Who have been the underdogs of EURO2024?

Sorry, but it’s obligatory: just as every tournament must have a favourite, every tournament must have an underdog. After all, with a third of the teams eliminated after a little over a week, their fans need somebody to root for – and rooting for star-studded mega-teams is boring. Instead, you want someone you’ve never heard of to score an outrageous last-minute goalmouth scramble against said stars. Though this tournament’s last eight is largely full of the usual suspects, a couple of unlikely teams have snuck in – and plenty who’ve now gone home deserve accolades for the scares they caused for the favourite nations earlier on.

So who have been the best underdogs of the competition so far?

Türkiye are the biggest surprise in the last eight

You might recall that in 2021, Türkiye were widely touted as the underdogs for the tournament and it didn’t quite go to plan. This time, though, they’ve booked a quarterfinal berth against the Netherlands and don’t look like they’re ready to go home any time soon.

Türkiye entered EURO2020 as the pundits’ underdogs, boasting good form and a strong mix of experience and youth. However, those who put money on them to succeed were sorely disappointed. They lost their group games to Italy, Wales, and Switzerland and went home with no points and just one goal. This time, unsurprisingly, there were far fewer think-pieces on their prospects in the run up to the competition.

However they’ve prepared without that weight of expectation, it seems to have worked. Wins against Georgia and Czechia saw Vincenzo Montella’s side qualify from Group F, including a thrilling last-minute winner against the latter. Their group campaign was marred by a 3-0 defeat to Portugal, but six points was still a great result and they defied expectations by defeating Austria to progress to the quarterfinals.

Their victory over Ralf Rangnick’s side has certainly made everyone sit up and take notice of Türkiye. Merih Demiral was the obvious star, with his brace securing their 2-1 win, but the entire team had to dig in against relentless late Austrian pressure. Keeper Mert Günok’s extraordinary save at the death will go down as the biggest moment of the game, rescuing his side from the prospect of extra time. The manoeuvre is already drawing comparisons to Gordon Banks’ ‘save of the century’ in 1970.

Austria had been one of the expected dark horses going into EURO2024, and started in impressive fashion by topping their group for the first time ever. Knocking them out is no mean feat, and could give Türkiye the belief they need heading into a game against the Netherlands. After all, Austria beat the Dutch in their group stage encounter and Türkiye have now seen them off. It’ll be a big ask for Montella’s team, and their loss to Portugal shows that they might well struggle to keep up with some of the biggest sides – but they’ve proven that they’re not to be counted out.

Switzerland can go toe-to-toe with champions

Fine, maybe calling a team ‘underdogs’ is a stretch when they’ve reached the knockout stages at six consecutive tournaments. However, even if Switzerland’s progress is roughly in line with forecasts, they’ve definitely exceeded expectations in terms of their actual performances. They are generally a team that has been ever-present without making a serious grab for the trophy. Murat Yakin’s side entered the tournament off the back of some fairly underwhelming results (such as draws with Denmark and Austria and a narrow win over the Republic of Ireland), and faced tough group opponents. They opened in convincing fashion with a 3-1 victory over Hungary, suffered a bit of a lull in a draw with Scotland, and have since only improved.

So far they are the only team to get a result against hosts Germany, and would actually have topped the group without Niclas Füllkrug’s 92nd minute equaliser. Their pièce de résistance so far was their round of 16 triumph over reigning champions Italy. Though Luciano Spalletti’s side were disappointing, that takes nothing away from the excellent Swiss press, sturdy defence, and a wealth of goalscoring talent. Of course there are the big-name stars like Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri, but Switzerland are not reliant on them. All seven of their goals so far have been from different players.

England fans will definitely not relish the prospect of facing Yakin’s men on Saturday. If they continue on their current form, an improvement on their best ever placement (the quarterfinals in 2021) is to be expected.

So, Türkiye and Switzerland are the biggest dark horses still in contention for the title – but let’s have an honourable mention for some of the other classic underdog stories of the tournament.

Georgia stunned Portugal – and the world – by progressing

If we’re talking underdogs, it would be unforgivable not to mention Georgia. This nation of less than 4 million people had never qualified for a major tournament before and pretty much everyone wrote them off before a ball had been kicked. Maybe, some said, they could nick a point from the likes of Czechia or Türkiye, but their odds of reaching the knockouts were negligible.

How wrong the doubters were. Georgia did indeed manage a draw with Czechia, but they did far more than that. Going into matchday 3, they had only one point and needed a win against recent champions Portugal – an unlikely prospect for most teams, let alone the lowest ranked side at the tournament. But against all the odds, goals from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Georges Mikautadze saw them through with a 2-0 victory. It looked for a moment as if they’d surpass themselves in the round of 16, taking the lead against Spain within the first twenty minutes – but it wasn’t to be, with the competition’s form side eventually winning 4-1. Though the full fairytale didn’t play out this year, nobody will soon forget Georgia’s efforts at EURO2024.

Slovenia’s rock-solid defence brings Ronaldo to tears

Poor old Portugal have really been plagued by the underdogs so far. After their loss to Georgia, they faced a Slovenia side who progressed with three stoic draws in the group stage. They were the lowest-ranked side in Group C but only conceded twice in three matches, scored a particularly beautiful goal through Erik Janža against Denmark, and would have finished second without Serbia equalising against them in the 95th minute. Their defence was their crown jewel – it presented a nightmare for England, who couldn’t find the net at all during their encounter with the Slovenians. Jan Oblak was statuesque between the sticks and continued that performance until the very last minutes in the round of 16.

Despite that respectable group stage performance, most wrote off Slovenia ahead of their meeting with Portugal in the knockouts – but they took it to the absolute death. Holding out Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, and Bernardo Silva for 120 minutes is a tall order, but Slovenia fought tooth and nail for their clean sheet (as evidenced by yellow cards for every member of the back four). The moment that will undoubtedly go down in history from this game is Jan Oblak saving Ronaldo’s in extra time, leaving the 39-year-old in tears and sending the match to a shootout.

Ronaldo redeemed himself by scoring the first spot kick for his team and a fantastic performance by Oblak’s counterpart Diogo Costa saw Portugal win 3-0 on penalties. However, Slovenia gave them a serious scare and can hold their heads high as they go home from Germany.

The list could go on – Romania impressed by topping their group, and Albania pulled off some of the tournament’s most audacious goals before their early exit (think fastest ever European Championship goal and a stoppage time equaliser). While most of the last eight are familiar faces, EURO2024 has certainly seen plenty of surprises so far – maybe there will be even more down the line.

Follow every game of the tournament, and all the news from the quarterfinalists’ camps, here and on our X account.