The 2026 World Cup has seen its fair share of 'giant slaying', less in the form of wins and more so draws, with Spain and Belgium the latest to be left frustrated.
Yesterday evening, Japan delivered a top-quality performance against the Netherlands, coming back from a goal down twice to secure a 2-2 draw.
Today, Egypt battled Belgium in a 1-1 stalemate, and Spain were frustrated by Cape Verde in a 0-0 result - but just how much money was lost on that game?
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Spain frustrated by Cape Verde as biggest lost bet at 2026 World Cup is revealed
Spain delivered a catastrophic performance by their high standards against Cape Verde this afternoon, being held to a 0-0 draw. One of the biggest upsets in World Cup history.
The Group H fixture even saw one Spanish forward break a pitiful 60-year-long record at the World Cup... and a staggering amount of money lost by one individual.
According to Polymarket Sports, one individual was aiming to secure a return of roughly $85,000 with a Spain victory today.
To achieve that? The bet was placed for a whopping $1 million, all of which was lost with Spain's eventual draw.
To make matters worse for the individual, the result was a statistical anomaly in every sense of the phrase, and should have resulted in a Spanish victory in almost all parallel realities.
Luis De La Fuente's men created over 10x the xG that Cape Verde did, with 2.10 to their opposition's 0.20.
They also ended the game having had 74% possession, and 27 shots to Cape Verde's six.
🚨BREAKING: Someone just put $1M on Spain to WIN their match vs Cape Verde today This pays out is $1,085,943.48 on Polymarket pic.twitter.com/7ODo3dJ7PlJune 15, 2026
To rub salt into the wounds, it was Cape Verde's goalkeeper, Vozinha, who picked up the game's Man of the Match award, having saved seven Spanish shots.
Six of those came from inside the box, with Vozinha preventing a whopping 1.45 xG by his hands.
For now, the unlucky better - if they can even be called that, with $1 million to throw around in the first place - will take the title of being the 2026 World Cup's biggest loser so far.
