The Top Ten Biggest Football Rivalries In The World Ranked

Here’s our list of the top ten biggest football rivalries in the world – but does your club make the list?

Wherever in the world you go, nothing excites a football fan like Derby Day.

Be it two sides of the same city, or a nation’s historic powerhouses battling it out for glory, rivalries are what keep the football world turning.

Fans wait with bated breath to see when they’ll be playing their rivals, and for some, the animosity goes far deeper than the on-field action.

To find out which is the biggest rivalry of them all, we at SportsCasting have looked at some of the fiercest matchups of them all.

Below is our conclusive list of the top ten biggest football rivalries in the world.

The Top Ten Biggest Football Rivalries

10. Ajax vs Feyenoord (Netherlands)

Kicking off our list is the biggest rivalry in the Netherlands – Ajax Vs Feyenoord.

With deep-rooted cultural animosity between the supposedly working-class Feyenoord ers and their affluent Ajax counterparts, ‘De Klassieker’ is often a tasty encounter.

The two groups of fans are so hostile to each other than away ers were banned from matches from 2009-2014.

9. Flamengo vs Fluminense (Brazil)

The spiritual home of football, Brazil has some of the most skillful players – and most ionate fans – anywhere on earth.

And nowhere does this come to a head more than in Rio de Janeiro.

Flamengo and Fluminese fans may not come to violence as often as other groups on this list, but the on-field action is frequently a bloodbath.

In 2022, six red cards were given across their four meetings, as players give everything to the cause.

8. Olympiacos vs Panathinaikos (Greece)

The Greeks take their football rivalries very seriously, with the ‘Derby of the Eternal Enemies’ between Panathinaikos and Olympiacos one of the most hate-filled anywhere on earth.

Traditionally, Olympiacos were the working-class club, while Panathinaikos were ed by wealthier fans.

That distinction is largely gone now, but the attitudes and hatred remain.

7. Olympique Lyonnais vs AS Saint-Etienne ()

The most heated and biggest rivalry in French football is without doubt that of Olympique Lyonnais and AS Saint-Etienne.

Once again, the two clubs and cities are split along class line, with the supposedly middle-class Lyon and working-class Saint-Etienne fans clashing regularly.

6. Galatasaray vs Fenerbahce (Turkey)

The Istanbul derby between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce is almost always the scene of violent clashes.

In 1996, Galatasaray manager Graeme Souness planted a club flag on the Fenerbahce pitch, inciting a massive riot.

The Scottish former Liverpool midfielder has since itted it wasn’t his best idea.

5. Lazio vs Roma (Italy)

Known as the ‘Derby della Capitale’, Lazio Vs Roma is probably the biggest rivalry in Italian football.

Oddly, both sides actually share a stadium, playing at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico.

But this does not mean Derby Day in the Italian capital is any less hate-filled.

In a 2004 clash, the match had to be abandoned early in the second-half as fights and rioting broke out, with fans taking to the streets.

4. Partizan Belgrade vs Red Star Belgrade (Serbia)

Serbian fans are on another level to most in the world, so Derby Day in the capital city of Belgrade is unsurprisingly one of the most violent there is.

The two most successful sides in Serbian football, there are deep historic grievances based on cultural, political and social differences.

Red Star and Partizan Belgrade fans clash violently whenever they meet, with the players pulling no punches.

3. Barcelona vs Real Madrid (Spain)

Spain’s El Clasico is perhaps the most well-known rivalry in world football.

The two La Liga giants may not be close geographically, but their rivalry dates all the way back to the Spanish Civil War almost 100 years ago.

A few players have switched between the two sides, but none more infamously than Luis Figo in 2002.

On that occasion, the Portuguese icon moved from Barca to Real, with Barcelona fans so disgusted they threw a pig’s head onto the field at him.

2. Celtic vs Rangers (Scotland)

Glasgow’s Old Firm derby is the biggest football rivalry in the British Isles, by some distance.

Celtic and Rangers have a long-held and deep hatred for each other, stemming from sectarian religious division.

The Catholic, republican Celtic fans and Protestant, unionist Rangers ers have been battling it out since 1888 in one of the oldest sporting derbies on the planet.

With the reasons for hatred coming from far more than football, the ion and animosity is naturally higher than most other rivalries.

1. Boca Juniors vs River Plate (Argentina)

But nowhere does football rivalry get bigger than in Argentina’s ‘Superclasico’.

The two sides of Buenos Aires, Boca Juniors and River Plate, share probably the most iconic derby on earth.

Huge stands of ionate Ultras singing and letting off vast amounts of pyro make the atmosphere here unbeatable.

In 2018, the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final was moved across continents, all the way to Madrid, due to violent scenes at the first fixture.

And while other games on this list are huge, we think Boca Juniors Vs River Plate is the biggest rivalry in football.