Zambia, Apoel Nicosia and the 28 Biggest Cinderella Teams in Football History

It is yet to be seen if Npower League One side Stevenage Football Club can manage an upset of Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup, but their 0-0 impressive draw is enough to make many think about some remarkable upsets and Cinderella runs in the past.

While England's FA Cup has played host to many memorable upsets, there are plenty more competitions around the world that have led to some equally impressive results.

From the bottom divisions, college varsity teams and top flight giants there is sure to be at least one or two that you can remember and enjoy.

1984 Bournemouth over Manchester United

Harry Redknapp made his first real splash on the world of football when his third division side A.F.C. Bournemouth managed a 2-0 shocking victory over Ron Atkinson's Manchester United in the 1984 FA Cup.

2011-12 APOEL Nicosia Champions League Last 16

This season, Cyprus based APOEL Nicosia became the first Cypriot club to ever reach the knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League.

Their first leg of the knockout stage against French side Olympique Lyon saw them lose 0-1 and now they will face a home stand that requires them to win at least 1-0, in order to force extra time and penalties to keep their historic run alive.

Alcorcon 4-1 Real Madrid

In 2009, Spanish third division side Alcorcon defeated Real Madrid 4-1 on aggregate in the Copa Del Rey.

The minnows victory proved that the English FA Cup is not the only football association tournament in the world that has giant killings.

2011 UNC-Charlotte 49ers

Last year's College Cup runners-up University of North Carolina at Charlotte made a monumental run to the NCAA men's soccer College Cup.

In their run to face UNC-Chapel Hill in the final they knocked off Greenville, South Carolina-based college Furman, the alma mater of Fulham's Clint Dempsey.

In the second round it was University of Alabama Birmingham left in the wake of the 49ers.

The reward for moving to the quarter-finals was a match against defending College Cup champions Akron, who Charlotte dispatched in a 1-0 defensive grind.

Once again, they were pitted against another nationally ranked top side in the semi-finals against Creighton, who had a 21 win and two loss record before they were knocked out in penalties.

The 49ers run finally came to an end when they failed to score against a determined Tar Heel side, despite having a host of chances that saw them frustrated not to have taken home the cup.

1924 Sweden Defeats Belgium

In the spirit of the upcoming 2012 summer Olympic soccer tournament in London we look back to Sweden, who produced the greatest Olympic football shock in history in 1924, trouncing the 1920 defending Olympic champs Belgium 8-1.

1992 Wrexham over Arsenal

Another great FA Cup upset saw financially-strapped Wrexham pull off a 2-1 shocking defeat of defending first division champions Arsenal.

2005 Artmedia over Celtic

Slovakian champions Artmedia Petrzalka drew Scottish giants Celtic in the second preliminary round of the 2005-06 Champions League. The Scots must have been laughing their heads off, but then they lost to Artmedia in Bratislava 5-0.

Artmedia later knocked out Partizan Belgrade and went on to beat Porto by 3-2 away from home. Their future wins will not cause any more surprise, but that 5-0 against Celtic was the big summer story of 2005.

1986 Steaua over Barcelona

Barcelona thought they finally had it made to earn their first European when they came up against Steaua Bucharest.

However, the Spaniards underestimated the Romanian team, backed by Valentin Ceausescu, the more normal of dictator Nicolae's two sons. Steaua played it safe for 120 minutes waiting for the penalty shootout, where Helmut Duckadam performed some magic tricks by stopping all four Barça's penalties.

The final result was 2-0 for Steaua and Bucharest saw the biggest celebrations until the 1989 revolution.

2012 Zambia African Champions

The 2012 African Cup of Nations ended on a fairytale high for Zambia. The country that nineteen years before lost 18 players on their national team in a horrific plane crash claimed their first African Championship in their history, over the heavily favored Ivory Coast.

1972 Hereford United over Newcastle United

In 1972, Hereford were a far cry from even their current Npower League Two position, as they were in the lowly Southern League and faced an impossible task when they were drawn against division one Newcastle United.

However, the Bulls managed not one, but two massive achievements against the Magpies. The first match ended 2-2, resulting in a replay. The replay ended with Hereford claiming a 2-1 victory and knocking out the favored side from the North.

2009 United States over Spain Confederations Cup

Defending European Champions Spain headed into the 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa on a high and never expected what would befell them in the semi-finals of the tournament.

A United States side that showed a determination that had been rarely scene from them in recent years saw them produce a massive 2-0 victory over the Spaniards.

The Americans nearly claimed the tournament as they raced to a 2-0 lead over Brazil in the final, but ran out of gas as the Samba heroes came back to win 3-2 in the second half.

However, their defeat of the World's top ranked team will forever live in USMNT folklore.

1973 Sunderland over Leeds FA Cup

Sunderland were a 250-1 underdog in the 1973 FA Cup. At that point, no one knew they would pull off one of the biggest upsets in FA Cup history by coming out of the Second Division to beat the defending champions Leeds United 1-0.

Sunderland were the first Second Division team to win the trophy in 42 years and it was made even more special having beaten Don Revie's high price stars, thanks to Ian Porterfield's goal and Jimmy Montgomery's save.

2000 Galatasaray Win UEFA Cup

Galatasaray did not look at all worthy of a place in Europe when they were crushed by Chelsea 5-0 at Stamford Bridge early in their 2000 UEFA Cup Campaign.

However, the Turkish giants called upon their 12th man, the fans, and the iconic "Welcome to Hell" atmosphere of their former home, the Ali Sami Yen Stadium.

Having managed to get to the semi-finals, Galatasaray were down 2-1 to AC Milan with ten minutes to go, before miraculously turning the match around and riding a 2-3 victory to the Copenhagen Final against Arsenal.

Again their grit paid off as they ended the final 4-1 victors over the English side in penalties to claim the 2000 UEFA Cup in an improbable date with destiny.

1985 Hellas Verona Wins Scudetto

Verona is perhaps the most famous for fabled Shakespearean characters Romeo and Juliet. However, the Italian city has one other claim to fame that can never be taken away—the 1984-85 Italian Scudetto won by Hellas Verona FC.

In the only year of Italian football that saw referees randomly selected for matches, the small club managed to hold off all the giants, from AC Milan to Juventus and Inter Milan to AS Roma, en route to one of the most famous Italian campaigns in history.

1994 United States over Colombia

The 1994 World Cup held in the United States saw their national team pull of one of the upsets of the decade in international football, when the host national knocked out heavily favored Colombia 2-1, thanks to an unfortunate own goal by Andres Escobar.

2007 Iraq Wins Asian Cup

At the beginning of the 2007 Asian cup, Australia was one of the favored sides to take home the trophy. Few thought that Iraq would emerge out of the shadows as a dark horse Cinderella team for the ages.

Their ran began in the group stage, when they defeated Australia 3-1 in between draws with Thailand and Oman.

A quarter final victory over Vietnam led to a semi-final penalty victory over South Korea and an eventual championship victory over Saudi Arabia.

2010 Switzerland over Spain World Cup

Spain saw their fair share of upsets befall them in South Africa, between their 2009 elimination from the Confederations Cup and their shock upset to Switzerland in the group stage.

It was pure sloppy defending dumb luck, but the fact that the Swiss side held off one of the world's best attacks for another 40 minutes to keep their victory intact says it was harder than it seemed.

2010 Leeds over Manchester United FA Cup

Leeds United have been on the receiving end of plenty more FA Cup upsets than they can care to remember. However, in 2010 they got the chance to pull one back for themselves when they were drawn against once fierce rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford.

The Whites did just that as young Jermaine Beckford, who is quickly becoming one of the most deadly strikers in the history of the FA Cup, scored the only goal of the match—allowing the once mighty club to roll back the clock to better days and savor in a satisfying upset.

1966 North Korea over Italy

In the only World Cup that England have ever won, 1966, North Korea pulled off a major upset when they defeated the Italians 1-0, helping to see them out of the tournament and allowing the Asian nation to advance to the quarter-finals.

However, there was no stopping mighty Portugal in the next round.

1982 Northern Ireland over Spain

As said before Spain have seen a number of World Cup upsets in their day. Another that stands out is their 1982 loss to Northern Ireland that allowed the Irishmen to win group five in the tournament, hosted in Spain, no less.

However, the 1-0 victory in the group stage did not translate into later success for the Irish, as they crashed out in the second round when grouped with France and Austria.

2004 Once Caldas Win Copa Libertadores

South American football has what can be seen as its continental version of an FA Cup with the Copa Libertadores. As with England's fabled competition, South America's competition comes along with its own upsets and Cinderella runs to a trophy.

The 2004 tournament saw one of those runs, when obscure Colombian side Once Caldas barnstormed through the tournament to eventually upset Argentine giants Boca Juniors in the final.

It is the only major tournament that the club has ever one. Along the way Once also had to knock off Barcelona, Santos and Sao Paulo just to get the chance to defeat Boca.

1992 Denmark European Champions

It isn't that Denmark were bad, but they had failed to qualify for the 1992 UEFA Tournament. However, war in the Balkans and Bosnia was followed by the collapse of Yugoslavia and the United Nations taking action against both remaining nations Serbia and Montenegro.

UEFA had little choice and was forced to follow suit, kicking out the nonexistent Yugoslavia and giving Denmark a new lease on life.

With a week's worth of preparations, without their top player Michael Laudrup (at odds with coach Möller-Nielsen), the Danes started poorly, but picked up and went on to beat France, Holland and finally defending world champions Germany to claim a remarkable European Championship.

1971 Colchester United over Leeds United

Another mighty upset in the FA Cup saw Don Revie suffer his first of eventually multiple crash out defeats to lesser opposition.

In 1971, fourth division Colchester United played host to the high profile Whites in the fifth round of the competition, defeating the division one club 3-2.

1950 Uruguay over Brazil

Uruguay perhaps would have been the favorites on their own home soil, but were not thought to have a chance on Brazilian ground for the 1950 World Cup.

The Uruguayans scraped their way through the tournament grinding out victories while Brazil pummeled everyone in their path.

Brazil packed in 200,000 fans in support of them, in need of just a point to finish as winners. They were even 1-0 up midway through the second half. But, the visitors turned things around to 1-2, causing a ghastly silence at Maracaná as the smaller South American nation took down the giants of Brazil.

1950 United States over England

Sixty years before the United States upset England 1-0 in the opening round of the 2012 World Cup, the Americans upset the Three Lions at the 1950 World Cup in Brazil.

A group of eleven guys from the States defeated eleven top professionals from the birth place of soccer. Gaetjens scored the winner in the 38th minute, and Borghi even saved a second half penalty from Stan Mortensen.

1988 Wimbledon FC

The home of England's most famous tennis competition, Wimbledon was once the home of a little known football club. However, Wimbledon FC pulled off a soccer stunner in the 1988 FA Cup final when they managed to upset the Liverpool Reds in their prime.

Dons goalkeeper and captain Dave Beasant delivered a day for the ages, saving a penalty kick and helping to repel attack after attack from the might Reds. Wimbledon walked off winners thanks to a headed goal by Lawrie Sanchez, and their victory is considered one of the most shocking in the 140-year history of soccer's oldest Cup competition.

2005 Liverpool FC over AC Milan

There is yet to be a Champions League final that has inspired the spirit of comeback as Liverpool's 2005 Miracle in Istanbul.

England's most successful international club found themselves down 3-0 at the break to Italy's most successful European side AC Milan in the 2005 UEFA Champions League final.

However, it was not the end as the Reds fought back and equalized over a period of six minutes between Steven Gerrard at the 54th, Vladimir Smicer at the 58th and a Xabi Alonso penalty rebound goal at the 60th minute to take the match to extra time and then penalties where the Reds took the trophy.

2004 Greece European Champions

The writing was on the wall for host nation Portugal at the 2004 UEFA European Championship when Greece defeated the home favorites 1-2 in the opening match in a group that also included Russia and powerhouse Spain.

Greece would only manage another draw but survived the group stage to fight on in the knockout stage where they drew and defeated 1998 World Cup champion France.

Next up the Greeks beat the Czech Republic booking a rematch of the opening game with Portugal.

The host nation again were the favorite but Greece threw everyone for a loop when they managed to get the best of the Portuguese for a second time and claim the European Championship.

Conclusion

There is no way to truly make a ranking everyone will agree with. If you believe there is one I missed please comment at the bottom.

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