World Football Power Rankings: The Top 5 Underdogs in Football History

Amogha SahuJun 7, 2018

The Underdog is one of the best stories in any sport. The romance of someone who is against the odds, is favoured by no one, achieving greatness is something which appeals to us all.

Especially in today's days of the Big Four and the dominance of big spenders, plucky minnows are hard to come by and even more appreciated.

This is my list of the underdogs.

Porto 2004

1 of 5

Looking at this story again, I find myself refusing to believe it. Porto was a relatively small club in relation to the big spenders of Real Madrid, Manchester United and Chelsea.

Their Champions League pedigree had long-since vanished, and they were huge underdogs for the 2003-04 Champions League title.

The 2003-04 Champions League had, in it, one of the greatest club sides of all time in Real Madrid's Galacticos, Manchester United, always a threat as well as Arsenal, who were to reach in their golden period as Invincibles at the end of the season.

However, Europe had largely ignored the dramatic rise of Porto under then relatively unknown manager Jose Mourinho. He won the UEFA Cup against Larsson's Celtic and had won the League with Porto as well. Then began Porto's foray into the Champions League.

They defeated Manchester United at home, as well as Lyon and Deportivo de la Coruna on their route to the final, where they beat fellow minnows Monaco 3-0.

Greece 2004

2 of 5

An unfancied Greece side won the European Championship beating the likes of Zinedine Zidane's France and Figo's Portugal with extremely cynical tactics.

Otto Rehhagel was their coach and was already renowned for his tactics.

Liverpool 2005

3 of 5

Liverpool were not the Paisley force of old in 2005 but a new, rebuilding team under Rafa Benitez.

They finished only fifth in the league yet managed to pull off a Champions League win against Kaka, Maldini and Pirlo's AC Milan, after being 3-0 down.