Most Iconic Rivalries in European Football Leagues: History & Stats

Football, as a sport, has always brought more than tactics, games, wins, defeats and glories. It has been like a cultural fest between two types of thoughts, cultures, beliefs and history. In every corner of the world whenever two rival football teams face each other, there is always something more than the game which is on the line. It is about honour, pride and passion at the end of the day. European football has had quite a few famous and infamous rivalries over the years and today, in this article, we will talk about a few most iconic rivalries in the European Football Leagues.

El-Clasico | Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona

If you talk about football rivalries, you will have to start with Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona's El-Clasico in Spanish football. Both clubs have rich history and heritage and the passion of the fans makes it like a battlefield whenever there is an El-Clasico fixture in La Liga, Copa Del Rey, UEFA Champions League or in any other tournaments.

The world keeps an eye on every El-Clasico fixture as most of the iconic footballing stars also want to be part of the game and the fixture has produced some of the most iconic matches in the history of world football. 

Read Also | Barcelona vs Real Madrid: Last Five El-Clasico 

If we talk about a brief history of the rivalry, we will have to go back to 1899 when FC Barcelona was established and three years later, Real Madrid was formed. In the beginning, both clubs played friendlies but soon their rivalry grew after the establishment of La Liga.

From disputes over players' signatures to bringing the best players to their clubs, the El-Clasico has seen everything from its early days. Over the years, some of the best football players intensified the rivalry like Ladislao Kubala and Luis Suárez playing for Barca and Ferenc Puskas and Di Stefano for Real Madrid.

In the most recent times, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo brought the best out of both teams and the fans around the world were treated with some intense yet beautiful football via El-Clasico.

Read Also | El-Clasico stats since Messi left Barcelona 

Unlike most of the football rivalries, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid are not from the same city. FC Barcelona is based out of Catalonia, who are currently fighting for their independence from Spain which makes the El-Clasico more than a football game now. It is now become a battle for roots and independence.

El-Clasico Results till now

The stat is accurate as of 29th August 2024 and includes all the official and friendlies between the two clubs.

Read more about El-Clasico: Head-to-Head Stats

Most Goals in El-Clasico

1. Lionel Messi - 26 Goals
2. Alfredo Di Stefano - 18 Goals
3. Cristiano Ronaldo - 18 Goals
4. Karim Benzema - 16 Goals

Read more about Most Goals in El-Clasico History.

Biggest win Margins

1. Real Madrid 11-1 FC Barcelona, 19 June 1943, Copa del Rey
2. Real Madrid 8–2 Barcelona, 3 February 1935, La Liga

Players who scored for both teams in El-Clasico

1. Josep Samitier
2. Luís Enrique
3. Luís Figo
4. Ronaldo Nazario

El Clásico femenino

FC Barcelona have dominated Real Madrid in Women's Clasico since Real Madrid are a very new team and were founded in 2022 whereas the Barca Femeni team have been in existence for the last 22 years. So far, Barcelona Femeni have won all of their 14 matches against Real Madrid Femenino.

The UWCL Quarter-final match in 2022 between these two teams at Camp Nou saw a then-record attendance from women's football match of 91,553 spectators.

The Milan Derby: Inter vs. AC Milan

Just like El-Clasico, the Milan derby is also a football match where players of both clubs fight for bragging rights and the heritage of their clubs.

Brief history of the Milan Derby

In 1899, Herbert Kilpin, a British businessman and others founded the Milan Football and Cricket Club. The club had a cricket and a football team running under Edward Berra and David Allison. A few years later, in 1908, the Italian Football Federation introduced the Federal Championship and Italian Championship. The Federal Championship allowed foreign players to participate whereas only Italian players could play in the Italian Championship.

This started internal chaos within the club as there was a distinct dissent among the club members about whether to have foreign players or not. One year later, Kiplin, who wanted to have foreign players in the club, along with other members parted ways from the club and formed Football Club Internazionale which is now known as Inter Milan.

The Inter fans are known as Nerazzurri while the AC Milan fans are known as Rossoneri. Both clubs share the same stadium during their games. The San Siro Stadium in Milan is the home for both teams.

First-ever Milan Derby

Although there are many disagreements about when the first-ever Milan Derby was played, it is said that it was in 1908 when the first-ever Milan Derby was played in the Chiasso Cup final which AC Milan won by 2-1. The first-ever official Milan Derby was played in the inaugural 1926–27 season of the Divisione Nazionale, the first Italian National League. AC Milan won the match by 3-2.

The Abandoned Match and the Iocnic photo

On 12 April 2005, the Milan Derby was abandoned after Inter fans started throwing objects on the field in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League 2005 Quatrer-finals. AC Milan were leading by 2-0 in the first leg, and took a 1-0 lead in the second leg, 3-0 on aggregate. The match was abandoned after 73 minutes and Milan were handed a 3-0 victory at the end. 

Milan Derby: Head-to-head stats

The data is accurate as of 29 August 2024 and includes all the competitions. 

Most Goals in Milan Derby

1. Andriy Shevchenko - 14 Goals
2. Giuseppe Meazza - 13 Goals
3. Gunnar Nordahl - 11 Goals
4. Istvan Nyers - 11 Goals

The North West Derby: Manchester United vs. Liverpool

The North West Derby between Manchester United and Liverpool Football Club is one of the most storied rivalries in European football history. Despite being just 35 miles away from each other, both clubs have different roots, histories and ideologies. 

It all began when in 1894 Manchester merchants created the Manchester Ship Canal to avoid Liverpool’s steep port taxes. This created economic and industrial competition between the cities and that ignited the rivalry that we saw on the pitch today.

Read Also | 10 Most FA Cup Winners List: FA cup in detail

In fact, right before the establishment of the Manchester Ship Canal, Newton Heath (United's old name) had faced Liverpool in a play-off match which saw Newton Heath getting relegated to the second division. 

The United-Liverpool derby is greater than their own city derbies against Manchester City and Everton respectively. The rivalry is so intense that no players since 1964 have been directly transferred between the clubs. 

Read Also | Most Premier League titles as a player

United vs Liverpool: Head-to-head statistics

The data is accurate as of 29 August 2024.

Most goals in United vs Liverpool matches

Women's Football: United vs Liverpool

Even in Women's football, both clubs have the same amount of passion and rivalry among each other whenever they play. Manchester United's women's team were founded in 2018 while Liverpool F.C. Women were founded in 1989 and since then, these two teams have faced each other 8 times. 

The data is accurate as of 29 August 2024.

Read Also | Women's Super League 2024-25 full fixture and schedule

Der Klassiker: Bayern Munich vs. Borussia Dortmund

This is one of the newest rivalries among the European Football Leagues and the most exciting football tussle in the Bundesliga currently. The word "Der Klassiker" in German means the "German Classic". However, due to the low number of matches between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, many German fans and pundits do not consider this fixture as the German Classic.

Everything remained sorted between two of the most successful clubs in German football until the 1990s when Dortmund won the Bundesliga successive times in the 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons and challenged Bayern's dominance in the league. 

Read Also | Most Successful Teams of Top Five European Football Leagues 

In 1996, then Bayern captain Lothar Matthaus mocked Andreas Moller, his German national team teammate by wiping imaginary tears from his eyes during a game. Moller gave the response by slapping Matthaus on the face. Later, in that season, Dortmund won the 1997 UEFA Champions League final against Juventus in Munich, the home of Bayern Munich.

The rivalry intensified when Bayern hired Dortmund's successful coach Ottmar Hitzfeld as their head coach in the 1997-98 season. In the second meeting between the clubs in the 1998-99 season, Bayern Munich goalkeeper Oliver Kahn first launched a Kung-Fu-style kick on Stephane Chapuisat and then nearly bit Borussia Dortmund's Heiko Herrlich's ear.

However, the rivalry remained a tad silenced in the mid-2000s before a coach named Jurgen Klopp took charge of Borussia Dortmund and took them to back-to-back Bundesliga success in 2011 and 2012 with players like Robert Lewandowski, Mats Hummels, Mario Götze and Shinji Kagawa. In the next season, Bayern took revenge by beating Dortmund in the 2012-13 UEFA Champions League final at Wembley.

Bayern Munich vs Borussia Dortmund - Head-to-head stats

Most goals by a player in Bayern Munich vs Borussia Dortmund matches

The Old Firm Derby between two of the most successful clubs in Scotland, Celtic and Rangers FC is one of the oldest rivalries in football history. Started as a friend, both clubs became rivals at the start of the 19th century and since then have formed a rivalry which is enriched by political, religious, cultural and social differences in the country.

Celtic fans are historically Irish-Scots and Catholic whereas Rangers fans are native Scots and come from the Protestant community. In the early days, Rangers had an unwritten rule of not signing any player from a Catholic ethnicity until  Graeme Souness signed Mo Johnston, an ex-Celtic forward in 1989.

Read Also | European treble winners in men's football history

Rangers FC was formed in 1872 while Celtic was formed 15 years later in 1887. In their early days, Rangers FC was termed as the "friends of Celtic" until 1902 when Rangers' wooden stadium collapsed during the Scotland vs England match, resulting in the death of 25 fans and injuring many. Post that, the Rangers had to rebuild their Ibrox stadium and it was financed by selling off their best players to Celtic. Celtic took advantage of the situation and won the Scottish League title six times between 1905 and 1910. 

Since then, the rivalry has become so intense that incidents of deaths and killings have been noticed during past derbies. Although both clubs have taken up a project to tackle bigotry and sectarianism in sports, the fans never changed. In fact, as per an activist group in Glasgow, violent attacks and domestic abuses increase by nine times during Old Firm weekends.

In fact, things get so much out of control that £550,000 was spent by Celtic, Rangers, the SFA and the SPFL just for the policing inside the stadium alone during nine derby games between April 2016 and December 2017

How did the name Old Firm come?

The Old Firm name came when in the Scottish Cup final in 1904, a large number of people attended the match giving considerable financial benefit to both the clubs meaning an old firm that produces business or money.

Did you know?

At the start of the 21st century, both Celtic and Rangers together trademarked the name "Old Firm" and as of 2021, it is still being renewed. 

Celtic vs. Rangers: Head-to-head stats

The stat is accurate as of 29 August 2024.

Most goals by a player in Old Firm derby

The stat is accurate as of 29 August 2024.

The Battle of Britain: Arsenal vs. Tottenham Hotspur

The North London derby between Arsenal FC and Tottenham Hotspur is called "The Battle of Britain." Started in 1887, the rivalry grew in 1913 when Arsenal moved their home ground from Manor Ground in Plumstead to Arsenal Stadium in Highbury, just 6.5kms apart from Tottenham Hotspur's White Hart Lane Stadium.

The move was opposed by the Spurs' fans as they used to call Highbury their territory and they did not like Arsenal being there with them.

The rivalry surged when in 1919, right after World War I, the first division was supposed to be expanded by two teams by votes and Arsenal pipped over Suprs to get into the first division league after an endorsement by John McKenna, the then Chairman of Liverpool FC and the League president.

However, Tottenham won the 1919-20 second-division league to be promoted to the first-division league and the first-ever North London derby (after Arsenal's move to a new stadium) took place in the following season which resulted in a 2-1 victory for the Spurs.

Read Also | Breaking Down the Most Iconic Football Facts and Moments of All Time

Since Tottenham were placed in the second division from 1928 to 1933 and from 1935 to 1950 both of these clubs could face each other 195 times in competitive first-class matches. Many times during these matches the result of the league depended on the North London derby and even as per fans, they would not mind losing against an opponent rather than helping their North London rival excel in the league.

Read Also | Most Goals in the Premier League history - Alan Shearer at the top 

Most of the North-East part of London supports Tottenham whereas the North-West part supports Arsenal and they never miss any chance to go at each other even though they find themselves working together.

Arsenal vs Spurs Head-to-head stats

Most Goals by a player in North London Derby 

Women's football

Arsenal Women's are the most successful team in English women's football. They won the English Football Championship a record 15 times while winning the Women's FA Cup a record 14 times. 

Till now they have faced Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Women's team 16 times and won in 12 of them while losing once and drawing thrice.

More football rivalries in European leagues

Other than the above-mentioned six football rivalries, here are a few other iconic football rivalries in European football leagues.

• The Lisbon Derby: Benfica vs. Sporting CP in Portugal
• The Istanbul Derby: Galatasaray vs. Fenerbahce in Turkey
• The Eternal Derby: Red Star Belgrade vs. Partizan Belgrade in Serbia
• Le Classique: Paris Saint-Germain vs. Olympique de Marseille in France