Football Report: South American Football’s Biggest Rivalries
South American football, similarly to the European game, developed leagues in its early years. Unlike Europe though, because the distances are so large in South America, leagues developed locally. Each country’s best teams came from the biggest cities. Over time, fierce rivalries started to develop amongst teams that played football in the same locality. In South America, the growth of the major cities coincided with the growth of football and so it became part of urban culture to support a local team. The rivalries that formed out of this became some of the most hotly contested and fierce ones around.
A sports rivalry involves intense competition between athletic teams or athletes who regularly compete against each other. Over the years, rivalries have been growing in number in South America because of the close proximity of the teams. For instance, the rivalry faced between two teams in the same city will naturally be stronger than a rivalry between teams that are in different cities. The same thing is evident in England: for example, the rivalry between Aston Villa and Birmingham City is huge and every fan either supports one or the other. In Argentina, an example of this rivalry can be seen by two teams in Buenos Aires. The rivalry between River Plate and Boca Juniors is intensely fierce and extremely well contested. The clashes they have are legendary and the rivalry seems to stem from the fact that one team became part of the prosperous area of the city while the other stayed working class. The division by economic lines just intensified the rivalry and pushed both teams to become natural competitors. The rivalry has produced a record of 116 wins for Boca to 104 wins to River with 100 draws between the two sides.
Another huge rivalry that takes place in South America takes us to Brazil. In Brazil, similar to Argentina, rivalries developed among teams from the same city or state. The rivalries are fought out in national Cups and tournaments such as the Brazilian Cup and the O Brasileirao. When two teams play each other in a Cup, it becomes known as a derby and the teams can play each other maybe 6 or 7 times a year. That is a great way to stimulate a rivalry; by having the teams play each other at frequent enough occasions so that an intense competition can develop between the two teams. One of the biggest rivalries in Rio de Janeiro takes place between Flamengo and Fluminense. Flamengo is one of the biggest clubs in the city and is disliked by all other football fans in Rio de Janeiro. The matches between these two always sell out and are extremely popular in Brazil. A recent rivalry has been brewing in Rio between Flamengo and Botafogo. This rivalry has become so intense that it even has its own name and matches between the two derbies are called the Clássico da Rivalidade. When a rivalry has its own name that means it is a huge deal.
The rivalries of South America are interesting for another reason. They are usually between clubs that are very well off and clubs that are not very well off. This instantly divides the clubs and their supporters into two distinct camps. The fans of the well off camp will naturally want to see their side defeat the club that is not very well off, and the same is true from the other side. The poorer club usually is the underdog because they have less money to finance big name transfers to their side, but they play with a lot of heart and their fans love them for it. In the years to come, these rivalries will just intensify along economic lines.
Rivalries in football are what make the game so interesting. The best aspect of a rivalry is when one team wins some of the matches and then the other team wins the rest. It is not a very interesting rivalry if it is always one-sided. The best matches and rivalries are those that are hard fought and that go down to the wire. In the years to come, we will see the rivalries in South America keep on growing and becoming much more interesting.
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