to in that way and never as just “The Cruyff”.) And in its own way, that is a fitting tribute to one of the great underdog wins in football history.
3. 1992: Denmark 2, Germany 0
Denmark’s 1992 Euros win is one of the most celebrated and inspiring stories in all of sport. Famously, the Danes had been summoned from their holidays after Yugoslavia, who had finished above them in their qualifying group, was disqualified from competing at the tournament because of the start of the Balkan wars. With minimal notice, the Danes replaced Yugoslavia and went on to win the entire tournament, sparking the greatest celebrations seen in Copenhagen since Denmark’s liberation from Nazi occupation at the end of WW2.
The Danes had not looked like champions in their first two games, which were a dull 0-0 draw against Graham Taylor’s England and a loss to hosts Sweden. But they rallied brilliantly to beat France 2-1 in their final group match and in an eight-team tournament qualified for the semifinals. In a repeat of Czechoslovakia in 1976, they would go on to beat the Dutch on penalties after a 2-2 draw, and then beat Germany in the final 2-0.
The Netherlands team of the early 1990s might not have been quite as spectacular as the great Netherlands team of the early to mid 1970s, but it was still formidable, not least because it retained the basis of the 1988 European Championship-winning side, including its spine of Rijkaard, Gullit and Van Basten.
Nevertheless, the Danes beat them and followed that up with a victory over Germany, who, as in 1976, had won the World Cup two years earlier. It was the greatest achievement in Danish football history and finally exorcised the memory of the fantastic “Danish Dynamite” team of the mid-1980s, who had played beautiful football but never won anything.
2. 2016: Portugal 1, France 0
In both the World Cup and the Euros, home advantage is clearly not what it used to be. The World Cup has not been won by a host nation since 1998, when France won their first World Cup in Paris. Moreover, the Euros has not been won by a host nation since 1984, when France won their first Euros. So, 40 years have passed since a host nation won the Euros and the two biggest underdog victories in Euros finals ever involved shock defeats of host nations.
In 2016, France wzx really just beginning the Didier Deschamps era, which may now be drawing to a close after the side’s relatively limp exit to Spain in the first Euro 2024 semifinal earlier this week. Deschamps, the 1998 World Cup-winning captain, led France to the final in 2016 and arguably in far more style than they have ever shown since, especially in a 2-0 semifinal victory over Germany.
Consequently, France was the firm favourite in the final against Portugal, who, by contrast, had virtually limped into the final. They only had one win in normal time in the six matches beforehand. It seemed that France only had to control Cristiano Ronaldo to win the match and when Portugal’s captain and talisman left the pitch injured early on, victory literally appeared to be a fait accomplit.
However, Portugal defended like lions and the previously unheralded Eder, who had struggled to get into the Swansea first team in the Premier League earlier that season, scored a fabulous extra-time winner to give Portugal the victory.
1. 2004: Greece 1, Portugal 0
For many Portuguese people, including Cristiano Ronaldo, 2016 in France was redemption for 2004 on home soil, when Greece achieved the greatest ever underdog win in a Euros final by defeating the host nation 1-0. In effect, this was Portugal’s own Maracanazo, as they lost a match that they had felt destined to win.
It was not as if Portugal had not been warned about the dangers Greece presented, having lost the very first match of the tournament to them 2-1. Consequently, it had seemed that they were forewarned against any kind of complacency when the teams met again in the final. Footballing lightning could not strike twice, could it?
It could and to devastating effect. A largely negative Greek side, who suffered unflattering comparisons even to George Graham’s most defensive Arsenal teams, somehow withstood the Portuguese onslaught in the final from Ronaldo, Figo et al. Then, striker Angelos Charisteas headed in just before the hour mark and Portugal ultimately proved powerless to respond.
Any Inspiration for England?
All of these underdog victories can serve as inspiration for England and English fans. However, Greece’s Euro 2004 win is perhaps particularly inspirational, not least because there have been times at this tournament when Gareth Southgate’s England have been as boring as Otto Rehhagel’s Greece without being as functional.
But just like the Greek fans in 2004, England fans will not care if their team similarly beats a more celebrated and stylish opponent in the Euro 2024 final.