‘The world loves the underdog you know, The dreamers out there, they need them. They need to believe that one day maybe they can achieve the impossible too.’ The above lines are from an animated movie, Turbo, released in 2013. The movie itself is an underdog story where a garden snail, Turbo, dreams about winning in the Indy 500.

Almost every story ever told around sports, is an underdog story. The business world loves a champion, but there is something more romantic about winning as an underdog. Legends are made out of people & teams who overcome money, power and adversities to defeat their Goliath. The stories and journeys of the overlooked, counted out or disregarded add a compelling layer to the games we love.

Two favourites going head to head might look a very good idea on paper, but such matches can become more often than not repetitive or outright boring. We marvel at the greats, but their skills and athletism are not really relatable to us. And that is where these guys, girls and teams who aren’t expected to reach the highest glories make sports more human. They connect with us, inspire us and sometimes even make us see ourselves in them. Sports wouldn’t be as fun without underdogs.

Throughout history, you will find numerous examples of the underdogs achieving glory. Some underdogs go on to become legends, some fade away and some go on to change the entire sport and it’s future.

Tom Brady, of the New England Patriots, is one of the best underdog stories ever. He has gone from being an underdog to what some may call a legend and some (his haters) may call an overachiever. For someone who was not supposed to have an NFL career at all, to get drafted in as the 4th quarterback of the Patriots and end up with 6 Super Bowl Rings is nothing but proof of his excellence and his extraordinary journey.

Similarly, an example of underdogs revolutionizing an entire sport is the Indian cricket team and their 1983 world cup victory. Today, India is one of the biggest names in the world of cricket, both in sporting and non-sporting terms. But that was not the case in the early 80s. In the first two editions of the Men’s Cricket World Cup, India finished dead last. In 1983, when the third edition of the world cup started, nobody would have thought India would even reach the later stages of the tournament, let alone win the cup. But that victory changed everything for the sport and the sporting market in India.

In recent times, one of the biggest underdog victories is without doubt Leicester City winning the Premier League in 2016, winning the top flight after 132 years. This spectacle cost the Sport betting industry around $32 millions as Leicester started the season with an odds of 5000-1. Although the team dropped to 12th position the very next season, the 2015-16 season glory will never be forgotten by the fans of the Premier League for a long time.

The example of Leicester City brings me to another aspect of Sports that is affected majorly by underdogs – Sports betting. The sports betting industry has been predominantly built around the concept of underdogs and favourites. And underdog betting itself is a trend which has grown tremendously in recent years.

Another important field, where underdogs have a major role to play, is Sports Psychology. The ‘Underdog Mindset‘ or the ‘Underdog Effect‘ is a major branch of study in the field of Sports Psychology with many studies and papers still ongoing on the subject.

So to conclude, underdogs will always be an important part of sports, not just from the fan perspective but also from the business perspective. Underdogs are who eventually turn favourites with time, growing not just themselves but the sport and the ecosystem in whole.