There is nothing a football romantic loves more than watching one of these stories unfold: a team from well down the global pecking order or making their first ever appearance at a major tournament defying all expectations and sweeping all before them. The FIFA World Cup™ has seen many of these underdogs – as they are routinely called – and to whet your appetite for the Final Draw for Qatar 2022, we put the spotlight on five of them.

Eliminated with a whimper after drawing all three of their group games at Spain 1982, Cameroon made an altogether bigger impact in Italy eight years later. They kicked off with a 1-0 defeat of defending champions Argentina in the tournament’s Opening Match, this despite having two men sent off in the second half. Two Roger Milla goals – celebrated with his trademark corner-flag dance – then gave the Indomitable Lions a 2-1 win over Romania, a result that took them to the top of Group B, where they stayed despite losing 4-0 to Soviet Union in their final match in the section. Milla, who now held the record as the oldest goalscorer in the history of the world finals – a record he himself would break in the USA four years later – scored another brace in the 2-1 win over Colombia to take the Cameroonians into the last eight, where they faced England. Two goals in the space of four minutes gave the Africans a 2-1 lead with half an hour remaining. They were undone, however, by Gary Lineker, who took the game into extra time with an 83rd-minute penalty and then scored again from the spot on 104 minutes to send England through. Cameroon had nevertheless made history by becoming the first African side to reach a World Cup quarter-final, a feat since matched but not bettered by Senegal at Korea/Japan 2002 and Ghana at South Africa 2010.

Miroslav Blazevic’s Croatia were undaunted by their first world finals appearance as an independent nation. Kicking off with wins over Jamaica and Japan, they then lost to Argentina but had still done enough to finish second in the section and advance to the knockout phase. Thanks to the magical finishing skills of Davor Suker, who ended the competition as its leading scorer with six goals, Croatia saw off Romania 1-0, a result that left them facing mighty Germany in the quarter-finals. Though the Germans were reduced to ten men just before half-time, few expected the tournament newcomers to run out comfortable 3-0 winners. Croatia’s hopes of another shock in the semi-final were dashed by hosts France in a match made memorable by Blazevic wearing a French police officer’s hat, Laurent Blanc’s sending-off after a coming-together with Slaven Bilic, and Lilian Thuram’s unlikely two-goal salvo, which sent Les Bleus into a Final against Brazil. Croatia gained some consolation with a 2-1 defeat of Netherlands in the match for third place. At Russia 2018 they went one step further to reach the Final, where France beat them once again, though by this stage they were far from World Cup outsiders.

Korea Republic did not disappoint their supporters when they co-hosted the competition with Japan. After topping a group also containing Portugal (ranked fourth in the world at the time), USA and Poland, the South Koreans scored a late equaliser to take their Round-of-16 tie with Italy to extra-time, where they scored three minutes from time to knock out a side that had finished UEFA EURO runners-up two years earlier. Ranked 40th in the world before the tournament, the co-hosts then took on Spain in the quarter-finals, another match that went to extra time and in which La Roja had two goals disallowed. The two sides ended the extra half-hour still locked at 0-0 and in the resulting shootout Joaquin missed Spain’s fourth kick to allow the South Koreans to continue on their merry way. The Taegeuk Warriors’ historic run was ended in the semis by Germany, with Michael Ballack scoring the only goal of the game. The South Koreans, who have yet to return to the last four, gained a measure of revenge by knocking Die Mannschaft out in the group phase at Russia 2018.

When the Final Draw was made for Brazil 2014, Costa Rica could have been forgiven for asking what they had done to deserve being pitched into Group D with Uruguay, who had finished fourth in South Africa four years earlier, and European big guns Italy and England. The Central Americans were contesting their fourth World Cup, with their best performance to that point having come on their debut at Italy 1990, when they reached the Round of 16. Their previous appearance before Brazil had come at Germany 2006, where they lost all three of their group matches. In a complete reversal of their fortunes, however, the Concacaf side beat Uruguay 3-1 and Italy 1-0 and drew 0-0 with England to top the section against all expectations. In the Round of 16, Jorge Luis Pinto’s side downed Greece in a shootout after a 1-1 draw, with all five Tico penalty-takers finding the back of the net. However, the Costa Ricans were not quite so perfect in the penalty shootout that followed their 0-0 draw with South Africa 2010 runners-up Netherlands in the quarter-finals. Oranje goalkeeper Tim Krul was the main reason for that, having been brought on by Louis van Gaal deep into extra time, specifically in preparation for the shootout. Despite being denied by the giant keeper, Costa Rica had still managed their best ever run at the world finals.