Football's Greatest Rivalries

Rivalries are a big part of any sport, and football is no different. No matter which team you support, your club more than likely has at least one fierce rival. Or maybe two or three.

You know who we mean: The team you just can't stand, the team you just can't stand losing to.

Here is a list of top 10 rivalries in football history.

 

1. PARTIZAN BELGRADE V RED STAR BELGRADE

Punch the two protagonists of this Serbian grudge match into Youtube and you'll be there for hours, watching the fans. Luckily we've done it for you. This is why "The Eternal Derby" is one of Europe's most intense.

 

2. ROMA V LAZIO

Italy is full of rivalries and it would always take a big one to knock out the glamorous Milan derby from our list. Step up the two teams from the capital, who do not like each other one bit. And it shows.

 

3. REAL MADRID V BARCELONA

'El Clasico' is huge: the world's best players, two of the world's best club teams and more spiteful history than a war documentary. Heaven helps the player who jumps from one to the other, just ask Luis Figo.

 

4. LIVERPOOL V MANCHESTER UNITED

Liverpool has its Merseyside derby against Everton and then it has its rivalry with Manchester United, the similar industrial heavyweight which wrestled the mortgage on the trophy cabinet from the Reds in the early 1990s. Tensions have escalated in recent seasons.

 

5. OLYMPIACOS V PANATHINAIKOS

In Australia, we may call it 'silvertails' versus 'fibros'. In Greece, this city stoush is known as "The Derby of Eternal Enemies" In one corner of the tinderbox sits Olympiacos, from the working class port town of Piraeus and with a swag of titles and cup wins to its name. In the other corner is the equally storied Panathinaikos - the rich boys. This is what happens when the two meet.

 

6. RANGERS V CELTIC

"The Old Firm" is not just about opposing sides of a class divide or a city. There are religious divisions – catholic or protestant, political divisions – loyalist or republican, ideological divisions – conservative or socialist - and background divisions. When it's on it's on and none more so than when opposing fans invaded the pitch in 1980 after the Scottish Cup Final, duking it out in a battle that led to alcohol being banned from matches in Scotland.

 

7. BOCA JUNIORS V RIVER PLATE

A visit to Buenos Aires and the iconic stadium of working-class Argentinian club Boca Juniors, La Bombonera, should be on the bucket list of every football fan. If you can get there when fierce city rival River Plate is in town for "Il Superclasico", even better. This is why.

 

8. MANCHESTER UNITED V MANCHESTER CITY

The red and blue halves of Manchester have never liked each other, but now the rivalry has even higher stakes. Through the years, matches between United and City were always fierce as the two fought for local bragging rights. But thanks to City's recent rise to prominence, the "noisy neighbours" are now challenging (and lately beating) their rivals for domestic silverware.

 

9. PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN V MARSEILLE 

It's called "Le Classique" and the rivalry between Paris Saint-German and Marseille often produces classic matches, as the name would suggest.The two sets of fans come from France's two largest cities, and as we'll see throughout this list, they don't care for each other much.The hatred has unfortunately gone too far on occasion, however. In 2010, a PSG fan died after violence broke out between the two clubs' supporters.

 

10. ARSENAL V TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

It's no secret that fans of Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur dislike each other.The two sets of supporters will take any opportunity to troll the other, regardless of whether they're actually playing in the same game. The rivalry began in 1887, and though both teams have seen success, Arsenal has generally enjoyed the upper hand in recent years.