Ranking our 10 favourite World Cup underdogs ever as Cape Verde steal hearts | OneFootball

Everyone loves an underdog story and the World Cup has served up plenty over the years, with Cape Verde taking their turn this time.

The expanded 48-team tournament was bound to serve up some upsets this year, but only time will tell how far Cape Verde or any other minnows can go.

For now, we’ve ranked our 10 favourite World Cup underdog stories ever.

10. Poland (1974)

We’re not going to go too far back as we don’t really have too many memories of, say, USA exceeding expectations in 1930.

But we couldn’t not give a nod to Poland’s achievements in 1974, which was only their second World Cup after debuting in 1938.

In their first group game, they beat Argentina 3-2. In their second, they thrashed Haiti 7-0. And in their third, they beat Italy 2-1.

They also advanced from the second group stage, only losing to hosts and eventual champions West Germany, before beating 1970 champions Brazil in the third-place play-off.

Grzegorz Lato was the top scorer of the World Cup with seven goals.

9. Croatia (2018)

They may have broken English hearts, but it was hard not to marvel at the quality Croatia had at their disposal as their second golden generation inspired them to the 2018 final.

After topping a group that also included Argentina, Nigeria and Iceland, beating all of them in the process, Croatia won on penalties against Denmark and hosts Russia to reach the semis.

That’s where they beat England after extra time, sealing a place in the final, where they lost 4-2 to France.

Luka Modric was named the player of the tournament and later won the Ballon d’Or for his efforts that year.

8. Turkey (2002)

The 2002 World Cup offered a few underdog stories, but we had to overlook co-hosts South Korea’s run to the semi-finals due to allegations of suspicious officiating in their favour.

On the other side of the knockout stage bracket, though, there was another eye-catching run to the last four by a Turkish side appearing at their first World Cup since 1954.

After finishing second in their group behind future winners Brazil, Turkey beat South Korea’s co-hosts Japan and then Senegal via a golden goal.

A reunion with Brazil followed in the semi-finals and they were respectably only beaten 1-0, before winning the third-place play-off against South Korea.

Surprisingly, Turkey wouldn’t reach another World Cup until this year, where they have been eliminated in the group stage already.

7. Bulgaria (1994)

Although they’d been to five World Cups before 1994, Bulgaria hadn’t won a game at any of them. But they didn’t have prime Hristo Stoichkov then.

They did in 1994 and it worked wonders.

After getting out of a group containing Nigeria, Argentina and Greece, they made it all the way to the semi-finals, overcoming Mexico and Germany in the knockout stage before losing to Italy.

Stoichkov, then of Barcelona, scored in all three knockout games.

Bulgaria also lost the third-place play-off to Sweden, but few would have tipped them as the fourth best team before the tournament began.

6. Cameroon (1990)

Cameroon became the first African country to reach the World Cup quarter-finals by doing so in 1990.

Inspired by 38-year-old Roger Milla, Cameroon topped a group starring the reigning champions Argentina before beating Colombia in the round of 16.

They took England to extra time in the quarter-finals, but Gary Lineker scored a penalty to knock them out.

It was an iconic effort by The Indomitable Lions.

5. Cape Verde (2026)

We were absolutely mesmerised by Cape Verde’s ability to cling onto their clean sheet in their first ever World Cup game, against one of the pre-tournament favourites, Spain.

With 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha pulling off some heroic saves, the tiny island nation claimed a historic 0-0 draw.

Vozinha had 40,000 followers on Instagram before the Spain game; he now has more than 15 million.

If the Spain upset wasn’t enough, Cape Verde then drew 2-2 with Uruguay, another former World Cup-winning country.

It remains to be seen how far Cape Verde can go, but a win over Saudi Arabia in their last group game would put them through. It’s hard not to be rooting for them.

4. Costa Rica (2014)

For the time being, our pick of island nation underdog stories at a World Cup remains Costa Rica from 2014 – even if that does still induce some shudders for England fans.

It wasn’t just England that Costa Rica finished above in Group D; they topped the standings after beating Uruguay and Italy too.

A penalty shootout win over Greece in the round of 16 kept their dreams alive, before they took the Netherlands to penalties as well in the quarter-finals.

Louis van Gaal memorably subbed on Tim Krul in goal just before the shootout, which turned out to be an inspired call as he saved two Costa Rica penalties to end their best ever World Cup run.

3. Morocco (2022)

Morocco went further than any African nation ever before at the 2022 World Cup, reaching the semi-finals.

They topped a group over Croatia, Belgium and Canada before beating Spain on penalties in the round of 16 and Portugal 1-0 in the quarter-finals.

It was an effective, efficient team that even made future Manchester United flop Sofyan Amrabat look great.

France were too much for Morocco in the semi-finals and they lost the third-place play-off to Croatia, but they could be proud of their efforts.

They enchanted not just a nation, but the majority of the Arab and African populations.

2. Croatia (1998)

Two decades before their Modric-inspired run to the final, Croatia produced one of the best World Cup dark-horse stories on their tournament debut in 1998.

Sure, there were some high-pedigree names in their squad: Davor Suker was at Real Madrid, Zvonimir Boban at AC Milan and Slaven Bilic at Everton.

But Croatia shattered expectations by reaching the semi-finals, beating Romania and Germany in the knockout phase.

Hosts and eventual champions France knocked them out, before they won the third-place play-off against the Netherlands.

It was Croatia’s first golden generation and they made the most of the talent at their disposal.

1. Ghana (2010)

You’d have to have a heart of stone not to feel sorry for how Ghana’s World Cup ended in 2010.

Picture the scene. Ghana’s last-ditch chance in extra time, thwarted on the line by Luis Suarez’s handball.

Asamoah Gyan missing the penalty that would have sent them through to the semi-finals was a heartbreaking moment for Ghana – and Africa as a continent.

Uruguay went on to win the penalty shootout after the game ended as a draw due to Gyan’s miss, ending African dreams as the continent hosted the World Cup for the first time.

With their only wins at the tournament coming against Serbia and the USA, Ghana weren’t exactly giant killers, but that’s not the point.

They inspired dreams and were cruelly robbed of the chance to fulfil them. For that, they have our lasting sympathy and admiration.