30 Fiercest Rivalries in World Football [Ranked]

· GiveMeSport

There are many fierce rivalries in world football, and the 30 most tense fixtures including Arsenal vs Tottenham have been ranked.

There's nothing in football quite like a rivalry. Whether it be the two best teams in a specific country or two sides looking to secure bragging rights in the same city, rivalries are something that make the sport even better.

Whether it be a Premier League classic or an ill-tempered Serie A tie, fans of both teams look out for the dates of these encounters with particular enthusiasm as soon as the fixture lists are published, and the result means so much more than just the final score and the potential three points.

Some rivalries, though, are more deeply-rooted than others and have gone back generations, way back beyond the years of the majority of fans currently sitting in the stands.

We've listed the 30 fiercest rivalries in the beautiful game, even when the ties are not so 'beautiful' on the pitch.

In order to come up with this list, the following factors have been taken into consideration:

Known as 'the Classico' in Belgium, sparks fly whenever Anderlecht and Standard Liege meet. While the likes of Club Brugge and Union Saint-Gilloise have risen to prominence in Belgian football in recent times, Anderlecht and Standard Liege are historically the two powerhouses in the Western European nation.

The two clubs aren't even located particularly near each other, but their rich history and years of battle have created a rivalry like few others. Fire, smoke bombs and demolished seats are regular features at matches between the two clubs, which tend to get rather feisty.

While it might not quite have the flair of some of Brazil's other major derbies, Corinthians and Palmeiras are the oldest and most storied clubs in Sau Paolo, the South American nation's biggest city. The two sets of supporters passionately despise each other, and split the city into white and green, alongside the lesser-supported, Sao Paolo FC.

In 2020, Palmeiras pulled off their biggest feat against Corinthians, who had historically got the better of them, defeating their rivals in the final of the Campeonato Paulista. This was one of the most fiercely contested one-off matches in the history of Brazilian football, and cemented the Paulista rivalry as one of the most famous in football.

Similarly to the Merseyside derby, huge contrasts in the teams' fortunes have meant that the Turin Derby has never been seen as one of the showcase rivalries in Italian football. Nevertheless, the 'Derby della Mole' elicits enormous animosity from Torino towards Juventus, with Il Toro resenting the Old Lady for dominating Serie A for such a long time. Juventus fans don't mind giving it back to their noisy neighbours, either.

Turin is one of the biggest cities in Italy and is the capital of the Piedmont region, meaning both clubs draw huge fanbases from surrounding areas. The derby is the oldest ongoing meeting between two teams based in the same city in Italian football, and this naturally gives it a certain level of prestigiousness.

Known as the Rhineland Derby, due to the two clubs' location in the Western region of Germany on the River Rhine, Borussia Monchengladbach and FC Koln hold a heated rivalry that is more intense than the hatred between these sides and other neighbouring clubs such as Bayer Leverkusen and Fortuna Dusseldorf.

Gladbach have generally got the better of their southern counterparts, although this has been a relatively evenly contested rivalry throughout history. The passion on the pitch whenever the two teams meet spreads to the terraces, and this hostility often boils over into ill-temper.

In March 2024, Monchengladbach police arrested 205 fans for violent clashes outside of Gladbach's Borussia-Park stadium.

The Second City derby, first contested in 1879, has only intensified the rivalry between Aston Villa and Birmingham City over the past 146 years, with fans of both clubs often viewing the other as their biggest enemy. The teams have met over 100 times, with Villa claiming the majority of wins.

Villa and Birmingham haven’t played each other since 2019, when both were in the Championship. Since then, Villa have reached the Champions League, while City were relegated to League One. Their last meeting is still remembered vividly: in March 2019, Jack Grealish scored the winning goal in a 1-0 victory, but the game is best recalled for a pitch invader who punched Grealish in the first half - making his goal all the sweeter for Villa fans, though it must be reminded that the fate of the fan was a sad one.

Prague, long regarded as the epicentre of Bohemian culture, is known as a grand and largely safe city. But whenever its two biggest clubs meet, the mood shifts dramatically. Slavia vs Sparta Prague is more than a derby - it is a battle for national dominance.

In recent years, Slavia have been the dominant force, though historically it was Sparta who set the standard, a contrast that has only added to the intrigue of modern meetings. Sparta have won 14 league titles, with Slavia close behind on eight. In English terms, it resembles the Manchester derby in league standing - though the intensity is on an entirely different level.

After the break-up of Yugoslavia, Croatia's big two quickly settled into mutual loathing, and the "Eternal Derby" between Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split sees two of Europe's fiercest ultra groups regularly go at each other, tooth and nail. The rivalry's volatility peaked in May 2025, when nearly 200 ultras were arrested amid pre- and post-match chaos.

Beyond the 2025 ultra arrests, the Eternal Derby boasts a storied history of melodramtic encounters. In 1955, Hajduk demolished Dinamo 6-0 in the Yugoslav League, their largest-ever win, which was brought about by Bernard Vukas' brace. The 1993 Supercup ended in a thrilling 4-4 draw, but there never seems to be a dull moment whenever they clash.

The 'Clasico Rosarino' pits Newell's Old Boys against Rosario Central in a rivalry that fractures Rosario's social fabric, blending class divides, immigrant histories, and unyielding loyalties. Newell's, established in 1903 by former students of an English school, contrasts with Central, founded in 1889 by working-class railway employees, creating a clash of elitism versus populism that echoes through generations.

Tensions ignited dramatically in the 1920s during a leprosy charity game - Newell's joined in, earning the "Leprosos" moniker from rivals, while Central's refusal branded them "Canallas," nicknames that fans wear as badges of honour or insults today. The rivalry's extremism hit new lows in 2025 when Newell's suspended nine youth academy players, aged just nine, from training and stripped their scholarships for three months after a viral photo surfaced of them posing with Rosario Central's Ignacio Malcorra - prompting threats from ultras and widespread outrage, including from Argentina's national coach Lionel Scaloni.

The Grenal derby between Gremio and Internacional is one of Brazil's fiercest rivalries, dividing the city of Porto Alegre along cultural, social, and political lines. Founded by different social classes and immigrant groups, the clubs represent deep-seated identities that extend far beyond football. With over a century of history, countless decisive matches, and virtually no geographical separation between their supporters, fans from both sides live side by side, fueling constant tension.

One recent example of the rivalry's intensity came in 2020, during a chaotic 13-minute stretch that erupted into a massive on-field brawl. Though no goals were scored, the melee led to eight red cards - three to players and one to a substitute from each team. While neither club ranks among Brazil's most decorated in terms of trophies, Porto Alegre seems to have room for only one dominant force, leading to titanic battles that have defined the city's football landscape for decades.

A derby that unfortunately hasn't been seen as often as football fans would have liked, the Tyne-Wear clash between Newcastle United and Sunderland is up there as one of the most passionate games in the world. The two north-east clubs' fervour for football makes matches between the two absolute cinema, and when the pair are both in the Premier League, it was one of the games that even neutrals had to sit down and watch.

Sunderland recently made the return back to English football's top-flight for the 2025/26 campaign, and they will be hoping to stem the tide of the rivarly after Newcastle's recent success has seen them not only play Champions League football, but also lift a trophy in the form of the Carabao Cup.

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