Photo by Terrace Grain on Unsplash
The Europa League has been full of twists and turns this season, and the quarter-final round was as chaotic as they come. Athletic Bilbao continued pursuing their dream of playing in the final that their stunning San Mames stadium is hosting on May 21st with a resounding victory over Rangers.
Manchester United also managed to keep their hopes of glory alive with a stunning comeback win against Lyon, netting three times in the last six minutes of extra time to somehow progress against all odds.
But perhaps the story of the round came from lowly Bodø/Glimt. The team that plays its home games in the Arctic Circle and represents a town of just under 43,000 people managed to defy the odds by beating Italian giants Lazio on penalties and punched their ticket to the semifinals. The upset has made the Superlaget the first-ever Norwegian team to qualify for a European semi-final of any kind, and they are just one round away from a date with immortality.
Unfortunately for them, the team that stands in the way is Premier League heavyweights Tottenham Hotspur, who online sports betting sites make the favorite to win the Europa League this season. Websites offering sports betting online make Spurs the 15/8 frontrunners, while their lowly Norway-based rivals are way out at 12/1.
Whether they can upset the odds once again remains to be seen, but their exploits in making it this far got us thinking. Which other teams have put their countries on their back and shone on the continental stage despite their nation’s lack of pedigree? Let’s find out.
Sheriff Tiraspol
Before 2021, no Moldovan team had ever played in the UEFA Champions League. Step up, Sheriff Tiraspol. The side from the breakaway region of Transnistria managed to upset the odds four years ago, entering the first knockout round and making it to the group stage.
In qualifying, they knocked off the likes of Red Star Belgrade and Dinamo Zagreb to secure their seat at the most elite dining table in European football. And once they were there, the biggest shock was still to come.
In their tournament debut, they stunned Shakhtar Donetsk, winning 2-0 on home turf. However, in their second game, they ramped things up a notch. There, they pulled off perhaps the biggest Champions League upset ever when they beat perhaps the greatest team of all time, Real Madrid, in the Bernabeu, thanks to a last-gasp thunderbolt from Luxembourg international Sébastien Thill.
Back-to-back defeats against Inter Milan, coupled with a loss on home turf in the return fixture against Los Blancos, unfortunately saw them exit the competition, but not before they had taken the continent by storm.
APOEL Nicosia
Just under a decade before Sheriff’s continental exploits, Cypriot champions APOEL Nicosia were making a splash of their own. In 2009, they made their Champions League debut, but it wasn’t until 2011 that they truly made their presence felt.
Much like their Moldovan counterparts, they too had to come through a grueling qualifying campaign, beating the likes of Slovan Bratislava and Wisła Kraków to reach the group stage. But unlike Sheriff, their run wouldn’t end there.
The side from the Cypriot capital not only impressed in the group stage, but they also managed to qualify for the knockout round as group winners. They lost just once in their six group games and finished at the top of Group G, ahead of Zenit Saint-Petersburg, FC Porto, and Shakhtar Donetsk.
That set up a second-round clash against French giants Lyon, and everyone thought that the fairytale run would come to an end. Inexplicably, however, it didn’t, and APOEL shockingly progressed via a penalty shootout. Their Cinderella story would finally come to an end in the quarter-finals as they lost out to record champions Real Madrid, but they had proven to the rest of Europe that miracles are possible, even on the grandest stage.
Red Bull Salzburg
For years, Red Bull Salzburg has flown the Austrian flag high on the European stage. While the likes of Sturm Graz and Rapid Vienna have both played in continental competitions over the years, none have reached the heights that their compatriots from the Alps have.
Die Roten Bullen have featured in the Champions League in each of the last five seasons, even reaching the round of 16 three years ago. That year, their run came to an end at the hands of Bayern Munich, and unfortunately, they haven’t managed to qualify from the group stage since. They have also had plenty of success in the Europa League, reaching the semifinals back in 2018, beating Lazio, Borussia Dortmund, and Real Sociedad along the way.
Their exploits on the continent have been so impressive that Salzburg are one of just 12 European-based teams to qualify for this summer’s revamped FIFA Club World Cup. The Austrian side will face the likes of Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Boca Juniors, and many more in a bid to become champions of the world. So not only have they flown the Austrian flag high on their continent, they are now taking it worldwide as well.
