Successful stories tend to leave a footprint as World Cup winners or runners-up get to history books and are hailed for years to come. But the beauty of sports is that someone wins and gets the glory while someone else has to lose. You don’t normally expect the favorites or current champions to disappoint their fans and crash out on early stages. Yet somehow it has happened many times in the history of football’s major international tournament. Germany have become the latest victim of the World Cup holders’ curse. They’ve become the third consecutive champions after Italy and Spain failing to make it past the group the stage four years after clinching the title. So what teams failed to live up to their status and had to leave the tournament embarrassed? Here are the top fails in history of the World Cup.

Brazil 1966

After winning two World Cup tournaments in 1958 and 1962, Brazil traveled to England four years later and hoped for the third straight title. No wonder they were favorites as their squad included the likes of Pele and Garrincha. The first match against Bulgaria delivered no surprises as each of the two stars netted a goal, securing a 2-0 win. However, the team suffered a blow in the next game against Hungary and were well beaten by Eusebio’s Portugal in their final group game. Hence, two-times World Cup winners failed to make it past the group stage in England. The Goodison Park, where the team played all of their matches, wasn’t friendly to the champions.

France 2002

France traveled to South Korea in 2002 after a glorious performance at home four years before. With the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry, Lilian Thuram, Claude Makelele and many other stellar players in the squad, they were considered as one of the favorites at the Asian World Cup. Yet, they were shockingly beaten by World Cup first-timers Senegal in the opening game of the tournament. After a stalemate with Uruguay, France had to beat Denmark in the third match. Yet they fell to another defeat and crashed out of the tournament without scoring a single goal. It was probably the worst performance of the World Cup holders in history.

Italy 2010

Italy came to South Africa as World Cup holders and were drawn against teams with lower status and ranking. However, it all went wrong for Gianluigi Buffon and his partners from the very beginning. Daniele De Rossi saved a point in the opening game against Paraguay. Italy fans hoped it was just a coincidence but Squadra Azzurra proved there were out of shape in the second game against minnows New Zealand, only managing a draw against modest opponents. They still had their chances but were beaten by another underdog team, Slovakia, in their final game at the World Cup. Last spot in the group was definitely not what title holders were hoping for in Africa after an epic 2006 final against France.

Spain 2014

Another poor performance of title holders was seen in Brazil four years ago. By the time Spain won all major international tournaments since 2008, including two European Championships and the World Cup in 2010. However, the Spaniards were humiliated by Van Gaal’s Netherlands in the opening match by 1-5, with the Dutch side taking revenge for the South African final. The champions did not improve in the second match against Chile, losing it by 0-2. The final win against Australia was a mere consolation as the holders crashed out of the tournament after the group stage. It felt like the dusk of tiki-taka at the time.

England 2014

The Three Lions have not won the World Cup for over 50 years now and were by no means the favorites four years ago in Brazil. However, widely regarded as one of the top European teams, they faced a tough reality check, getting just a point from three games and finishing bottom of the group. England lost the first two games to Italy and Uruguay with the same score line of 1-2 and were left with a chance to save their faces against Costa Rica. Yet they failed to score a single goal, leaving their fans wonder if they are still a major power in world football.

Quite surprisingly, World Cup holders tend to flop on early stages in subsequent tournament. France, Italy and Spain are fine examples in the past two decades. Shockingly, Germany joined this club after losing to Mexico and Korea Republic. Yet, it provides football fans with additional interest to the World Cup as you can always expect underdogs to compete with football’s biggest nations.