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Zeljeznicar vs. FK Sarajevo
Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herz.
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Rivals, The Offbeat Guide To The 92 League Clubs, is one of the best derby books available.
Read the review |
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The matches between the 'big three' (Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV) are by far the biggest matches in the Dutch league. Especially Ajax and Feyenoord have a large fanbase all over the country. Their rivalry is by a mile the strongest rivalry in The Netherlands.
The North:
There aren't many professional football clubs in the Northern provinces, Friesland and Groningen. The derby of Friesland between Heerenveen and Cambuur used to be quite fierce but they haven't met for many years. Heerenveen now have FC Groningen as their counterpart in de "Noordelijke Derby".
The East:
FC Twente are the biggest club in the East of the country near the German border. They don't have a very big local derby (they are not best friends with close neighbours Heracles Almelo though) but they have a rivalry with FC Groningen because of some naughty events that happened in the past. A little bit more to the West we find a very fierce rivalry : Vitess Arnhem vs. NEC Nijmegen. A pretty violent affair that is.
The South:
Brabant hosts most of the professional football clubs in the Netherlands. Most of them don't have very strong rivalries, except for NAC Breda and Willem II. Far South in Limburg there are some clubs within close distance of each other. Roda JC vs. MVV is considered the biggest derby down there.
The West:
Rotterdam hosts the only serious city derby of the country (the other one is Eindhoven). Sparta - Feyenoord is a classic altough Sparta is no longer the big club it used to be.
Amature:
Below the two professional leagues there are many amature leagues but those matches don't attract large crowds. Only the derbies in Spakenburg (IJsselmeervogels vs. SV Spakenburg) and Katwijk (Quick Boys vs. VV Katwijk) attract large crowds (4.000-9.000) when the two clubs in town meet each other on Derby Day. |
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