You’re going to hear plenty of talk of ‘dark horses’ as Euro 2024 progresses and some unforeseen nation or other makes it to the quarter-finals or beyond in impressive fashion.
It’s probably a term you’ve heard before: Croatia and Turkey, in particular, seem to attract the tag at practically every major tournament they play in. True to form, Mark Chapman dropped a ‘dark horse’ on the BBC in the build-up to Turkey’s opening game against Georgia.
The meaning of the term is fairly easy to grasp from context: a side whose are not really underdogs who would be expected to make an early exit, nor a big boy with real expectations of claiming the trophy, but something in between: a side who have a fighting chance of doing very well if their stars align.
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It’s a bit less obvious where the term actually comes from, though. Why horses? What does their colouring have to do with anything? Why not a mid-grey moose or a bright unicorn?
As you may have guessed, the term originally comes from horse-racing. Its first known used was by future Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli in 1831.
The term quickly gained popularity on both sides of the Atlantic and entered common parlance – though initially, when used in a literal horse-racing sense, it could also be used to refer to horses whose lineage was unclear.
As for the ‘dark’ bit…in those days, ‘dark’ was often used to simply mean ‘unknown’, much like its figurative use in the 17th century phrase of being ‘in the dark’ about something.
So, a dark horse in its semi-literal sense is effectively an unknown quantity in a race – somebody whose quality was not entirely evident beforehand – later morphing to also include those who are expected to do well enough, but are not one of the most obvious contenders.
As for who the dark horses of Euro 2024 really are…time will tell, but Romania have put themselves in with a strong shout by beating Ukraine 3-0, while Slovakia’s even more unexpected victory over Belgium putting them in the running too. Or is it time for Switzerland to finally make it past a quarter-final?
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