2016: The Year of the Underdog

"Thats what we do best. When we are the underdog and people doubt us. We can just rise above that." 

In 2008, when Leicester began in the third tier of English Football, Jamie Vardy was working in a factory while playing semi-professional football for Stockbridge Park Steels. 2 years ago, Claudio Ranieri was fired from the Greek National Team after losing to the Faroe Islands. At the start of last August, after miraculously avoiding relegation, they were 5000-1 odds of Leicester winning the title. Then the unthinkable happened, they convincingly swept away all title challengers and won the Premier League. 

Portugal celebrate their extra-time winner against France

If you are a fan of the underdog, 2016 has delivered its fair share of upsets in the sporting world, with Portugal's Euro victory, RB Leipzig's astonishing start to the Bundesliga being the latest many would not have predicted. Inspired by Leicester's PL victory, underdogs shone on the international stage as CR7's Portugal stunned hosts France to clinch their maiden European Championship at a tournament where debutants Wales and Iceland stunned the world. Following a sensational 2-1 defeat of England, Iceland, a country with a population equal to that of Leicester continued their meteoric rise in world football. With Gareth Bale carrying them, Wales reached the semi-finals in their first appearance since 1985. 

Both debutants performed exceptionally well.

Even outside of the world of football, many underdog stories gripped the sporting world and restored the faith of sports fans that miracles are still possible. The Chicago Cubs ended their 108 year wait for a trophy turning around a massive deficit to win the World Series in a thrilling finish. The Cavaliers, overturned a 3-0 deficit to win the NBA Championship 4-3, against the Golden State Warriors, who rarely lost a game all season. 

Chicago Cubs win World Series

Yusra Mardini captured the hearts of the world with her valiant performance in the 100m butterfly at Rio 2016, a year after swimming for her life.  But the Syrian was far from the only underdog story in Rio. For the first time ever, 10 athletes formed a refugee team and competed under the Olympic flag.

2016 also ended up being the perfect year for Cristiano Ronaldo. Winning the Champions League and  Euros was not enough, the worlds best player also won the Golden Boot and the Ballon d'or for the fourth time. In contrast to Ronaldo's moment in the sun there was more heartbreak for Lionel Messi's Argentina as they lost a major final for the third consecutive year in the Copa America Centenario on penalties to Chile. 

2016 also saw Paul Pogba becomes the world's most expensive player, for $110 million. Chelsea completed a remarkable turnaround, they were languishing at 14th, this time last year, having just fired their manager. Now, Antonio Conte, has instilled discipline into a squad that has a massive lead at the top of the table. 

Leicester continued fantastically in the CL, qualifying for the knockouts, a stark contrast to their league form this season. As for Atletico Madrid, their European Heartbreak continued as once again they lost out to Real Madrid in the Final. Antoine Griezmann, lost everything this year to Ronaldo. The Champions League, Euro 2016 and the race for the Ballon d'or. Youth was also a massive part of 2016 as Renato Sanches, Marcus Rashford, Ousmane Dembele, Kelechi Iheanacho and Alex Iwobi stamped their mark on the world. These youngsters are great prospects for the coming years and one day will be among the likes of Ronaldo and Messi. 

Ronaldo's Perfect Year

All in all, 2016 has thrown us many surprises and left sports fans all over the world hungry for more drama and underdog stories next year. These same underdog stories are going to inspire many more in the years to come. Sports fans now believe that anything and everything is possible is sports,  the most important thing is your desire and team spirit. 

Comment below your favorite stories from the year. Like and Subscribe if you enjoyed the content. Looking forward to the new year, it is shaping up to be another enthralling year for football and sports in general. 

For 2017, all i can say is EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED. 

-Zorawar