Whenever a massive favourite chokes, with the odds in their favour, it adds that extra layer of unpredictability that makes sports fun and entertaining.
Some people call it “choking”, others call it “bottling.” But I’ll be using both terms interchangeably.
Every bottle job is a reminder that sporting events are never won on paper. Anything can happen once the game starts.
Until the game, or match, or race, or set is over, you have to stay locked in at all times. Never celebrate until you’ve crossed the finish line.
Whenever we remember famous choke jobs in sports, we often try to pinpoint the pivotal moment or play that changed the course of events.
But the truth is that choking can happen in one moment of madness…one brain-dead play in crunch time.
In some cases, the disaster could last the span of a single game; other times, the misery stacks up over a number of days.
So we’ll go through the biggest choke jobs in sports history based on magnitude and the probability of something so bizarre happening ever again.
20. Barcelona Losing to Inter, Roma, and Liverpool
The comeback against PSG seemed to transfer the choking DNA to Barcelona. Things have not gone right for them since that remontada.
The following year, after beating PSG, Barcelona choked a 2-0 lead by losing 4-0 to AS Roma when Kostas Manolas scored that wonder goal in Rome.
The bottling didn’t end there for Barcelona. A few years later, they squandered a 3-0 lead against Liverpool during that iconic 4-goal demolition at Anfield.
In 2025, they also managed to get into a goal-fest with Inter Milan before losing the tie to a late winner by Davide Fratessi.
19. Martin Palermo Missing 3 Penalty Kicks in One Game
It’s the 1999 Copa America…Argentina is playing Colombia.
During the game, Argentinian Striker Martin Palermo missed three penalty kicks. 3 different penalties in the same game! I’ve never seen anything like it.
The first one hit the crossbar. He then skied the second attempt, and then the keeper saved the third one.
This unprecedented moment of madness is what we call choking in sports.
The crazy thing is that the match ended 3-0 in favour of Colombia. And guess what? Colombia even managed to miss one penalty in this game.
I can even go as far as comparing this choke job to the Butt Fumble or the Seahawks refusing to run the ball at the 1-yard line.
Make no mistake, Palermo’s Palaver is the biggest individual choke job of all time…at least in football. This choke job is up there with Roberto Baggio missing that penalty against Brazil and becoming the man who died standing.
Martin Palermo made it into the Guinness Book of Records as the only top-level professional footballer to score an imperfect hat-trick without scoring a goal.
18. Lewis Hamilton Losing The 2007 F1 World Championship
Lewis Hamilton is the GOAT after Michael Schumacher, but he has also played a central role in some of the biggest choke jobs in Formula 1.
At the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix, Hamilton missed the pit entry and ended up stranded in a gravel trap. This rookie mistake cost him 17 crucial points.
But it was not over yet…Hamilton still had one more race in Brazil to clinch the championship.
Not so fast…midway into the race, Lewis’ McLaren experienced gearbox issues, which basically ruined his race. He ended up finishing the race in 7th and one single point behind eventual winner Kimi Räikkönen in the final standings.
This one was brutal…but it was about to get much worse 14 years later.
17. GSP Losing to Matt Serra
The biggest choke job in the UFC has to be George St-Pierre when he fought Matt Serra.
What was meant to be a routine championship defense turned into a nightmare for GSP.
Just minutes into Round One, Matt Serra came in swinging with wild overhand punches. One of them landed and rocked GSP.
Matt Serra seized the moment and jumped in for the kill with quick-fire punches.
GSP went down, and Matt Serra followed him to the mat, pounding him all the way, delivering a barrage of strikes to his head before the referee called off the fight.
The GOAT of the welterweight division just lost to some guy way below his level. No disrespect to Matt, but he’s nowhere near GSP by any possible metric.
Honorable mention goes to Michael Bisping knocking out the arrogant Luke Rockhold, Amanda Nunes losing her belt to Julianna Pena, and Anderson Silva getting caught in a sweet knockout while goofing around in the ring.
16. Arsenal Bottling the Premier League Title in 2023
In 2023, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal spent an unprecedented 248 days on top of the Premier League table. I call it “unprecedented” because no other team has managed to last that long without finishing on top.
But Arsenal fans got too excited and started crowning themselves champions. If you told them to calm down, then you must be a hater. They even hounded pundit Gary Neville because the dude told them to relax.
I mean, what does Gary know about winning the league? He was only part of a Manchester United squad that dominated England for decades.
Well, as fate would have it, Arsenal’s season unravelled, and they ended up finishing second and trophyless. They even performed worse than a diabolical Manchester United team that had more scandals than victories.
This was the season that gave us the infamous Peter Drury commentary.
15. PSG Bottling the Lead to Barcelona
You can’t talk about bottle jobs in the Champions League without mentioning Barcelona.
When PSG beat Barcelona 4-0 at home, everyone assumed the tie was over. Not even the formidable MSN trio could claw back this deficit.
But what do you know? Barcelona, inspired by Neymar, managed to not only level the tie but also score a 6th goal by Sergio Roberto. PSG choked the tie by a score of 6-5.
14. Asamoah Gyan Missing that Key Penalty
For most West Africans, the biggest choke job in World Cup history had to be Ghana against Uruguay.
After Luis Suarez punched the ball on the goal line, Ghana had the opportunity to win the game on the spot. They had the chance to become the first African country to reach the semis.
This time for Africa. This time for Ghana!
Up steps Gyan and boom! The ball hits the crossbar and goes out for a goal kick. The entire stadium just went silent…even the vuvuzelas stopped buzzing for once, the entire month.
Asamoah Gyan had just crushed the dreams of an entire continent. Luiz Suarez was now public enemy number one in Ghana.
13. The Atlanta Falcons Losing to the Patriots at Super Bowl 51
The Patriots were the ones dishing out the choke sandwich to the Atlanta Falcons at Super Bowl 51.
During the first 2 quarters, it felt like the Patriots had no answer to the Falcons’ superior offense. This stuff looked like a massacre.
But when you have Tom Brady on your team, you always have a puncher’s chance.
With the Falcons leading 28-3 halfway into the third quarter, the Patriots started taking over slowly but surely, point after point.
Watching this unfold in real time was mindboggling. The Falcons seemed frozen in time. They couldn’t make any offensive plays or defensive stops.
And then came that miracle Julian Edelman catch that bounced off someone’s shoe, which then led to the drive that tied the game 28-28.
Going into overtime, Tom Brady and the Patriots seized the momentum and absolutely trounced the shell-shocked Falcons. The game ended 34-28 in favour of the Patriots.
To this day, this choke job will always remain a stain on Matt Ryan’s NFL career…and the Atlanta Falcons will never forget it.
12. Lewis Hamilton Losing The 2021 F1 World Championship to Max Verstappen
On the final day of the 2021 Formula 1 season, Lewis Hamilton was leading the championship and the race ahead of Max Verstappen.
The only way he could lose now was if a crash happened that took him out of the race. Well, guess what?
With a few laps to go, Nicolas Latifi crashed his Williams, and a full safety car was deployed.
And then came the decisive moment.
Red Bull, completely out of options, decided to pit Max Verstappen to change to new tires.
But Mercedes chose to leave Hamilton out with old tires to avoid giving up the position. At the time, this decision made sense because they assumed the tires would hold for one final lap.
Then came the shocking decision from Michael Masi, the race director.
When the FIA cleared the race for resumption for the last lap, Max Verstappen pounced on Hamilton with everything left in the tank.
Within just a few corners, Verstappen overtook Hamilton to snatch the lead and win his first Drivers’ Championship.
Oh boy, social media was on fire after this. The backlash was so much that Michael Masi had to leave his job as the FIA race director.
Today, fans still debate whether the FIA should have resumed the race for just one lap. Whichever side you’re on, the consensus is that Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton bottled it.
11. Jannik Sinner Losing to Carlos Alcaraz at Roland Garros 2025
In Tennis, choking even gets to the best players in the world.
The one that I can clearly remember is the Roland Garros Final between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.
Imagine serving for the match more than 3 times and still managing to lose. Sinner was up 2-0, then…with the 4th set at 5-3, he just needed to win one more point to become Roland Garros Champion.
That match point never came.
Alcaraz put up a monumental comeback, taking the last two sets 7-6 and 7-6 to break all sorts of records and defeat Jannik Sinner.
10. Manchester United Losing the Title to Manchester City on the Last Day
And of course, who knows more about bottling the league than Manchester United? Well, let me take you back to that “Agueroooooo” moment.
It’s the final day of the 2012 Premier League season—both Manchester City and Manchester United were neck to neck in the title race.
Anything less than a draw for Manchester City meant that the title would go to Manchester United.
With the game at the Etihad tied at 2-2, Manchester United were already de facto champions after beating Sunderland. Since the results were in their favour deep into stoppage time at the Etihad, United players started to take a victory lap around the Stadium of Light.
Then, with virtually the last kick of the game, Sergio Kun Aguero delivered the dagger to complete the comeback and knock Manchester United off their perch.
The look on Fergie’s face? Priceless. Just look at the shock on Phil Jones’ face when he realized what had just happened.
It was all over. Manchester City were no longer the noisy neighbors.
Even though Manchester United went on to win the league the following year, they’ve remained in City’s shadow ever since then.
9. Roger Federer Losing to Novak Djokovic at the 2019 Wimbledon Final
As iconic as this choke was, it is nowhere near the seismic shock of Federer vs Djokovic at the 2019 Wimbledon Final.
Federer was the overwhelming fan-favourite. After all, he is the gentleman of tennis playing in England.
So when Federer had two match points, fans at Center Court erupted in anticipation. I’ll never forget that image of the lady in white gesturing that Federer needed one more point to win the match. Urggghhh, talk about images that precede a major disaster.
Roger Federer collapsed in the final tiebreak and eventually lost the championship. British hearts were broken. Novak Djokovic became the new supervillain of tennis.
Honourable mention goes to Jana Novotná, losing to Steffi Graf at the 1993 Wimbledon Final after being up 4–1 and 40–15 in the final set.
And how can I forget John McEnroe imploding and then crashing out at the 1984 French Open?
Sensational.
8. Anthony Joshua Losing to Andy Ruiz
Instead of fighting Tyson Fury or Deontay Wilder, AJ decided to pad his unbeaten record by fighting another “can”. Surprise surprise, sometimes, the can fights back.
When AJ stepped into the ring with Andy Ruiz, people were wondering why AJ was fighting a late replacement for Jarrell Miller with a month’s notice. Why is this chiseled guy fighting a fat Mexican dude?
But once the fight started, these questions became irrelevant. After surviving an early knockdown, people started to realize that Andy Ruiz was no pushover.
It was shocking to watch.
In the next five rounds, Andy Ruiz, with his chubby Mexican ass, dropped Joshua four times. 4 damn times. This was unbelievable to witness. You just had to be there.
By the seventh round, AJ was done; his unbeaten streak was over.
7. The 2007 Patriots Losing to the Giants at Super Bowl 42
Now onto the other type of football played only by the Americans.
The Super Bowl is one of the biggest sporting events on the planet. So it is no surprise that bright lights and the magnitude of the occasion get to some athletes.
And it gets no bigger than Tom Brady and the Patriots.
The 2007 Patriots sliced through every opposition to a resounding 18-0 record. Going into Super Bowl 42, all they needed to do was beat the New York Giants to close out an immaculate, immortal season.
And everything was going according to plan until the last few minutes of the fourth quarter.
With the score 14-10, Giants’ quarterback Eli Manning got the ball and managed to wriggle away from three Patriots’ defenders.
He then launched a Hail Mary pass deep into the field to find David Tyree, who managed to catch the ball by pinning it to his helmet with one hand.
How about that for a miracle play.
The Giants didn’t stop there. They went on to score a touchdown to win the game 17-14.
And just like that, the Patriots managed to bottle the Super Bowl and then miss out on the first-ever perfect NFL season.
6. Team USA Losing to Argentina at the 2004 Olympic Games
Another choke job that even eclipses the Warriors is Team USA Basketball at the 2004 Olympic Games.
The 2004 Dream Team is basically the Avengers of basketball. This team was too OP…they had Lebron James, Allen Iverson, Dwayne Wade, and Tim Duncan. No excuse this time, they chose not to play college ballers. These were certified superstars playing for Team USA.
So imagine the shock when they lost to Puerto Rico and Lithuania in the Group Play.
At least they’d lock in once they get to the semis, right? Right?
Wrong!
After a shocking display in the semis, Argentina, led by Manu Ginobili and Luis Scola, defeated Team USA in one of the biggest upsets in Olympic basketball history.
The Avengers finally choked on the biggest stage…at least they managed to go home with a Bronze medal.
5. AC Milan Losing the 2005 UCL Final
In terms of magnitude and historical significance in the Champions League, no bottle job beats what AC Milan did at the 2005 UCL final. Shevchenko’s disaster class was the highlight of the day—or lowlight, depending on how you look at it.
Even though AC Milan had already collapsed to a spirited Liverpool comeback, Sheva’s atrocious finishing ultimately killed them off. After coming off the bench, he went on to miss a sitter in extra time and then went ahead to miss the deciding penalty in the shootout.
Ehhh, what a day to forget for Milanistas and Ukrainians.
4. Brazil Losing to Germany in 2014
In the 2014 World Cup, Brazil went into the tournament as the favourites and host country. Then, they went on to lose 7-1 disgracefully to eventual winners Germany.
This humiliation was even worse because they just didn’t stand a chance at any point in the game. At least they had the excuse of Neymar and Thiago Silva being injured, but damn, what an embarrassment.
Brazil has never come close to winning the World Cup since then.
3. Golden State Warriors Choking a 3-1 Lead
Back in 2016, the Golden State Warriors were one win away from completing the greatest NBA season of all time when the choke virus landed in their camp.
They already had the best regular season record 73-9. And they were 3-1 up against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
To understand the magnitude of this choke, no other team in the history of the NBA had ever lost a 3-1 lead in the NBA finals. So saying the odds were in their favour was an understatement.
Within a week, the Warriors had managed to choke in 3 straight games. In Game 7 at home, the Warriors choked the title to Lebron James and Kyrie Irving’s Cleveland Cavaliers.
This slow, painful choke hurts even deeper, considering they are now in the history books as the “greatest team” not to win the NBA title.
2. Brazil Losing to Uruguay in 1950
In football, no stage is bigger than the World Cup. And when the lights shine brightest, the upsets come hard and fast.
During the 1950 World Cup final, Brazil was highly favoured against Uruguay. Politicians were congratulating the Brazilian national team even before the game kicked off.
Newspapers printed headlines with Brazil winning the cup. This was a sure bet if anything like that exists.
Well, you already know where this is going by now.
In the cruelest of twists, Brazil lost to Uruguay 2-1 in the final.
This national humiliation, also known as the Maracanazo, turned into a national tragedy. Violence erupted in the streets, fans jumped from the stadium to their death, and many people committed suicide…
But did Brazil learn from this experience? Absolutely not.
1. Mike Tyson Losing to Buster Douglas
Choking events can send shockwaves beyond the sport. And none comes even close to Mike Tyson and Buster Douglas.
In 1990, Mike Tyson was the scariest man on the planet. People paid just to see Iron Mike destroy world-class fighters in the first round.
So when Tyson came up against Buster Douglas for his title defense, the whole world expected it to be a cakewalk. Even the bookies favoured Mike Tyson 42 to 1.
So imagine the seismic shock that landed on the boxing world when Buster Douglas finally stopped Mike Tyson in the 10th round.
The world watched in utter disbelief.
Iron Mike had finally found his kryptonite. Maybe he overlooked his opponent. Maybe Buster Douglas reached into the depths of grief to land the luckiest punch of all time.
Who knows? And frankly, who even cares?
Mike Tyson had just choked the biggest odds in the history of boxing.
Although Buster Douglas lost the belt to Evander Holyfield and faded into obscurity, he will forever be the architect of one of the biggest upsets in sports history.
Honourable Mentions
Romelulu Lukaku Choking Multiple Cup Finals
Honourable mention goes out to Romelu Lukaku for basically singlehandedly denying Inter Milan the Champions League against Manchester City. Then Lukaku again, for scoring an own goal and blocking a clear goal from his teammate against Sevilla in the Europa League.
Kamaru Usman Losing to Leon Edwards
In the UFC, Leon Edwards knocking out Kamaru Usman in the 5th round, despite getting absolutely dominated the entire fight, was a massive choke job on Usman’s part.
I don’t know what you guys tell me….All Usman had to do was just clinch and wrestle, and we’d have avoided the most painful night for all Nigerian UFC fans.
Just clinch and wrestle! But no, Usman had to stand and bang.
Well, headshot-bang!
Atletico Losing to Real Madrid in the Last Minute
Nothing in football is bigger than the Champions League Final. And these European nights have given us a fair share of choke jobs.
We have Atletico choking twice against Real Madrid in the finals. Then we got the disaster class in Kyiv by Loris Karius, who gave us the greatest lowlights compilation in any Champions League final against Real Madrid.
Miami Heat Losing to the Dallas Mavericks
Lebron James and the Miami Heat choked in the NBA final against the Dallas Mavericks and Dirk Nowitzki.
How can I forget this one when Skip Bayliss will use every opportunity to remind us how LeBron choked against Jason Terry?
Which choke job did not make the list? Let us know in the comments.
Who wrote this?
Ugochukwu is a sports enthusiast with an undying love for underdog stories.
