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Palmeiras vs. Corinthians
Sao Paulo, Brazil
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Rivals, The Offbeat Guide To The 92 League Clubs, is one of the best derby books available.
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Derbies, local derbies and rivalries. FootballDerbies.com tells you everything there is to know about the best football matches.
FootballDerbies.com is not just about the famous derbies in Glasgow, Manchester, London, Rome or Milan. Also less known derbies, local derbies and rivalries like for example Esteghlal - Perspolis (Iran) and South Melbourne - Melbourne Knights (Australia) are featured on FootballDerbies.com.
A matches doesn't have to be a derby for it to be something special. The rivalry between teams like for example Barcelona - Real Madrid, Ajax - Feyenoord or Paris St. Germain - Olympique Marseille are also mentioned on FootballDerbies.com. When some of these rivals meet the atmosphere is equal to any derby match.
Matches mentioned on FootballDerbies.com :
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | Zurich's Stadtderby is one of the oldest football derbies outside Great Britain. The first time it was played out was on 20 November 1897. Ever since there have been over 200 matches. Traditionally Grasshopper Club was known more as the noble and middle-class club, while FC Zurich was the club for the working men. But nowadays these social differences have nearly vanished. |
Ipswich Town - Norwich City (East Anglia Derby)  | |
Honours | Stadium | FAQ | Reports | | | You wouldn't expect a big derby in the 'rich' south east of England but Ipswich vs. Norwich is among the best in the country. Although both clubs are about 40 miles apart teh fans experience it as a real intense derby. |
Wisla Krakow - Cracovia Krakow (Swieta Wojna (The Holy War))  | |
Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | FAQ | Reports | | | Wisla and Cracovia are two oldest clubs in Poland. Both have supporters amongst all social classes. Wisla has had a lot more success and money to spend (not as much as 'army' club Legia Warsaw but more than Cracovia), especially during communist times. The original nicknames of the clubs are "Pasy" (Stripes) for Cracovia and "Biala Gwiazda" (White Star) for Wisla.
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Apoel Nicosia - Omonia Nicosia  | |
Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | When you see the honours list it shows that these are by far the two most successful clubs in Cyprus. There are some political differences between the clubs: Apoel respresents the political right while Omonia is more left wing orientated. |
Sporting Lisbon - Porto  | |
Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | When these two of the 'big 3' in Portugal meet it's maybe not so passionate as the games with Benfica, but still it's a game filled with passion. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | When the Italian clubs Torino and Pro Vercelli visited Brazil in 1914, a group of Italians who lived in São Paulo decided to found an Italian club to practice sports (football and basketball). This club was named Palestra Itália. These Italians used to be members of Corinthians but from that moment they became the "betrayers". Palestra (Palmeiras) and Corinthians divided the fans and the honours in São Paulo and that's how the match became "The Derby". |
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Honours | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | Vasco and Flamengo have the biggest fanbase in Rio de Janeiro and therefore millions (milhões) of people follow this match with special interest. Vasco da Gama played for the first time in the 1st Division of the Rio de Janeiro Championship in 1923. In those days Vasco was the only club in Rio that allowed black members. The rich people clubs (Flamengo, Fluminense and Botafogo) didn't like this and especially when Vasco won their first match against Flamengo, the rivalry began ... |
Lyn - Valerenga (The Oslo Derby)  | |
Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | Valerenga is from the East of Oslo and Lyn is from the West of the city. Lyn has traditionally been an middle/upper class club while Valerenga has been more of a working class club. For many years the two clubs were in different divisions so the derby hasn't been played between 1981 and 2002. |
Wydad - Raja (The Casablanca Derby)  | |
Honours | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | This is the event of the eyar in Casablanca as both clubs have many fans. Many see this as the biggest derby of the whole Maghreb. Wydad (also known as Widad or WAC) means 'Love' and Raja (also known as Rajah or RCA) means 'Hope'. These two teams have dominated the Moroccan League for years. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | This is the derby between the 'eternal enemies' of Greek football (and other sports) and the most classic match of the capital. In the past Olympiakos Piraeus used to represent the working class while Panathinaikos respresented the upper class of Athens. Now the situation has changed. The fanbases of both the clubs are almost similar and they are supported by strong economical and political groups. |
Dinamo Bucharest - Steaua Bucharest (Marele Derby (The Great Derby))  | |
Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | This is the biggest of many derbies in the city of Bucharest. In the communist period, until 1989, FC Steaua had support from the Ministry of Defence while Dinamo was supported by the Ministry of Police. So in some way, it's Army vs. Police. Steaua had the support of the Ceausescu family as well. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | This is probably the biggest city derby in Spain. In the last decade, fans of both clubs even celebrated their own team's defeat that caused the relegation of the other. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | FAQ | Reports | Shop | | | This is definitely one of the most bitter rivalries in England, even though the two have rarely been in the same division at the same time. In the 20’s there was a rivalry between 2 shipyards, on either side of the Thames. The Millwall, London and Surrey docks, were Millwall and the Royal docks were west Ham and it was an excuse for a tear up. The 1926 strike took things on to a whole new level when West Ham were on strike and Millwall carried on working. They were rivals before a football had been kicked between them. Both clubs originated in East London, but Millwall FC moved to the other side of the Thames (South London) in 1910. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | FAQ | Reports | | | This is a rivalry based on an ethnic basis because the majority of the fans of Vardar are Macedonians (Christians) while Sloga is supported mostly by the Albanians (Muslims). |
Santa Fe - Millonarios (El Clasico Capitalino)  | |
Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | FAQ | Reports | | | This is a match between two of the great teams of football loving Colombia. Both are among the most successful clubs of the country. They probably hate America and Nacional more but the derby is important as this match decides who's the best club of the capital. Millonarios was originally founded as Municipal in 1938. It's supporters are mostly upper class located on the northern part of Bogota. Santa Fe was founded 3 years later and it has it's support in the southern and more traditional part of Bogota. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | FAQ | Reports | | | This derby is by many seen as the biggest in the whole Middle East and Asia. The rivalry goes back to the time of the Shah. The two teams represented the lower class people (Perspolis) and the king and the elite of the society (Esteghlal). |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | This derby is being played from 1946 when both teams played in the former Yugoslavian league. Ever since this is the biggest football derby in Bosnia and possibly one of the biggest in South Eastern Europe.
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | They are the only big teams from Porto Alegre and the people are really passionate for one of the biggest derbies in Brazil. Gremio used to be the upper class team because it used to forbide negroes in its teams until the fifties, while Internacional accepted the first negro player in the twenties.
Gremio (blue) is also called "Tricolor" (three coloured). Inter (red) is called "Colorado".
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Sporting Braga - Vitoria Guimaraes (Minho Derby) | |
Honours | Results | Stadium | Reports | | | The two neighbouring Northern towns enjoy a traditional and fierce rivalry. The pride of the north is at stake. |
Saprissa - Alajuelense (Saprissa – La Liga)  | |
Honours | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | The two biggest clubs of the country are involved in this always exciting encounter. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | The Steaua fans see the fans of Rapid as gypsies (tigani) and therefore the whole match is overwhelmed by this kind of racism. Like their fans, both chairmen don't get along as well which doesn't help improve the relation between both clubs. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | The second largest city of Bulgaria hosts a very passionate derby. Botev is one of the oldest teams in Bulgaria while Lokomotiv especially increased it's popularity in the 70's. Both clubs have fans among all social classes (especially since the political changes in Eastern Europe) but the majority of the Lokomotiv supporters used to be from the lower classes. Botev Plovdiv used to be the favorite of the middle and upper class. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | FAQ | Reports | | | The Ruhr area (also called 'das Ruhrgebiet' or 'der Kohlenpott') is home of the most famous derby in German football. |
Ruch Chorzow - Gornik Zabrze (The Great Derby of Silesia (Wielkie derby)) | |
Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | FAQ | Reports | | | The Ruch Chorzow - Gornik Zabrze derby is one of most important games in Silesia and in Poland. Both teams have a stunning history of great players, fans and results in the league (both have won a record total of 14 championships). In the communist era these games attracted over 100.000 spectators! At first sight the Katowice area seems to be one huge town of about 3,5 million inhabitants but actually it are 14 different cities. All the games between the Silesian teams are derbies, but this is the only one known as "The Great Derby of Silesia" : Wielkie Derby! |
Maccabi Haifa - Hapoel Haifa (The Haifa Derby)  | |
Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | The rivalry was especially strong in the 90's when both teams were fighting for the championship. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Reports | | | The rivalry was created in the early 90's, when OM was dominating the championship and TV channel Canal+ bought PSG and made it a big team. Also off the pitch it's a hugh match as there has always been some kind of aversion towards Paris especially from the South of France. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | The rivalry came about in the early 1970's. Rovers are based on the southside of Dublin, while Bohemians are playing on the northside of the city. They are on the opposite side's of the River Liffey. |
Djurgardens IF - Hammarby  | |
Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | FAQ | Reports | | | The rivalry between these two clubs is rising more and more. Djurgården is the name of an area in Stockholm where a big zoo is located and therefore the Hammerby fans call them 'Monkees' and throw bananas on the pitch. |
Universidad Catolica - Universidad de Chile (El Clasico Universitario)  | |
Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | The rivalry between the 2 universities unfolded when Universidad Católica was formed in 1937. Some students from the Club Universitario left the club to create Club Deportivo Universidad Católica. The Clasico Universitario was the most important rivalry in Chile until the beginning of the 70's. From that time Colo Colo started to win a lot of titles while La U and Catolica experienced some tough times. Fans generally come from all walks of life but La Catolica has a reputation for being elitist and the team of the rich and their stadium is located in the richest part of Santiago (las condes). |
Espanyol - Barcelona (El Derbi BarcelonÍ)  | |
Honours | Results | Stadium | Reports | | | The rivalry between Barça (short for FC Barcelona) and RCD Espanyol is far more important for Espanyol fans than for the Barça fans, who consider Real Madrid as their main rivals. The rivalry used to be a clash between "Catalanism vs Spanishness" as Barça is a major symbol of Catalonia while "Espanyol" means "Spanish". Over the last years the derby is less political as Espanyol translated its official name and anthem from Spanish to Catalan. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | The oldest league football club in the world (Notts County) is part of the oldest (probably ?!) derby in the world. Altough it's a match with a lot of tradition it has lost a bit of it's glory due to the sportive distance between the two clubs nowadays. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | The names of the clubs already show the differences (poor/blue/liberal vs. rich/red/communist) altough this is outdated now. In the past CSKA fans were people from intelectual elite whereas Levski had a support among Sofia suburbs. Nowadays both clubs have supporters in all social groups. Levski is named after Bulgarian national hero and revolutioner Vasil Levski. CSKA was founded as the Central Sport Klub of the bulgarian Army while levski was ruled by the Ministries of Information and Industry. The derby of Sofia is not just the biggest derby in Bulgaria, many see this match as the biggest derby in the whole Balkan region. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | FAQ | Reports | | | The Mostar derby is special because of it's political and national tensions. Mostar was in war in the near past, and in that war Zrinjski (West Mostar) and Velez (East Mostar) were on different sides. The wounds of the war are still fresh which might be the reason why this derby is always accompanied by riots and violence. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | The most authentic derby in France. A 'real' local derby with true hate between the citizens of both cities. Rich merchant city (Lyon) vs poor working class coal mine city (St.Etienne). Only 50 kilometers separate Lyon and St. Etienne so each match they fight for local supremacy. Saint Etienne tries to defend its glorious past as Lyon tries to make history in France and Europe nowadays. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | Shop | | | The Merseyside derby is being played since 1894 and sometimes this match is also referred to as 'The Friendly Derby'.
It's for example not very rare to have reds as well as blues in the same family. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | The matches between Brondby and FC Kopenhagen might be decisive in the race for the championship as they are the most succesful clubs in Denmark. Brondby is from the working-class suburbs south of the city and was the first club to turn professional in 1985. FCK was founded in 1992 (fusion of KB and B 1903) and quickly gathered a big crowd as their stadium is located in the center of Copenhagen. Traditionally Brondby was known as a very social club while FC Kopenhagen was more of a business men's football club. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | FAQ | Reports | City | Shop | | | The matches between Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV are also known as 'Klassiekers'.
Despite the results of PSV Eindhoven in recent years Ajax-Feyenoord is the most important 'Klassieker' in The Netherlands.
Unlike PSV, Ajax and Feyenoord are teams from two of the biggest cities in Holland with a long history and fans all over the country. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | The match PAOK - Olympiakos is a match between the two most popular clubs of the two biggest cities in Greece. The rich Olympiakos from Athens/Piraeus against the popular team of PAOK from the city of Thessaloniki in the poor north. PAOK fans consider Olympiakos as their worst enemy and they hate the club of Piraeus more than they hate their town rivals, Aris. The whole story began in the 60's when the all-time best player of PAOK, Giorgos Koudas, decided to move to Olympiakos. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | The match is called the derby of the mountains because the city of Medellin is known as the city of the mountains. Independiente Medellin is generally supported by the lower class people while Nacional has support in almost all social classes. |
West Bromwich Albion - Aston Villa | |
Honours | Results | Stadium | Reports | | | The main rival of West Brom is Wolverhampton and the main rival of Aston Villa is Birmingham City. Still, the West Brom vs. Aston Villa is a very heated match. Villa has the biggest ground in the region and it had it's succes in the past. For the other clubs in the Midlands this is reason enough to not be 'friends' with them. Aston Villar is also closer to West Brom than Birmingham City which adds to the rivalry. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | The Lisbon derby (Derby da Capital) is the biggest match in Portugal. It's a match between two clubs with great history and very big throphy rooms. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | The first match between these two teams was played in 1946. Dinamo is also called Zagreb's Blues or Blue Lions.
Both teams belong to the strongest in Croatia and have very strong support groups (BBB for Dynamo and Torcida for Hajduk). |
Hearts - Hibernian (The Edinburgh Derby)  | |
Honours | Results | Stadium | Reports | | | The first Hearts-Hibs was played on Christmas day 1875 (Hearts won 1-0) which makes this one of the oldest derbies in the world. Hibs, like Celtic, have their origins in Ireland, although they are not as open about it as Celtic. Hearts have adopted a protestant stance but although this is a very passionate affair the Edinburgh derby has none of the sectarianism associated with the Glasgow derby. |
LKS Lodz - Widzew Lodz (The Lodz Derby) | |
Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | The derby of the textile-workers city Lodz excites entire Poland since the beginning of the eighties. In short time it has become one of the greatest derbies in the country (fans of both sides claim the greatest). LKS is the oldest club of Lodz and before second World War it was much more popular than Widzew, which was only a small club of workers from one of city districts. In the eighties and nineties Widzew became one of the best teams in Poland and it gained popularity not only in Lodz but also in other parts of the country. Because of that LKS fans calls their rivals "peasants". However, nowadays both clubs have comparable amount of support in all social classes in Lodz. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | FAQ | Reports | | | The Derby of the shipyard (Guayaquil is traditionally the main port of Ecuador) is the derby between the biggest teams from Guayaquil, which is the largest city of Ecuador. Emelec was founded by George Capwell who was one of the owners of a large power plant in the city. Therefore in the early days Emelec was seen as the rich team. The two teams always fight for the championship. |
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Honours | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | The derby of Montevideo is a good competitor in the 'oldest derby' and 'biggest thropy room' competition. These are the two most honoured clubs in Uruguay. Together they have won 85 Uruguayan Leagues and 8 Copa Libertadores. |
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Honours | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | The derby of Brittany is really a contradiction in terms. Nantes was once the capital of the state and Rennes, if you look at it geographically, is the pumping heart. Many arguments arise in the Breton region before the derby (people from Rennes will say nantes isn't even in Brittany), but non more so than 'which city is the real capital of Brittany?'. |
Ferencvaros - Ujpest (The Budapest Derby)  | |
Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | The derby between Budapest's two most popular teams is the major derby of Hungary. Although the crowds arent't too big lately, it's a very intense derby. Ferencváros (shortly called Fradi) is the club with the biggest support in the country but also Ujpest has a large fanbase. Both clubs are named after the Budapest districts they play in. In the past Ferencváros had a bit more support from the middle and upper class while Ujpest traditionally was the working-class club. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | FAQ | Reports | | | The club Palmeiras was mostly founded by Italian imigrants while Sao Paulo was born after the fusion of some Brazilian clubs. During the early 40's Sao Paulo represented the Paulista feeling against the dictatorship in Brazil. Palmeiras, that used to be called Palestra Italia, was forced to change its name so that it wouldn't be linked to any country that was taking part in world war II. Palestra Itália had to change its name to Palmeiras one day before the Paulista championship final of 1942 against São Paulo and they also accused Sao Paulo FC of being one of the responsibles for the pressure that they were suffering. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | FAQ | Reports | Shop | | | The capital of Catalonia vs. The capital of Spain meet at least twice a year in 'El Clasico'. Catalonia is a region in the east of Spain which feels independent and one of the ways in which it expresses that is through it’s football club FC Barcelona. Between World War II and the dictator’s death in 1975, Franco’s regime suppressed the use of the Catalan language and the show of Catalan symbols. Franco’s favorites Real Madrid against the blaugrana from Barcelona is more than just a match between the two biggest clubs in Spain. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Reports | | | The Cairo derby is played between two of Africa's most successful clubs, Al Ahly and Zamalek. They both belong to the best clubs in entire Africa. Al Ahly was named Africa's club of the century in 2000. The rivalry between the clubs is so strong that foreign referees are always brought in for the derby games. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | FAQ | Reports | | | The Buenos Aires district of Boedo vs. Parque Patricios. Boedo (San Lorenzo) is an older/poor part of the city. The Parque Patricios (Huracan) is more modern but also industrial so both districts belong to the working-class. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | FAQ | Reports | | | The Bosphorus sea strait separates the city of Istanbul in an European side and an Asian side. Galatasaray was founded by students of the galatasaray lycee and is on the European side. Fenerbahce is on the Asian side and has a largely working class following. The club used to be the people's club while Galatasaray was supported by the rich and famous. Nowadays Fenerbahce also has the (financial) support of some very rich fans. |
Kapaz - Neftci  | |
Honours | Results | Stadium | FAQ | Reports | | | The biggest rivalry in Azerbaijan is a West vs. East rivalry between one of the oldest cities (Ganja) against the Capital (Baku). Kapaz and Neftci are both clubs with history and success. In the West region Kapaz is the biggest team while Neftci is the big team from the East. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | The biggest match in Slovenia is played between NK Olimpija Ljubljana and NK Maribor. It's the capital (Ljubljana) from West Slovenia against the second largest city (Maribor) from the East. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | The biggest derby in the east of The Netherlands (Gelderland) is played between the teams from Nijmegen and Arnhem. The cities are close to each other (15 km.) and since Vitesse became succesful in the early nineties the hate between the two sides got stronger. Arnhem used to be the city of the rich elite while Nijmegen was built by hard working factory men. NEC was founded by the people from the factories while Vitesse started as a cricketclub. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Reports | | | The Basque derby is played in a friendly atmosphere because the two Basque clubs hate Spain (Madrid) more than they hate each other. There is some animosity though because until today Bilbao refuses to play with non-Basque players. Sociedad let go of this tought and now playes with foreigners and worse, players from Spain! |
Stoke City - Port Vale (The Potteries derby) | |
Honours | Results | Stadium | Reports | | | Stoke City is the second oldest league club in England (behind Notts County) and they had some small success in the 70's. Because of this they are the 'big' club in town. Most of their history they played in higher leagues than their city rivals Port Vale and they had most of the local support.
During the 1990's Port Vale was promoted to the English First Division which made derby matches possible again. The matches are among the most tensed in the country and you can expect some serious disorder on a Stoke-on-Trent derby day. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | FAQ | Reports | City | | | Southampton and Portsmouth are separated by hundreds of years of inter-city conflict. The bad feeling between the clubs, who have met relatively few times, is a reflection of history. From the twelfth century onwards until 1835, Southampton officially owned the port of Portsmouth, which led to constant disputes over who controlled trade in the docks. Therefore the animosity between the two cities is one that stretches back for almost 800 years. The ill-feeling between Southampton and Portsmouth stems more from civic rivalry than from any true animosity between the clubs. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Reports | | | SK Sturm is seen as the "working-class" club while GAK has more of their support in the upper class (politicians). Until 35 years ago only clubs from Vienna were allowed to play in the first league. Since 1965 SK Sturm plays in the first league while GAK joined in 1993. Sturm was 14-times 2nd, but they had no championship. In the last few years Graz became the capital of football in Austria. |
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Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | FAQ | Reports | City | | | Rangers against Celtic is more than just a football match. One of the oldest derbies in the world is also about religion (protestants vs. catholics).
Both teams have dominated the Scottish league. The scottish competition is every year a battle between Rangers and Celtic |
Feyenoord - PSV Eindhoven  | |
Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | Probably the smallest of the 'Klassiekers' in The Netherlands. Both fangroups hate Ajax more than each other but still this is a big match everybody is loooing forward to. Despite the difference in number of titles in the last twenty years, Feyenoord is always a difficult oppponent to beat for PSV. |
AIK Stockholm - Djurgardens IF | |
Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | Probably the biggest derby in Sweden as these are two of the traditional strong forces in Swedish football. The fans will do everything within their powers to make it a great atmosphere. |
Panathinaikos - AEK Athens  | |
Honours | Results | Stadium | Fans | Reports | | | Panathinaikos comes from the center of Athens and AEK from a region which is very close to the center but despite that fact the fans of both clubs hate Olympiakos much more than they hate each other. |
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