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The world of football has rivalries that generally mean and demand more than most other fixtures, with teams sharing resentment against each others for reasons, both political and cultural. The stakes of these matches have always been high, both on and off the field for the players, the clubs and the fans included.Here, in this slideshow, we talk about 6 such rivalries in football that not only creates a sense of liveliness among the fans but also is the major reason behind their passion for the beautiful game.Note: Statistics used in this article are courtesy of Soccerway.
#1 North-London Derby
Teams involved: Arsenal vs Tottenham Hotspur
The North-London derby, considered to be one of the fiercest derbies in English football is played between two of North London’s teams – Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur. The rivalry gets more aggravated because of the fans from both the clubs who, since a long time, have considered each other to be the biggest rival in football.
The teams first met on the 19th of November, 1887 in a friendly at the Manor Ground, Plumstead. But, it wasn’t until 1899, when the first competitive match between the two was played with the Gunners beating Spurs 2-1 in Plumstead.
The first league meeting between the two was witnessed on the 4th of December 1909 in a First Division fixture that Arsenal won by a solitary goal. However, the proper path of rivalry was laid when Arsenal moved to Highbury, a stadium that stood just a couple of miles away from the White Hart Lane.
In the 162 matches till date, Arsenal have won 67 while Spurs managed to win 51.
Head-to-head comparison between Arsenal and Spurs
| Tables | Arsenal | Spurs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Home | Away | Total | Home | Away | |
| Matches Played | 162 | 81 | 81 | 162 | 81 | 81 |
| Wins | 67 | 42 | 25 | 51 | 33 | 18 |
| Draws | 44 | 21 | 23 | 44 | 23 | 21 |
| Losses | 51 | 18 | 33 | 67 | 25 | 42 |
| Goals For | 257 | 136 | 121 | 223 | 133 | 90 |
| Goals Against | 223 | 90 | 133 | 257 | 121 | 136 |
| Points | 245 | 147 | 98 | 197 | 122 | 75 |
Arsenal's David O'Leary has made the most number of north-London derby outings with 35 appearances while both Gary Mabbutt & Steve Perryman of Spurs each have 31 appearances to their names.
Despite the rivalry, there have been 15 players who went on to play for both Arsenal and Spurs with Jimmy Brain being the first player to make a switch between the clubs. However, only Emanuel Adebayor and Sol Campbell remain to be the only two players to have scored for both the teams in the derby.
#2 Kolkata Derby
Teams involved: East Bengal & Mohun Bagan.
This historic rivalry that currently features in FIFA’s all time classic derby list started 89 years back from now.
Being one of the oldest football clubs in Asia, Mohun Bagan Athletic Club was inaugurated in 1889. The club mainly represented the class of people who were then residing in the western part of Bengal. East Bengal, on the other hand, was founded by the then vice-president of the Jora Bagan Club Suresh Chandra Chaudhuri in 1920, following his displeasure with the club.
Unlike the Bagan fans, East Bengal’s fans mainly hailed from the eastern part of Bengal, commonly known as Bangladesh now. East Bengal and Mohun Bagan first met in 1925. The Red and Gold Brigade under the captaincy of Mona Dutta won the match, courtesy of a solitary Nepal Chakraborty goal. In the return leg, however, it was Mohun Bagan who left the pitch with smiles on their face with a 1-0 win, the same margin they lost to.
Head-to-head comparison between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan
| Tables | Mohun Bagan | East Bengal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Home | Away | Total | Home | Away | |
| Matches Played | 29 | 11 | 18 | 29 | 18 | 11 |
| Wins | 8 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 10 | 3 |
| Draws | 8 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 4 |
| Losses | 13 | 3 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 4 |
| Goals for | 30 | 9 | 21 | 38 | 30 | 8 |
| Goals against | 38 | 8 | 30 | 30 | 21 | 9 |
| Points | 32 | 16 | 16 | 47 | 34 | 13 |
The 100th Kolkata Derby was played on the 16th December, 1967 in the Rovers Cup final. East Bengal won the match 2-0, thus clinching the trophy. The highest margin win came on the 30th of September 1795 when East Bengal defeated Mohun Bagan 5-0 under the captaincy of Ashok Banerjee, also denoting to the match when Kajal Dhali of East Bengal took the field for his side, few days after the death of his mother.
Following the humiliating loss, Umakanto Palodhi, a Bagan supporter committed suicide with a note in his suicide note narrating, “In my next birth, I will take the revenge by becoming a Mohun Bagan footballer.”
The madness for the derby was witnessed on the 13th of July, 1997 when a record of 1,31,000 approximate fans came roaring to the Salt Lake Stadium. East Bengal ran away with the victory, courtesy of a Baichung Bhutia hat-trick.
Besides the hat-trick, Baichung also holds the record for the most number of derby goals. He scored 13 goals for East Bengal and 6 goals for Bagan. On the other hand, East Bengal’s Chidi Edeh is the first foreigner to have scored a hat-trick in the Kolkata derby. He also holds the record for the maximum number of goals scored in a single match with 4 goals to his name in a 5-3 victory on the 25th of October, 2009.
#3 Milan Derby
Teams involved: Internazionale and AC Milan
Previous Meeting: AC Milan 1-1 Internazionale, Serie A 2014-15 (23rd November, 2014)
Next meeting: 19th April, 2015 at San Siro
The Milan derby, also known as the “Derby Della Madonnina”, among the locals in honor of the statue of Virgin Mary in the city of Milan, is considered to be one of the most famous cross-town derby matches in the history of football. The Milan derby is also considerably one of the few cross-town derbies that hold both Milan and Internazionale in the San Siro, a stadium that is home to both.
The inception of the rivalry started couple of years after the formation of the Milan Cricket and Football Club on the 16th of December, 1899 by Alfred Edwards, a well-known British personality in Milan during the late 19th century.
Milan won their first their first trophy on January 1900. The team continued to ply on its path of success until the rise of an issue in 1908 that restricted the team signing of foreign talents. This laid down the foundation for a new club and hence, a new cross-town rival were born in the name of Internazionale Milano.
Head-to-head comparison between Inter Milan and AC Milan in the domestic league
| Tables | Inter | AC Milan | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Home | Away | Total | Home | Away | |
| Played | 49 | 23 | 26 | 49 | 26 | 23 |
| Wins | 18 | 9 | 9 | 19 | 10 | 9 |
| Draws | 12 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 7 | 5 |
| Losses | 19 | 9 | 10 | 18 | 9 | 9 |
| Goals For | 65 | 34 | 31 | 68 | 29 | 39 |
| Goals Against | 68 | 39 | 29 | 65 | 31 | 34 |
| Points | 66 | 323 | 34 | 69 | 37 | 32 |
The first meeting between the two dates back to 18th of October, 1908 in the final of the Chiasso Cup. The Milan defeated Internazionale 2-1, just winning the first ever Derby Della Madonnina as well as the Chiasso Cup. Out of the 213 contested Milan derbies, Internazionale edges past Milan with 76 wins against their 74, with 63 games failing to decide the winner.
The 6-3 win for Milan that came on the 30th of April, 1911 in a Serie A game remains to be the highest scoring match in a Milan derby.
While Maldini made the most number of Derby Della Madonnina outings at the San Siro with 56 appearances for the Rossoneri, Ukrainian and Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko tops goal-scoring chart with 14 derby goals to his name.
Besides the goal scoring table, Patrick Vieira, Antonia Cassano, Andrea Pirlo, Clarence Seedorf and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are among those 41 the notable players who played for both Internazionale and Milan and Jozsef Viola, Giuseppe Bigogno, Luigi Radice, Ilario Castagner, Giovanni Trapattoni, Alberto Zaccheroni and Leonardo fall among those 14 managers to have managed both the clubs.
#4 North-West Derby
Teams involved: Liverpool F.C. and Manchester United F.C.
Previous Meeting: Manchester United 3-0 Liverpool, Premier League 2014-15 (14th December, 2015)
Next meeting: 22nd March, 2015 at Anfield.
Not just the biggest rivalry in England, the North-West derby between Liverpool and Manchester United is considered to be one of the best and biggest rivalries to have existed on the continent of Europe. The seed of the rivalry was initially sworn during the industrial age, the same time when both of these two teams were playing against each other for the supremacy of glory and recognition in the North-West.
Considered to be the two most successful clubs in England with a combined 121 honors between them including the 80 major titles, both Liverpool and Manchester United are said to have a huge fan-base that is spread across the world. While Ryan Giggs claims Manchester United vs. Liverpool to be the most famous fixture in English football, Reds legend Steven Gerrard described this fixture to be the biggest fixture in world football, even ahead of El Clasico.
The clubs first met in an exhibition match on 28th of April, 1894. Liverpool defeated Manchester United (then known as Newton Heath) 2-0, thus earning their first victory over the Red Devils.
Head-to-head comparison between Liverpool and Manchester United
| Tables | Liverpool | Manchester United | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Home | Away | Total | Home | Away | |
| Matches Played | 164 | 82 | 82 | 164 | 82 | 82 |
| Wins | 55 | 39 | 16 | 65 | 41 | 24 |
| Draws | 44 | 19 | 25 | 44 | 25 | 19 |
| Losses | 65 | 24 | 41 | 55 | 16 | 39 |
| Goals For | 204 | 130 | 74 | 224 | 131 | 93 |
| Goals Against | 224 | 93 | 131 | 204 | 74 | 130 |
| Points | 209 | 136 | 73 | 239 | 148 | 91 |
The highest goal-scoring North-West derby was witnessed on Wednesday, 25th of March, 1908 at Anfield when ten thousand people gathered in the stadium to watch this classic fixture that saw Liverpool edge pass Manchester United with a scoreline of 7-4 with a total of 11 goals in the match.
Out of the 191 contested fixtures, Manchester United has 76 wins to Liverpool’s 64 with 51 fixtures, shared between them.
#5 El Super Clasico
Teams involved: Boca Juniors vs River Plate
Previous Meeting: River Plate 1-1 Boca Juniors, Primera División 2014 (5th October, 2014)
Next meeting: 3rd May, 2015 at La Bombonera
Any match played between the Buenos Aires rivals, River Plate and Boca Juniors is termed as the El Super Clasico. Deriving from the Spanish word Clasico, a prefix “Super” is added along with the word to denote the amount of superiority these clubs possess over the Argentinean football.
With both considered to have originated from the working class dockland area of Buenos Aires called the La Boca, the Club Atletico River Plate was formed on the 25th of May, 1901 while Boca was founded on 3rd April, 1905. Even though both of the two clubs have supporters from all classes of the society, the Boca fans mainly consisted of the local Italian immigrants while River Plate predominately had its support generally from the upper-class people, commonly referred to as The Millionaires.
Boca Juniors and River Plate first met on the 2nd of August, 1908 in a friendly with Boca winning the match 2-1. The first official Super Clasico match was played on the 24th of August, 1913 with River Plate winning the match 2-1. Since then, a total of 236 official games has been played between the Buenos Aires rival with Boca winning 84 to River Plate’s 77.
Intact with the results, a total of 602 goals have been scored in 236 matches with Boca scoring 313 goals to the Millionaires’ 289 and with the exhibition matches included, the ball went inside the goal post for 902 times with the Genoese once again prevailing with 475 goals to River’s 428.
Head-to-head comparison between River Plate and Boca Juniors
| Tables | Boca Juniors | River Plate | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Home | Away | Total | Home | Away | |
| Matches Played | 40 | 22 | 18 | 40 | 22 | 18 |
| Wins | 14 | 9 | 5 | 11 | 6 | 5 |
| Draws | 15 | 8 | 7 | 15 | 7 | 8 |
| Losses | 11 | 5 | 6 | 14 | 5 | 9 |
| Goals For | 44 | 29 | 15 | 40 | 21 | 19 |
| Goals Against | 40 | 19 | 21 | 44 | 15 | 29 |
| Points | 57 | 35 | 22 | 48 | 25 | 23 |
Besides the wins, losses, and goals, sorrow too had its grip on the Super Clasico when, on the 23rd of June 1968, a total of 71 fans were killed in a crush at gate number 12 with 150 left injured, shortly after the match between the rivals got over in the Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti.
With the majority of the dead being teenagers and young adults, with the average age being 18 or 19, the disaster went on being known to be the worst-ever footballing disaster to have ever happened in the history of Argentine football. With the end of the season in 1968, a sum of 100,000 Argentine Pesos was collected by the 68 playing teams in the Argentine Football Association with the views of helping the families of the deceased ones.
Related to the transfers, Cataldo Spitale became the first player to play for both the clubs, leaving Boca to sign with River in 1933. "It's not easy I can tell you. One side looks on you as a traitor and the other doesn't really trust you. You need time to adapt and a lot of characters to win people over,” said Oscar Ruggeri left Genoese to join The Millionaires in 1985 and not to miss out, the Argentine legend Gabriel Batistuta was among those 91 players to have played for both Boca and River.
#6 El Clasico
Teams involved: Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Previous Meeting: Real Madrid 3-1 Barcelona, La Liga 2014-15 (25th October, 2014)
Next meeting: 22rd March 2015, Camp Nou.
Arguably the biggest and the most famous rivalry on the planet, El Clasico refers to the high intense matches played between the fiercest of rivals in the Spanish and well as in world football – Real Madrid and Barcelona. These two teams, with a sack of greatness on their back, leave no effort in trying to humiliate each other, no matter in which match or completion they play.
Being two of Spain’s biggest cities, the initial seed of the rivalry between these influential cities were sworn as a result of their difference in political ideologies. While Real Madrid were more focused in the Spanish nationalism, Barcelona have been always firm about their Catalan beliefs.
Since the first El Clasico, which was held on the 13th of Many 1902, both of the teams went on to play in 229 official matches with Real Madrid winning 92 times to Barcelona’s 87. The bragging rights were shared on 51 occasions. In the 169 La Liga meetings between Spanish heavyweights, the Los Blancos runs out with 71 wins to Barcelona’s 66 with 32 drawn games. However, it is the Catalonian side that takes the lead when it comes to the all-time meetings (official and unofficial) with 107 wins to Real Madrid’s 96 from the 258 played games.
Besides the wins and losses, the El Clasico has also witnessed a flurry of goals. While Barcelona has scored 266 goals, Real Madrid has managed to get passed the goalkeeper on 277 occasions, a tally if combined will sum up to a record 563 goals scored between them and with 21 goals, Barcelona’s Lionel Messi holds the record for the maximum number of individual goals in these fixtures.
Head-to-head comparison between Real Madrid and Barcelona
| Tables | Real Madrid | Barcelona | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Home | Away | Total | Home | Away | |
| Matches Played | 57 | 28 | 29 | 57 | 28 | 29 |
| Wins | 17 | 70 | 7 | 24 | 14 | 10 |
| Draws | 16 | 8 | 8 | 16 | 8 | 8 |
| Losses | 24 | 10 | 14 | 17 | 7 | 10 |
| Goals For | 80 | 50 | 30 | 98 | 53 | 45 |
| Goals Against | 98 | 45 | 53 | 80 | 30 | 50 |
| Points | 67 | 38 | 29 | 88 | 50 | 38 |
The biggest league win between the two came on the 3rd of February 1935 when Real Madrid defeated Barcelona 8-2. The overall biggest win by the margin came on June 13th, 1943 when Real Madrid defeated Barcelona 11-1 in the second leg of the Copa Del Rey. Real Madrid’s Manual Sanchis remains to be the most capped player in the history of El Clasico with 43 appearances followed by another Los Blancos Francisco Gento with 42 appearances. Barcelona’s Xavi Hernandez is third on the list with 41 Clasico outings.
Besides all, a total of 33 players including the likes of Michael Laudrup, Luis Enrique, Ronaldo (Brazil) and Luis Figo are some famous faces to have donned the kits of both Real Madrid and Barcelona.
While Laudrup remains to be the only player in the competition to have won with both clubs with the same end result (5-0) for two consecutive years, the Blaugrana fans, to this date continue, considering Luis Figo to be the biggest and the most famous traitor in the history of FC Barcelona. In fact, in his last outing for the Los Blancos on Camp Nou, the crowd jeered him, threw a large cask of liquid on the pitch, shouting "mercenary!" and other insults when he approached the stands.
And amidst all, Diego Maradona, and Ronaldinho remain to be the only two rival footballers to have got a standing ovation in an El Clasico counter at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.
