Ranking our 10 favourite Champions League underdogs ever after Bodo/Glimt heroics | OneFootball

We all love an underdog, especially one in the Champions League that beats the continent’s big boys despite several hurdles placed in their way.

The competition is set up to favour the big teams from the big countries, making it a real pleasure when an unfamiliar name slips through the net.

We’ve ranked our favourite Champions League underdogs in the competition’s history and hope this takes you down the same neural passageways as us.

10. Leeds United (2001)

Dominic Matteo at the San Siro. Enough said.

9. Villarreal (2006)

Villarreal are part of the Champions League furniture these days, but their run to the 2006 semis had everyone reaching for their atlas.

A small town near Valencia was put on the European map by Manuel Pellegrini’s men, who knocked out Rangers and Inter Milan on away goals.

Their narrow 1-0 loss to Arsenal over two legs was compounded by Jens Lehmann saving a late Juan Roman Riquelme penalty at El Madrigal. Heartbreaking.

8. Dynamo Kyiv (1999)

The decline of Eastern European football has cheapened the sport, with a telling absence of ‘crack’ outfits and intimidating away days for the Champions League fat cats.

Dynamo Kyiv was the East’s last hurrah in 1999. Of the final four that year, Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Dynamo were all chasing trebles, back when that was still an unheard-of achievement.

Coached by the influential Valeriy Lobanovskyi, Dynamo boasted a young Andriy Shevchenko and Sergiy Rebrov and genuinely could’ve made it all the way.

They took four points from Premier League champions Arsenal in the group stages, before knocking out holders Real Madrid in the quarters.

Kyiv held a two-goal lead over Bayern in the first leg of the semis but conceded twice late on in a thrilling 3-3 draw in the Ukrainian capital.

A narrow 1-0 loss in the second leg ended their dream. That year really was European football at its best.

7. Porto (2004)

Yes, Porto actually *winning* the Champions League in 2004 should place them higher than seventh.

And Jose Mourinho’s knee slide at Old Trafford is worth the admission price alone, an uncomplicated moment of glee before we were fully exposed to his ways.

But Porto didn’t play football to balm the soul and the semi-final line-up (including pre-Jose Chelsea and two more entrants on this list) was eminently winnable for the UEFA Cup holders.

Still, the likes of Deco, Ricardo Carvalho, Maniche and Vitor Baia were part of a moody and skilful team who achieved something unlikely to ever happen again.

Here’s a question for your next pub quiz – where was the final played that year? Gelsenkirchen. The past truly is a different country.

6. APOEL (2012)

Teams from Cyprus aren’t allowed to make the Champions League quarter-finals in an era of big brands and big business, but APOEL gatecrashed the party in 2012.

They topped a group with Zenit St Petersburg, Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk with two wins and six goals from six matches. Johan Cruyff’s Ajax, they were not.

A nerve-wracking last 16 tie with Lyon went all the way to penalties, which APOEL won 4-3 to spark wild scenes in Nicosia.

Mourinho’s Real Madrid swatted them aside 8-2 in the quarters, much to the relief of UEFA executives and sponsors.

5. Monaco (2004)

Fernando Morientes. Dado Prso. Ludovic Giuly. Thrashing Deportivo 8-3. Beating Real Madrid’s Galacticos in the quarters. Out-playing complacent Chelsea in the semis.

It all fell apart in the final, losing 3-0 to Porto, and the 2017 semi-finalists with Mbappe and Falcao weren’t bad either.

But there was something special about Monaco’s 2004 vintage, capable of turning water into Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Grand Cru 1945.

4. Deportivo La Coruna (2004)

Ranking Deportivo above both of 2004’s surprise finalists might seem wilfully perverse. But the La Liga side weren’t called ‘Super Depor’ for nothing.

Nestled in A Coruna, a salty seadog of a city in the extreme northwest of Spain, Deportivo were European stalwarts in the early 2000s.

In attack, they had Diego Tristan and Juan Carlos Valeron, with Football Manager hero Jorge Andrade marshalling their defence.

They recovered from the aforementioned thrashing by Monaco to reach the last 16, edging out Juventus to set up a quarter-final with holders AC Milan.

A 4-1 paddling at the San Siro seemed to have rendered the second leg a contractual obligation, until Depor produced one of the most stirring nights in European football history.

Walter Pandiani, Valeron and Albert Luque (before Newcastle ruined him) wiped out Milan’s lead before half-time, as club legend Fran took the roof off the Riazor with a deflected winner.

“Our opponents were going at a thousand miles per hour all night, even the older players who’d never exactly been known for their ability to combine speed with stamina,” Andrea Pirlo spitefully described it.

“What struck me most was how they kept on running at half-time. To a man, no exceptions”

Porto squeezed them out in a tight, niggly semi-final, but the memories remain.

3. Borussia Dortmund (2013)

Dortmund were back-to-back German champions, but European financial stratification and years of hardship meant they were in the bottom pot of seeds in 2012-13.

A group with Real Madrid, Manchester City and Ajax looked unpromising, until you remember their manager was Jurgen Klopp.

The Bundesliga side romped through the competition, although their quarter-final winner against Malaga was very controversial and you shouldn’t mention it on your next Costa del Sol holiday.

Robert Lewandowski’s four goals saw off Real Madrid in the semi-final first-leg at a raucous Westfalenstadion.

Alas, Bayern Munich edged a high-quality final at Wembley and Klopp’s team gradually broke up.

2. Bodo/Glimt (2026)

Recency bias perhaps, but a small team from the top of Norway beating Manchester City, Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan in succession to make the last 16 is the stuff of Football Manager fantasy.

Not only that, Bodo/Glimt play attractive attacking football. Winning at the Metropolitano and San Siro shows it’s not entirely due to the freezing conditions and plastic pitch either.

The Norwegians earned their stripes in the Conference League and Europa League (semi-finalists in 2025), but this is their first Champions League campaign.

Get over their weird Tottenham hoodoo and the sky is the limit.

1. Ajax (2019)

With respect to Spurs fans, we’re still not quite over Lucas Moura’s late semi-final winner at the Amsterdam Arena.

Ajax were the breakout stars of the last great Champions League season, playing with verve and freedom under *checks notes* Erik ten Hag.

A swashbuckling young team thrashed Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in the last 16 – Madrid’s earliest Champions League exit since 2010 – before playing Juventus off the park in the quarters.

They really should’ve beaten Tottenham, especially after winning the first leg in London and taking a 2-0 lead in the return.

Ajax soon had their brightest talents picked off, such as Frenkie de Jong, Matthijs de Ligt, Donny van de Beek and Hakim Ziyech. Their brief and thrilling revival was done.