2023's Epic Fumbles: This year's biggest sporting missteps and failures

We tend to wrap up the year focusing on big achievements and great wins of both teams and individual athletes. But behind every big win, there is an unpleasant failure. A missed shot or a miss-timed tackle can change the entire outcome of a game! These are some of the most popular sporting failures we have experienced in 2023!

The American 'Dream Team' once again fell short of a World Cup title! This time, the American basketball team experienced a heavy loss during the World Cup semifinals against Germany. The German team snatched a valiant victory (111-113) against the world's toughest basketball team!

Another World Cup drama for the French basketball team! Both the French and the USA teams were clear favorites to reach the final. The French squad had some heavy hitters like the likes of De Colo, Fournier, Yabusele, Batum, and Gobert, but still failed to qualify in the group stages. They lost to Canada (95-65) and Latvia (86-88).

Despite being the strongest French team in the Ligue 1, PSG can't deliver a Champions League title.  The Parisian team had arguably one of the strongest squads in Europe, with Mbappe, Messi, and Neymar up front, but couldn't get passed the Round of 16!

FC Barcelona is currently struggling to recuperate their European status after a couple of challenging years. Much like Real Madrid, the Catalan club is expected to perform in the Champions League but fail time after time. 2023 was a year to forget following their (3-4) disaster at the Camp Nou against Manchester United.

Amid numerous excuses from some protagonists and others, the reality is that the Aston Martín team, which started the season very well with Fernando Alonso at the helm, lost momentum. After a strong start to the season, the English racing dropped back drastically. It has been a rollercoaster of emotions for Aston Martin fans!

The New England Patriots have signed their second consecutive year out of the NFL playoffs! To make matters worse, they suffered their worst season record, much like their 2000 season. Many fans and critics blamed it on the lack of successful offensive plays.

After securing their NBA ring in the 2020-21 season, the Milwaukee Bucks reached the 2022-23 season playoffs as the best team in the regular season. Big favorites to win the title! Nevertheless, they fell eliminated (4-1) against the Miami Heat.

The two Scandinavian teams will not play in the Euro Cup next year, being eliminated in their respective qualifying groups. Sweden, led by Isak, could not overcome Belgium and Austria, while Norway, with Haaland and Odegaard as two of the sport's big names, failed against both Spain and Scotland.

The Honda-Marc Márquez relationship completely collapsed after a nightmare season. His 2023 season in MotoGP can be described as an unmitigated failure at the worst moment in the history of the Japanese team. The Spanish rider left Honda after 11 years for Gresini Racing (Ducati)

The Saudi LIV Golf circuit is becoming one of the great revolutions in this sport, a hot topic after the mega deal handed to John Rahm. However, its first season has been a complete failure. The new Saudi LIV Golf circuit barely caught traction, resulting in massive financial losses.

The US Women's National Team, a clear favorite to win the World Cup, fell short after an embarrassing defeat against Sweden. Vlatko Andonovski's girls were defeated in penalties.

The Women's Soccer World Cup held in Australia and New Zealand was a major international event with some of the world's most talented female footballers taking the game to new heights. The German women's national team was another clear favorite to reach the final but fell short after they failed to qualify for their round of 16.

Australia had the worst performance in a Rugby World Cup after falling in the group stage for the first time in its history and seeing how Wales and Fiji sent them home earlier than expected. The Australian media spoke of “horror” and the “humiliating failure” of the Wallabies.

Cuba, arguably one of the biggest baseball powerhouses, is losing steam! They dominated the Pan-American scene for over four decades. The Cuban baseball team suffered a major defeat (2-4) against Brazil during the 2023 Pan American Games held in Santiago, Chile.

Tremendous surprise in Brazilian football! After 111 years of history, Santos, the team where Pelé triumphed and where players like Neymar Jr. came from, was relegated for the first time in its history. Its fall leaves only three clubs means that there are now only two clubs that have always had a spot in Serie A: Flamengo, São Paulo, and Cuiabá.

Back in Europe, Shalke 04 and Hertha Berlin were all relegated after a complicated season in the Bundesliga. Schalke 04, which returned to 'hell' after only one season since it was promoted, and Hertha Berlin, which sealed the seventh descent in its history.

The 2023 edition of the Tour de France will go down in history as a major failure for the four big teams present in the French round: EF Education Easy-Post, Movistar Team, Astana, and Groupama FDJ.

Gerard Piqué has stopped organizing the Davis Cup tennis event despite the fact that his company, Kosmos Global Tennis, acquired its rights for 25 years in 2018. Things fell apart for him after registering million-dollar losses and drawing the ire of critics as the new format did not attract fans. Piqué and the International Tennis Federation (ITF) failed to reach failed to reach an agreement in January this year, ultimately severing all ties together.

Despite the large investment made in the 2023 season by the San Diego Padres and the New York Mets, which placed both teams as favorites to reach the MLB World Series, ultimately neither managed to reach the playoffs, being eliminated in the National League, while in the Eastern Division of the American League two historic teams, the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, fell miserably.

Barcelona arrived at the Euroleague final as the big favorite to win the title, with a multimillion-dollar squad led by Nikola Mirotic. However, in the first of the semifinals they had to face their eternal rival, Real Madrid, who not only knocked them out of the tournament, but also ended up becoming champions.

If the Movistar Team's role in the Tour de France can be described as a failure, the same criteria can be applied to the Vuelta a España 2023. Enric Mas was unable to pass sixth place!

The great Roland Garros tournament held in France is home to some of the world's most entertaining tennis. However, local French players failed to qualify once again, in both women's and men's categories!

World Aquatics, the international swimming federation, failed miserably in its bid to create a 'trans' event in the World Cup held in Berlin (Germany) in October 2023, which they called an 'open category'. And, as reported, not a single swimmer signed up.