Few of the Biggest Football Rivalries
Football is just full of politics and tension. Rivalries in football are nothing new some have been going on for ages due to various historical, political and social tensions between countries. No matter what the case may be, here are a few of the biggest football rivalries in no particular order.
Liverpool and Manchester United has the most well known rivalry known to club football. This is such a popular rivalry because these are the two best teams in the English Premier Leage, with more than 110 trophies combined. In the earlier days, fan violence was a regular occurrence but due to enhanced monitoring of fans, such incidents have become rare.
Barcelona and Real Madrid have yet another age old rivalry which is one of the most popular ones too. Just like Liverpool and Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid are the two most successful club teams in Spain. This rivalry exists mainly because of the fact that Madrid is coupled with the Spanish royalty and Barcelona sits on its own. There have even been discussions of making Catalonia, the place where Barcelona is located, its own country. So between the two, it is as if the rich pompous royalty is fighting against the common folk.
The Penarol versus Nacional is literally the oldest rivalry in the sport. It spans over a hundred years of competition. Penarol till now has claimed 47 trophies while Ncaional has gone on to lift the cup on 41 different occasions. So it is easy to see why they fight against one another. In fact, this rivalry takes place in Centenario, Uruguay where the very first World Cup was played. Another truly “old school” rivalry takes places between the Olympiacos and the Panathinaikos clubs. The two teams house one of the meanest nicknames that are available at the moment. The Derby of Eternal Enemies or the Mother of all Battles strikes fear just by itself. However, when you add in the fact that this rivalry still faces violent outbursts, it does cajole many emotions. Much like Barcelona and Real Madrid, these two teams represent different ends of the spectrum. Olympiacos is more of the blue collar working class whereas Panathinaikos represents more of the upper class of Athens and generally Greece as a whole.
The rivalry of Al-Ahly versus Zamalek is on the list as well. This rivalry runs so deep that when the two teams play each other, officials are typically brought in from entirely different countries to avoid any sort of biased judgments. However, this does not affect the fans when referee does not get it right. The fans have become so unruly in Cairo, Egypt that even today, different routes are strictly managed to make sure the opposing teams fans don’t ever interact with one another.
The Fenerbahçe versus Galatasaray rivalry comes in next with a pretty unique rivalry because they are based out of the same exact city except for one little thing. The Bosporus Strait is what separates them. As with a lot of rivalries, these two teams represent the lower and upper class of Turkey. Fenerbache is associated with the working class and Galatasaray is typically coupled with the upper class of Istanbul, Turkey.
Another great rivalry that spans just over a 100 years is that of AC Milan against the Inter Milan. It is believed that this entire rivalry started way back in 1908. However, the interesting part is that both these teams call the Stadio San Siro, the stadium in Milan, Italy as their home. Although these matches aren’t typically known for being the biggest or most violent, the games are played with a heightened intensity.
Soccer rivalries will never die and some can literally last for over a hundred years. Fans should get out there and support their team. Wearing the right colors is essential if a fan wants to join in the chants, badgering the opposing team. It’s not a good idea to keep switching alliances, because one never knows when one may be labeled as a fraud and get targeted in the end.
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