What are the best football rivalries in the world? I believe someone on here did one of these not too long ago. If so, my apologies.
In no particular order, here are some of my favourites: Barca - Real Milan - Inter Ajax - Feyenoord Besiktas - Fenerbahce Celtic - Rangers Boca - River Lazio - Roma Liverpool - Man Utd Olympiakos - Panathinaikos Corinthians - Palmeiras Marseille - PSG
Boca - River is a full on war. They got us this year, but it doesn't count since neither of us are doing anything this Apertura. With JRR back and a cohesive unit next Clausura, we are going to wipe the floor with River and show them their place.
Brazilians derbies Flamengo x Vasco Flamengo x Fluminense Corinthians x Palmeiras Grêmio x Internacional Cruzeiro x Atlético-MG Atléitco-PR x Coritiba Bahia x Vitória
International England - Germany England - Argentina Germany - Holland Brazil - Argentina USA - Mexico
Brazil v Argentina Barca v Madrid Argentina v Germany (although its kinda of one sided) England v Germany (also one sided) England v Argentina Mexico v USA Boca v River Chivas v America (extends to two countries) Spain v Germany (i'm guessing since euro 08 and wc 10)
However I think this is more and more becoming a friendship. Is there really a rivalry between Argentina and Germany? If so then it must be very one sided, but I can't even remember any Argentinian fans on this board having a grudge against the German team. England - Germany isn't that one sided, but the English media usually are much more excited about this than the German media. I don't think there is any rivalry between Germany and Spain. Of course German fans long for a victory aganst Spain, but it's not like Spain is an unpopular team here. There is a rivalry between Germany and Italy, however that is very one sided. Many German fans don't like the Italian national team or the Italian clubs. I think this rivalry won't last for long. Often overlooked is the Germany - Austria rivalry. Both fans hate each other. German fans behave like the "more successful older brother" and make fun of Austria and Austrian fans are very angry about this. Also during the EURO 2008 the polish media had some nasty articles just before the Germany - Poland match. Also they don't like that Podolski and Klose are playing for Germany. But I don't think it's really a rivalry. Noteworthy could be Germany - Turkey, but that's a special case as there are only arguments between German fans and Turkish fans who live in Germany (and often have German passports).
I don't think you can really put your finger on the best/biggest rivalries in the world, there's so many and every fan thinks their team's rivalry is the biggest. To someone who supports them Luton v Watford is just as big as the Manchester derby, the Avellaneda derby is just as big as Boca v River Plate, it's impossible to tell in my opinion, every rivalry has a place in someone's heart.
Agree partly with the col u fan as for me preston blackpool is massive but I doubt many other people care about the game at all. Leeds Millwall similar. The best rivalries are the ones with Looooooong back stories. Boca River has to be one of the biggest though. Some of the Eastern European ones from the 80s were pretty (Danny Dyer voice) "tasty"
Everybody knows about Holland v Germany or Ajax v Feyenoord. The best Dutch football rivalry perhaps though historically is between two amateur sides from the same village though. Spakenburg v IJsselmeervogels. There used to be a lot of violence and drama but it's calmed down a bit now. Read more here: http://europeanfootballweekends.blogspot.com/2010/11/spakenburg-derby.html
Obviously, it´s 65 years ago now! Honestly, get over it. This is a football forum. And this coming from a Moderator.
I´ve been over it But the rivalry provided us with some great games in the 70s and 90s. We´re discussing football not war.
I'm not saying that the fans have grudges against eachother. In fact I was looking more at how the games play out as Classics. Argentina and Germany have a history '86 Final, '90 Final and the last two WC. I simply say that this game is becoming a Classic for the neutral viewer. If they played next WC their would be special tension because of the last two WC. In other words their games became memorable. For instance a Brazil-France game even though it doesn't stir the passion as much as a Brazil-Argentina or France-Italy. For the neutral watcher its a very attractive game in a WC because of their past history. Or a Brazil-Italy for that matter, remember '70 and '82. Even though their aren't great rivals, when these two play anything can happen and that gives it a lot of attention world wide. Again I'm not saying their fans don't like the other team. I was just saying that I'm guessing their is a bit of rivalry since Germany (for who me would have won the WC if they had played against anybody but Spain) and Spain have fought for the dominance of Europe and the World in the last couple of years. Then there could be a bit of rivalry. But you're right, it's not anything to England-Germany for instance.
Yeah, I know what you mean. But I would call e.g. Argentina - Germany a (world cup) classic, because they already played 6 times against each other during a world cup and had some memorable matches (I currently don't know if Arg or Ger have any other opponents they played more often during a world cup) Spain - Germany could soon become a classic, too. However for me I think a rivalry needs to have 3 characteristics (from most to least important): - the fans hate each other (e.g. would love to see their own team losing a match if that prevents the rival to e.g. win the championship) - the players from the respective teams hate each other - the (local) media will heavily provoke the opponent before the matches "hate" of course doesn't mean that they kill each other or that every match ends with > 3 red cards. So usually rivalries among national teams are usually not as strong as among club teams, because they don't play each other that often and the fans therefor don't hate the opponent that much. E.g. I don't think an English fan would wish England to lose a match just to prevent Germany to win something.
Would you consider the USA vs England a rivalry then. They fit the first, and the last. Don't know about the second, but they probably don't like each other.
Manchester-Liverpool,Barca-Madrid,Celtic-Rangers,Fenerbahce-Galatasaray,America-Chivas,Inter-Milan,Flu-Fla are all huge clasicos but only when they are dominateing a continent with their quality can they match River-Boca which in 2010 was watched all over the Americas and Southern Europe when both clubs were in the bottom half of the Argentine league.This is unmatched at club level. At a national level Brasil-Argentina,Germany-England,England-Argentina,Mexico-US,Italy-Spain,Holland-Germany, are all huge games