Highlights

  • Manchester United suffered a humiliating 9-0 loss twice in the Premier League era, setting records both times.
  • Tottenham Hotspur handed Wigan Athletic a 9-1 defeat and provided ticket reimbursements to fans due to the embarrassing loss.
  • Brazil's shocking 1-7 defeat to Germany in the 2014 World Cup was a historic loss, as the hosts were dismantled on home soil.

No football team ever wants to lose. The nature of the sport is to win as much as possible, but obviously, no one is victorious all of the time. Everyone loses every once in a while, but it's something fans are willing to accept as long as their team gives it their all. One thing no one wants to be on the receiving end of is a humiliating loss. There's nothing worse than experiencing a thumping, but many, many teams have been victims of them over the years.

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While no one will want to look back and remember the time their team lost heavily, in embarrassing fashion, that's exactly what we're going to do here. We've ranked the 20 most humiliating losses in football history. Strap yourselves in, because some of these are truly astonishing results.

20 most humiliating losses in football history

Victors

Score

Losers

Date

Tottenham Hotspur

9-1

Wigan Athletic

22.11.2009

Stoke City

6-1

Liverpool

24.05.2015

Barcelona

6-2

Real Madrid

02.05.2009

Iceland

2-1

England

27.06.2016

Manchester United

9-0

Ipswich Town

04.03.1995

Leicester City

9-0

Southampton

25.10.2019

Manchester United

9-0

Southampton

02.02.2021

Middlesbrough

8-1

Manchester City

11.05.2008

MK Dons

4-0

Manchester United

26.08.2014

Newcastle United

5-1

Tottenham Hotspur

15.05.2016

Barcelona

5-0

Real Madrid

29.11.2010

Manchester City

6-0

Watford

18.05.2019

USA Women

13-0

Thailand

11.06.2019

Netherlands

5-1

Spain

13.06.2014

Manchester City

6-1

Manchester United

23.10.2011

Manchester United

8-2

Arsenal

28.08.2011

Barcelona

6-1

Paris Saint-Germain

08.03.2017

Liverpool

7-0

Manchester United

05.03.2023

Australia

31-0

American Samoa

11.04.2001

Germany

7-1

Brazil

08.07.2014

Tottenham Hotspur 9-1 Wigan Athletic

22 November 2009

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One of the first times a Premier League side offered to reimburse the travelling fans for the cost of their tickets. To make matters worse, Wigan Athletic had only been 1-0 down at half-time before Jermain Defoe scored FIVE goals in the second half. Niko Kranjcar put the icing on the cake in injury time.

It was Tottenham Hotspur's largest-ever victory in the top flight, and it was a pretty embarrassing loss for the Latics. While they were regularly flirting with the relegation zone during their time in the Premier League, Wigan had made a habit of being a tough team to break down, but that certainly wasn't the case in November 2009.

Stoke City 6-1 Liverpool

24 May 2015

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Liverpool's heaviest top-flight defeat since 1963 just happened to come in Steven Gerrard's final game back in May 2015. What should have been a fitting send-off for the legendary skipper turned into a complete nightmare with his side falling to a 5-0 deficit by half-time. According to Ryan Shawcross, the Stoke players were so speechless in the dressing room that they simply burst out laughing. Brutal.

It's not just the fact that the Reds lost so heavily to a mid-table team they were expected to beat, but it's the fact they did so during one of their greatest-ever player's final game for the club. What a terrible send-off for Gerrard who soon joined LA Galaxy. The one saving grace is that he managed to get on the scoresheet, even if he was the only Liverpool player to do so.

Real Madrid 2-6 Barcelona

2 May 2009

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What do you get when you pit Pep Guardiola against Juande Ramos? It was billed as a pivotal moment in the title race, back in May 2009, but the two rivals couldn't have been any further apart. Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi scored a brace apiece, with Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique also getting on the scoresheet as Barcelona ran riot.

The El Classico is one of the fiercest rivalries in the world, and losing is often unacceptable for both teams, so to lose in such emphatic fashion was massively embarrassing to Real Madrid, and it's no surprise that they immediately went out after the season wrapped up and signed Cristiano Ronaldo.

England 1-2 Iceland

27 June 2016

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The scoreline might not sit neatly among the rest of this list but in terms of sheer giant-killing, England rightly hung their heads in shame afterwards. Days after the 2016 referendum, they were taunted with hand-made signs reading 'Brexit Part 2' as they crashed out of the Euros at the last-16 to a squad consisting of many part-timers and managed by a dentist. With a population of 332,206, Iceland was the smallest nation ever to qualify for the quarter-finals.

It was England at their worst and brought Roy Hodgson's reign in charge of the national team to a welcome end. It might not have been a thumping, heavy defeat, but it's still quite humiliating for a team filled with the likes of Wayne Rooney and Harry Kane to have lost to a nation that was ranked 34th in the world at the time. With Hodgson gone and Allardyce's reign in charge lasting just one game, the Three Lions eventually appointed Gareth Southgate and losses like this feel like a thing of the past.

Manchester United 9-0 Ipswich Town

4 March 1995

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In 1995, just a few short years after the Premier League was created, Manchester United set the benchmark for dominating wins as they thrashed Ipswich Town 9-0 at Old Trafford. It was a magnificent display from the Red Devils, but incredibly embarrassing for the Tractor Boys. The visitors had actually won the reverse fixture 1-0 earlier in the campaign, but things were very different once they headed to Old Trafford. Andy Cole scored five on the day, while Mark Hughes scored two and Roy Keane and Paul Ince bagged one apiece.

Miraculously, United didn't even win the league that season, falling short to Kenny Dalglish's Blackburn Rovers. What isn't that surprising, is that Ipswich wound up finishing bottom of the league that season and were relegated to the Championship. For a long time, United's 9-0 mauling of Ipswich was unmatched as the record win in the Premier League era. Which brings us neatly to...

Southampton 0-9 Leicester City

25 October 2019

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After United set the record in 1995, it was finally equalled 24 years later as Southampton were crushed at home by high-flying Leicester City in October 2019. What makes this one extra embarrassing is the fact it took place in the Saints' own home. That's right, the Foxes turned up to St. Mary's and smashed Southampton 9-0 in front of thousands of their fans. That's just rough.

Jamie Vardy and Ayoze Perez bagged a hat-trick each, while James Maddison, Ben Chilwell and Youri Tielemans also got in on the action. In hindsight, perhaps the Saints weren't *too* embarrassed as against the odds, they stuck with manager Ralph Hasenhuttl, and while things initially looked a little promising, they were back in very unwanted, but familiar territory not too long after.

Manchester United 9-0 Southampton

2 February 2021

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Losing 9-0 once and equalling the Premier League record is embarrassing enough, but doing it against just over a year late is downright shameful. That's unfortunately what happened to Southampton, though, as they were thrashed 9-0 by United at Old Trafford in February 2021. The match set a Premier League record for the most unique goalscorers as seven different players hit the back of the net throughout.

Losing 9-0 at Old Trafford to United might not be as embarrassing as losing 9-0 at home to Leicester, but it's the fact Southampton let this happen to them again so shortly after the first disastrous result that makes this extra humiliating. It's almost as if they didn't learn their lesson the first time around. Only four teams have ever lost 9-0 in the Premier League since its creation in 1992 and the Saints have been on the receiving end of it twice. Talk about humiliation.

Middlesbrough 8-1 Manchester City

11 May 2008

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Oh, the days before the takeover. Richard Dunne's red card in May 2008 left a gaping void in Manchester City's defence and Stewart Downing, Afonso Alves, Adam Johnson, Fábio Rochemback and Jérémie Aliadière exploited it. Elano scored a late consolation, but it's a result that is still brought up to this day.

This was worlds apart from the club that City would eventually become, but there's no denying the emphatic display from Middlesbrough on the day. What makes it extra embarrassing is the fact that rival fans still use this result to poke fun at City fans even now, but who can blame them? The club have gone from strength to strength over the years, including winning a historic treble during the 2022/23 season, but just 15 years ago, this was their reality and it's a reminder of where the club came from.

MK Dons 4-0 Manchester United

26 August 2014

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United have suffered plenty of dispiriting lows in the post-Fergie era but perhaps none more so than when they were thrashed by League One MK Dons in August 2014. Louis van Gaal may not have fielded his strongest side, but it still featured David de Gea, Javier Hernandez, Danny Welbeck, Jonny Evans, Anderson and Shinji Kagawa and should have been more than capable of handling the opposition.

As a club of United's stature, losing 4-0 to anyone should be considered absolutely unacceptable, but doing so to a side two divisions below is downright embarrassing, and the result essentially spelt the end for a lot of the players involved as they were soon shipped out of Old Trafford. In terms of the disaster that has been Manchester United following Ferguson's departure, this is probably the epitome of the period so far. However, there are a few other embarrassing results for the Red Devils that are also included on this list a little later.

Newcastle 5-1 Tottenham

15 May 2016

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Having already caved in pursuit of the Premier League title, Tottenham needed to avoid defeat to ensure they finished above Arsenal for the first time in two decades when they made their trip to Newcastle United in May 2016. Easy, right, with the Magpies having already been relegated to the Championship? The home side were even reduced to 10 men with the scores fairly close at 2-1, but Spurs still wound up being thrashed.

They lost the game 5-1 which was embarrassing enough, but the fact they finished below Arsenal in the table was just adding salt to their wounds. They didn't live this one down for a while, with rival fans mocking the fact that they came third in a two-horse race, referencing the title race they'd been involved in for the majority of the season with Leicester. Newcastle have transformed into a completely different team these days, and while losing 5-1 to them even now wouldn't be great for Spurs, doing so to the poor side that was relegated to the Championship was just an embarrassingly bad result.

Barcelona 5-0 Real Madrid

29 November 2010

A crushing blow to Jose Mourinho's pride. Lionel Messi put on arguably his greatest performance without actually scoring in November 2010 as Xavi, Pedro, David Villa (2) and Jeffren all totally embarrassed Los Blancos. It was another resounding victory in the El Classico for Barcelona over their greatest rivals.

Who can forget the iconic footage of Messi slowly limping off the pitch, his work being done, as he's watched on from a distance by Ronaldo? It was an incredible moment, but one that Real Madrid will be keen to never think about again and for good reason. Still, there were almost 100,00 fans in attendance and millions watching around the world, so it won't be easy. Sure, Los Blancos have had their own fair share of incredible wins against their rivals over the years, but it's this 5-0 loss that will be remembered by many for the foreseeable future.

Manchester City 6-0 Watford

18 May 2019

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It was impossible not to feel sorry for Watford in the 2019 FA Cup final. Yes, there is no shame in losing by such a margin to an excellent City side, but the Hornets were left red-faced in front of the watching world in one of the biggest games in their history. Getting to the final is an incredible achievement, but it's a little embarrassing how one-sided the affair was.

On the biggest stage in many, many years for Watford, they gave a very poor account of themselves and came away from the game looking very silly indeed. It's an incredible achievement that they got to an FA Cup, it's just a shame that they couldn't bring the level of performance that an occasion as grand as that one called for.

USA Women 13-0 Thailand

11 June 2019

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The USA Women's team faced enormous criticism for their overzealous celebrations as they inflicted upon Thailand the biggest defeat ever seen at the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2019. The gulf in resources available to the respective sides made the former's behaviour difficult to stomach. It's a rare instance where the victors will likely feel almost as embarrassed as the losers, looking back on how they conducted themselves.

There's no taking away from the fact they absolutely destroyed their opponents, though, and losing 13-0 in the biggest tournament in the world is pretty shameful. It's not the account that the Thailand Women's side will have wanted to give for themselves anyway.

Spain 1-5 Netherlands

13 June 2014

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A game that had everything. It was a rematch of the 2010 World Cup final but four years on, the reigning champions were hammered despite scoring first through Xabi Alonso. Robin van Persie then scored *that* diving header before he and Arjen Robben put La Roja to the sword.

The Spaniards were looking to make it four international trophies in a row but were given a rude awakening in the very first game of the 2014 World Cup as they were crushed emphatically. It symbolised perfectly the downfall that Spain experienced after a lengthy period of dominance and is a result they will never want to reminisce about. They haven't even come close to returning to the level that the team occupied during the late 2000s and early 2010s and this result is the one that really kickstarted their fall from grace.

Manchester United 1-6 Manchester City

23 October 2011

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What's worse than losing to your local rivals in a derby game? Doing so at home and losing is such a one-sided fashion that it becomes your worst home loss in almost 60 years. United's 6-1 thumping at the hands of City is a result you might have expected in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era at Old Trafford, but not when he was still in charge.

It was United's worst home loss since February 1955 and prompted Mario Balotelli's legendary 'Why always me?' celebration. But nobody could have predicted just how big a win it was for City - those three points, and six goals, helped them to the title, which was won over United due to their superior goal difference just months later. If this match had even been a little closer, the Red Devils may have found themselves lifting the Premier League trophy themselves which makes this loss especially humiliating and one that Ferguson won't ever want to look back on when thinking about the incredible career he had in charge at Old Trafford. It was certainly one of his lowest points.

Manchester United 8-2 Arsenal

28 August 2011

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Admittedly, Arsene Wenger was up against it with injuries and had to field a defence of Carl Jenkinson, Johan Djourou, Laurent Koscielny, and Armand Traoré when he faced United at Old Trafford in August 2011. That's no excuse for what happened though, with Ferguson visibly bewildered in his post-match interview. "When you play Arsenal you don't expect a result like that," he said.

He's got a point too, as the 8-2 loss at the hands of the Red Devils was the heaviest the Gunners had experienced in the league in 84 years and was the first time they'd conceded eight goals in a match since the 19th century. Yikes.

Barcelona 6-1 Paris Saint-Germain

8 March 2017

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Facing an uphill battle as they welcomed Paris Saint-Germain to the Camp Nou, Barcelona blew the breaks off their opponents, winning 6-1 and completing one of the craziest comebacks in history. PSG became the first team in Champions League history to exit the competition after winning a first leg 4-0.

Ironically, it was future PSG man Neymar (then still with Barcelona) who orchestrated their downfall in the late stages of the contest, and it was a result that the French side won't want to look back on anytime soon. The man in the PSG dugout? Unai Emery.

Liverpool 7-0 Manchester United

5 March 2023

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The most recent inclusion on this list, United headed to Anfield earlier this year, hopeful of a positive result. After all, Liverpool had struggled throughout the campaign, whereas the Red Devils were impressing during the debut season of Erik ten Hag's reign and will have felt confident about their chances.

Instead, they were just absolutely dominated and blown out of the water by Jurgen Klopp's side. The two clubs have had a long and storied rivalry going back decades, so losing 7-0 was a huge embarrassment for United and one that fans all over the world didn't let them forget. Darwin Nunez, Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah all bagged braces while Roberto Firmino also got in on the action.

Australia 31–0 American Samoa

11 April 2001

It's not every day a team is beaten so badly FIFA have to change the rules. It was the largest defeat in an international match and came at the 2002 World Cup qualifiers. Australia's Archie Thompson scored a ridiculous 13 goals. FIFA then introduced a preliminary round in Oceania qualifying, so a result like that wouldn't happen again.

Even now, the scoreline begs belief and more closely resembles a rugby result than a football one. We can't see this being beaten on a stage such as the World Cup qualifiers ever again. Considering the stature of American Samoa, it's hard to judge them too harshly on the result. The gulf in resources between the two teams is absolutely massive, but 31-0 is just absurd.

Brazil 1-7 Germany

8 July 2014

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Losing 7-1 in any World Cup is bad enough, let alone in your homeland. The 2014 Selecao did not deserve to grace the sacred Maracana in the final and Germany duly dumped them out at the semi-finals, going 5-0 up inside half an hour. Brazil has never lost by such a margin at the World Cup as Miroslav Klose became the tournament's record goalscorer.

The general consensus is that home nations have a distinct advantage over their opponents heading into these international tournaments, but Germany quickly proved that isn't always the case, destroying Brazil in historic fashion, and it's a result that the nation will never want to remember. At least, though, they can take solace in the fact that the Germans went on to win the entire tournament, proving they were just the best time in the world at that time.