The Worst Football Teams of All Time
With the football season nearing a third of the way through, it’s likely you’re able to judge how good your team is and how well you think the team will do come the end of the season. Unfortunately, for some teams the prospect of winning trophies is the last thing on their minds, enduring thrashings week after week, with the prospect of relegation the only dark light at the end of the depressing tunnel.
Whether it’s a grass roots team you play for, or a professional team you support, if your season isn’t going to plan, fear not, as it’s likely the situation could be a lot, lot worse. Compared to the teams below, I bet your team looks pretty good – I present to you, the worst football teams to have ever stepped onto the football pitch.
The Worst Premier League Team
Derby County – 2007/08
Derby became the quickest team to ever get relegated from the Premier League when they drew 2-2 with Fulham on 29th March 2008. Promptly losing their remaining fixtures, they finished the season with a record low points tally of 11. With the manager who got them promoted, Billy Davies, getting the sack in November, Paul Jewell took over and was unable to make any progress whatsoever.
The team, featuring ‘star’ names Robbie Savage, Kenny Miller and Stephen Bywater have gone on to become the Premier League laughing stocks. Unsurprisingly we haven’t seen the Rams in the Premier League since that dreadful year.
A notable mention should go to Mick McCarthy’s Sunderland teams from the 02/03 and 05/06 seasons who finished on 19 and 15 points respectively. McCarthy was eventually sacked on March 6th 2006 after two embarrassing attempts to stay alive in England’s top division.
The Worst National Team
American Samoa - 1996-present
Located somewhere in the South Pacific Ocean, American Samoa have hit the headlines for being the worst national football team on the planet. Ranked joint 204th in the world alongside Andorra, Monserrat, Samoa and San Marino, all with 0 points – the nation is celebrating after winning their first ever game, a stunning 2-1 victory over Tonga – which will likely boost them up the rankings.
Having suffered over 30 straight defeats in nearly 20 years, including a ridiculous 31-0 battering by Australia in 2001 (the biggest loss in international football history), they have been pulled into shape by Dutch ex-D.C. United and Chivas USA coach Thomas Rongen.
The Worst Grass Roots Team
Madron FC – 2010 -present
Residing in a quiet village in Cornwall, Madron FC have become famous over the last couple of years for being, quite simply, atrocious. They first made the news after losing a game 55-0, but when the press turned up for the next game, they improved greatly – to only lose 22-0, which, to be fair, was a decent result considering the team eventually shipped a whopping 407 goals throughout the winless season.
On a bizarre par with American Samoa, Madron finally managed to get a win after getting smashed 30 games in a row when they beat relegation rivals Storm FC 4-3 in October 2011.
The Worst World Cup Team
South Korea - 1954
There have been a lot of terrible teams during various World Cups over the years, including El Salvador in ’82 who received the biggest spanking of World Cup history after losing 10-1 to Hungary. However, the Korean ’54 team are the only team to have more than one battering, losing 9-0 to Hungary and 7-0 to Turkey. The Koreans were lucky they only had to play 2 group matches, otherwise they would’ve surely suffered yet another thrashing against the eventual World Cup winners, West Germany.
A notable mention must go to the France National Team, for their unbelievable performances in both the 2002 and 2010 World Cups considering the players available to them. In 2002 the reigning champions were unable to score a goal as they quickly exited the tournament after finishing bottom of their group. Then in 2010, the whole squad fell out with clueless head-coach Raymond Domenech which lead to the players boycotting training. Unsurprisingly, France once again finished bottom of the group and promptly left South Africa.
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