Top Ten Sports Betting Turnarounds

New York Giants v New England Patriots
After becoming the first team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins to go through the regular season undefeated, the New England Patriots were considered shoe-ins for Superbowl XLII. With a 10-6 regular season record, the Giants surprised their more heavily-favored NFC opponents to make it through to the Superbowl. The Giants pulled off a stunning 17-14 victory, despite being listed at a line of between -12 and -14 points going into the game, almost unheard of in a sporting final.

Luxembourg v Switzerland
Luxembourg hadn't won a World Cup qualifying game since 1972, and had odds of 67.00 to beat Switzerland in this September 2008 fixture to prove it. To make matters worse, the game was on Swiss home soil in the Zurich, but that mattered not as Luxembourg's Alphonse Leweck scored with four minutes left to give victory to the tiny European principality of just half-a-million people.

Greece wins Euro 2004
Greece's national football team came to Euro 2004 as 150/1 outsider to win the tournament. They shocked heavyweights France and the Czech Republic to make it to the final, where they capped off one of the biggest footballing upsets of all time by defeating the highly-fancied hosts of the tournament Portugal, with a 57th-minute winner from Angelos Charisteas.

Bangladesh v Australia
Minnows Bangladesh pulled off undoubtedly the greatest upset ever in international cricket when it beat Australia in the Welsh city of Cardiff in 2005. Bangladesh went into its one-day clash with the defending World Cup winners as 100/1 outsider, Betfair at one stage offering 169/1 - incredible odds in a two-horse race. But thanks to a Mohammad Ashraful century, Bangladesh overcame Australia's decent total of 249 to score its biggest win since being awarded Test cricket status in 2000.

Coin v Ivanovic
She had odds of between 7.00 to 9.00 to beat world number one Ana Ivanovic in the second round of the 2008 US Open, but that didn't bother 188th-ranked maths whiz Julie Coin, a Frenchwoman who developed her tennis skills while studying for a mathematics degree at Clemson University in South Carolina. Coin didn't let the odds get her down, and she played the match of her life to defeat her Serbian opponent, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.

Stanford v USC
Stanford entered its college American football game an incredible 41-point underdog, and was playing with a second-string quarterback. Rivals USC were considered one of the best teams going around. But the northern Californians defeated their southern rivals 24-23 to have their fans claiming it as the greatest college upset of all time.

Red Sox v Yankees
When bitter rivals the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees met in the 2004 American League baseball championship series, it was expected to be another win for New York, who had won 26 titles to Boston's zero since the "Curse of the Bambino", which according to baseball folklore struck when the Red Sox sold star player Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920. After losing the first three games, the Red Sox came back to become the first team in baseball history to win a seven-game playoff series after being down 3-0. Needless to say, they were being quoted ridiculous odds by that stage. Boston then went on to beat St Louis 4-0 to win its first World Series since 1918.

South Korea v Italy
2002 World Cup co-host South Korea was a long-shot 150/1 to win the tournament, but made it through the group stage for the first time, before defeating football powerhouse and one of the tournament favorites Italy, 2-1 in extra-time. The hosts then caused another upset, beating Spain in the quarter-finals, before finally having the amazing run ended by Germany.

France v New Zealand
It was Les Bleus of France vs the All Blacks of New Zealand in the 2007 Rugby World quarter-finals, and just as they did to New Zealand in the 1999 World Cup semi-finals, the French knocked out the almost-unbackable 4/7 tournament favorites, condemning the Kiwis to yet another four years of waiting for a second World Cup trophy.

Greece v USA
The 2006 FIBA world basketball championships were supposed to be won by a full-strength United States, nicknamed the "Dream Team" because of its star-studded lineup. Greece had other ideas though, defeating the US 101-95 despite very long odds. Unfortunately for the Greeks, the excitement of that game got to them, and they suffered a miserable 70-47 loss to Spain in the final two days later.