The 10 Greatest World Cup Upsets Ever

The reason you watch the World Cup instead of just the Champions League final is the chance, on any given afternoon, that a part-time mortician from Haiti scores the winning goal against England, or that an entire kingdom calls a public holiday because their goalkeeper saved three penalties from Lionel Messi's national team. The greatest World Cup upsets are not historical footnotes. They are the structural reason the tournament works.

This is the ten that we keep coming back to — picked from the canonical Olympics.com, NBC Sports Boston and Mansionbet lists, cross-checked across contemporary reporting. Each entry has the year, the scoreline, the scorer, the stakes and the why this mattered for the eight tournaments that followed. We have ranked them in our preferred order; you will have your own.

What counts as a "World Cup upset"

Three things have to be true for a result to land in the canon:

1. A meaningful ranking gap. The losing side was the favourite by either FIFA ranking, betting market or pre-tournament press consensus. If a 14th-ranked side beats a 10th-ranked side, that is not an upset — that is football.
2. The stakes were high. A result that knocks the favourite out, or that derails a tournament narrative they had been building for two years, weighs more than a dead-rubber loss.
3. The football itself was watchable. A 0-0 draw that mathematically eliminated somebody is technically an upset but does not live in the highlight reels. Every match on this list has a moment — a goal, a save, a card — that gets cut into FIFA's montages.

A scrolling tour of ten that meet all three criteria.

The full list, in order

We have ranked the ten by a blend of ranking-gap, tournament stakes and lasting cultural footprint. Reasonable people will rearrange this. We will not.

1. USA 1-0 England — 1950 group stage

Estádio Independência, Belo Horizonte. The "Miracle on Grass." A US team of part-time pros — including Joe Gaetjens, a Haitian-born dishwasher who scored the winner — beat the side that had not lost an international fixture in a generation. England were playing their first ever World Cup match. The cabled news back to London was so improbable some Fleet Street papers assumed the wire had been corrupted and printed the score as 10-1.

Why it mattered: It is the only time the modern world's most prestigious football nation has been beaten at a World Cup by a country whose national side existed mostly as a courtesy. Every "minnow upsets a giant" headline written since 1950 is in this match's lineage.

2. Saudi Arabia 2-1 Argentina — 2022 group stage

Lusail Stadium, Doha. Argentina arrived at the 2022 World Cup on a 36-match unbeaten run — the longest active streak in international football. Lionel Messi scored from the spot inside ten minutes. Saudi Arabia, ranked 51st in the world at the time, came out after half-time and scored twice in five minutes through Saleh Al-Shehri and Salem Al-Dawsari. The Argentines had three first-half goals ruled out for offside. The Saudi king declared a public holiday the next day.

Why it mattered: Argentina did not lose another match all tournament. They won the World Cup. The Saudi result, in retrospect, is one of the strangest contextual artefacts in the modern game — a defeat to the eventual champions that did not actually derail them. It is also the moment a 36-match unbeaten streak ended on a Tuesday afternoon in Doha. Confirmed across Olympics.com and NBC Sports.

3. South Korea 2-1 Italy — 2002 round of 16

Daejeon World Cup Stadium. Italy went up early through Christian Vieri. Seol Ki-hyeon equalised with two minutes left to force extra time. Then Ahn Jung-hwan rose above Paolo Maldini for the golden goal — and Italy were out of a tournament they thought they would win. Ahn's Italian club at the time, Perugia, released him from his contract within days. Co-hosts Korea reached the semi-finals — the only Asian side ever to do so.

Why it mattered: Italian football was incandescent about the refereeing. The Korean run was structurally the most remarkable Asian performance in World Cup history; the Italian fury (Ecuadorian referee Byron Moreno was personally and professionally castigated) became one of the longest-running grievances in international football. The Korean–Italian sporting relationship has not fully recovered.

4. Senegal 1-0 France — 2002 opening match

Seoul World Cup Stadium. France were the reigning World Cup and European champions. Senegal were making their World Cup debut. Papa Bouba Diop bundled in off a goalmouth scramble in the 30th minute, dropped his shirt next to the corner flag and danced around it with his teammates — the most-replicated celebration of the next decade.

Why it mattered: France did not score a single goal at the entire tournament. The defending champions were eliminated in the group stage without winning a match. Senegal reached the quarter-finals, the second African side to do so. The image of Papa Bouba Diop dancing — he would die in 2020, aged 42 — became one of the most-shared photographs in African football history.

5. Cameroon 1-0 Argentina — 1990 opener

San Siro, Milan. Diego Maradona's Argentina, the defending champions, opened the tournament against Cameroon, who were making their second World Cup appearance. Two Cameroonian players were red-carded. With nine men on the pitch, François Omam-Biyik scored a header from a corner that goalkeeper Nery Pumpido somehow fumbled into his own net.

Why it mattered: The Indomitable Lions ran to the quarter-finals — the first African nation to reach that stage. Roger Milla's goal celebrations by the corner flag became one of the iconic images of the era. Argentina, despite the opening defeat, reached the final and lost to West Germany.

6. South Korea 2-0 Portugal — Wait, the right one is Korea over Portugal in 2022

Let us be specific about which Korea-Portugal result we mean. In 2022, group H, South Korea were on the brink of elimination. They needed to beat Portugal and for the Uruguay-Ghana match to fall their way. Son Heung-min carried a counter from his own half in stoppage time, slipped the ball to Hwang Hee-chan, who slammed it home. South Korea 2-1 Portugal. The other result went their way too. Uruguay went out by goals scored.

Why it mattered: It was the second time in twenty years South Korea had upended a Portuguese World Cup. (They also beat Portugal 1-0 in 2002 to top group D.) Son Heung-min's sixty-yard carry, on a face still partially in a protective mask from a recent injury, is one of the most cinematic single moments of the 2022 tournament.

7. Bulgaria 2-1 Germany — 1994 quarter-final

Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ. Germany were the reigning World Cup champions. Bulgaria had never won a World Cup match before the 1994 tournament began. In the 78th minute, Hristo Stoichkov bent in a free kick. Three minutes later, Yordan Letchkov scored a flying diving header to put Bulgaria ahead — and they held on. Bulgaria reached the semi-finals.

Why it mattered: It is the only time the reigning World Cup champions have been beaten in a knockout match by a side ranked outside the world top thirty. Bulgaria's run, anchored by Stoichkov's eventual Golden Boot share, was the eastern European football story of the 1990s. They have not qualified for a World Cup since 1998.

8. Switzerland 1-0 Spain — 2010 group stage

Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban. Gelson Fernandes prodded in off a scramble in the 52nd minute. Spain, the reigning European champions and the bookmakers' favourites for the 2010 World Cup, lost their opener. They won the tournament anyway, becoming the first team in World Cup history to win the trophy after losing their group-stage opener.

Why it mattered: Like Saudi Arabia in 2022, the result is a contextual oddity — a defeat to a side that did not win the rest of their group, suffered by the eventual world champions. It is a reminder that the World Cup group stage is genuinely volatile. Plus it is the longest-running argument we have for the rule that you can lose your opener and still hold the trophy.

9. USA 2-0 Mexico — 2002 round of 16

Jeonju World Cup Stadium. Brian McBride and Landon Donovan scored. The USA reached the quarter-finals for the first time since 1930. The scoreline, "dos a cero," has been chanted in every USA-Mexico match in CONCACAF qualifying since. It is the single most-incanted result in American men's soccer history.

Why it mattered: It is the only knockout-round World Cup meeting between the USA and Mexico, and the USA won it decisively. The scoreline became a piece of folklore that outlived the match itself; American fans chanted it at Estadio Azteca in qualifying as recently as 2025.

10. Morocco's run — 2022, knockout stages

This one is a sequence rather than a single match. Morocco, ranked 22nd, knocked out Spain (penalties, R16) and Portugal (1-0, quarter-final, Youssef En-Nesyri header). They became the first African nation in a World Cup semi-final, the first Arab nation in a semi-final, and the first non-European/non-South American nation to reach a semi-final since 2002.

Why it mattered: Walid Regragui's defensive shape — five at the back, two screening midfielders, transition-only attack — was the most studied tactical pattern of the 2022 tournament. Casablanca did not sleep for a week. Morocco's run reshaped how every football federation outside UEFA and CONMEBOL plans its tournament strategy.

Honourable mentions

A few we agonised over leaving off.

• North Korea 1-0 Italy (1966 group, Pak Doo-Ik in 42'). Italy out, North Korea to the quarter-final. The original Asian-side-stuns-Europe story.
• Algeria 2-1 West Germany (1982). The first African nation to beat the reigning European champions at a World Cup.
• Japan 2-1 Germany (2022 group). The defending European champions Spain also lost 2-1 to Japan in the same group. Japan topped a group containing Spain and Germany.
• Mexico 1-0 Germany (2018 opener). Defending champions lose their opener; later go out bottom of the group.
• Romania 3-2 Argentina (1994 R16). Gheorghe Hagi's Romania knock out post-Maradona Argentina.
• Russia beat Spain on penalties (2018 R16). Co-hosts knock out the 2010 champions.

Timeline of canonical shocks

A chronology of the upsets reporters list when asked.

1. 1Jun 29, 1950

   USA 1-0 England

   Belo Horizonte. Gaetjens scores; the cable home is misprinted 10-1.

2. 2Jul 19, 1966

   North Korea 1-0 Italy

   Pak Doo-Ik in the 42nd. Italy out; Korea to the quarter-finals.

3. 3Jun 16, 1982

   Algeria 2-1 West Germany

   Madjer and Belloumi score. First African win over reigning European champs.

4. 4Jun 8, 1990

   Cameroon 1-0 Argentina

   Omam-Biyik with the header. Argentina reach the final anyway; Cameroon reach the quarters.

5. 5Jul 10, 1994

   Bulgaria 2-1 Germany (QF)

   Stoichkov free kick + Letchkov header in three minutes. Bulgaria to the semi-finals.

6. 6May 31, 2002

   Senegal 1-0 France (opener)

   Papa Bouba Diop's celebration dance; France score zero at the tournament.

7. 7Jun 18, 2002

   South Korea 2-1 Italy (R16)

   Ahn's golden goal; Perugia release him within days.

8. 8Jun 17, 2002

   USA 2-0 Mexico (R16)

   McBride + Donovan. 'Dos a cero' is born.

9. 9Jun 16, 2010

   Switzerland 1-0 Spain

   Spain win the tournament anyway — the only champions to start with a loss.

10. 10Nov 22, 2022

    Saudi Arabia 2-1 Argentina

    Argentina's 36-match unbeaten run ends. They lift the trophy anyway.

11. 11Dec 2, 2022

    South Korea 2-1 Portugal

    Son carries, Hwang finishes in stoppage time. Uruguay go out.

12. 12Dec 10, 2022

    Morocco 1-0 Portugal (QF)

    First African side in a World Cup semi-final.

Patterns in the canon

Look at the ten in aggregate and three patterns emerge:

Pattern 1: Six of the ten happen in 21st-century World Cups

You can argue this is selection bias — older matches survive worse in the public memory than newer ones — but the data suggests something else. The introduction of the 32-team format in 1998, and a wider pool of qualified federations, has put more "potential upset" matches on the schedule. Two-thirds of the canon comes from 2002 onwards.

Pattern 2: The opener is the most-upset slot in the tournament

Senegal 1-0 France (2002), Cameroon 1-0 Argentina (1990), Mexico 1-0 Germany (2018), Switzerland 1-0 Spain (2010 — group opener, technically not first match of tournament). The favoured side often arrives still mentally rotating between club and country; the underdog has spent six weeks rehearsing one game plan.

Pattern 3: Beating a reigning champion is not the same as ending their tournament

Three of the upsets above — Switzerland-Spain 2010, Saudi-Argentina 2022, Cameroon-Argentina 1990 — were defeats suffered by the eventual finalists of the same tournament. Group-stage upsets shake the narrative but do not always shape the bracket.

What WC26 could produce

A 48-team tournament with twelve groups of four creates more opportunities for upsets than 32. The teams ranked outside the world's top thirty playing teams in the top ten include — across the WC26 group stage — several genuinely dangerous fixtures:

• Group A: Mexico (host) vs South Africa, opener, June 11. South Africa beat France in 2010 and beat Brazil in friendlies; they have a history of upsetting big names. Repo seed: see our opener guide.
• Group K: Portugal vs DR Congo. DR Congo qualified through the Intercontinental Playoff and have one of the most disruptive striker pairings outside UEFA.
• Group H: Spain vs Cape Verde. Cape Verde, ~155,000 in population, are at their first World Cup. The smallest nation by population ever to qualify.
• Group I: France vs Iraq. Iraq came through the Intercontinental Playoff and have a tactical setup designed to frustrate possession-heavy opponents.
• Group J: Argentina vs Jordan. Jordan are at their first World Cup; their Saudi-style tournament prep may produce another 2022-style result.

You can think of the upsets above as priors. A new entry is overdue.

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