The Old Firm derby has been ranked as the biggest rivalry in world football. Boca Juniors v River Plate The divide that splits Buenos Aires on class, geographical, cultural and style grounds, the Superclasico between 30-times domestic champions Boca from the working-class, dockside barrio of that name and River with their 36 titles from the verdant suburb of Nunez began when the two clubs were sited within a couple of miles of each other. Pitch invasions, riots and grievous bodily harm have become commonplace over the years. Every meeting is played out in a febrile atmosphere of extreme noise, strident bravado, resentfulness and not infrequent violence. Violence is commonplace when the two meet, Olympiakos boasting of their superior number of titles, Panathinaikos of being the only Greek side ever to make a European Cup final. AC Milan v Inter Tied on 18 league titles apiece, the rivalry between Inter and AC Milan is one that has been constantly renewed over the past century by the waxing and waning of each club’s fortunes in regard to the other. Picture: GETTY IMAGES, 12. Inter, traditionally the club of the Milanese bourgeoisie, was formed in 1908 by breaking away from the Milan Cricket and Football Club over a dispute concerning the recruitment of foreign players. Palmeiras v Corinthians Like Fla-Flu in Rio, the origins of the great Sao Paulo rivalry are rooted in Palmeiras being formed by defecting former members of Corinthians. Picture: AMA, 9. Published 6:43 PM, Wednesday September 23 2020 GMT+1. The rivalry has always been intense, particularly in the Fifties when Wolves were dominant and Albion had a fine side with Ronnie Allen and Derek Kevan up front, but took on a more spiteful edge when both clubs were struggling in the mid-Eighties and a discarded son of the Baggies, Steve Bull, was revitalising Wolves. You might think that the majority of them involve inter-city clubs hating each other over the battle for supremacy within … At other times it’s about revelling in the misfortune of someone who could have nailed their colours to your team’s mast but for some reason decided not to. The 20 fiercest rivalries in English football. Never do those words ring truer than against a most . Picture: GETTY IMAGES, 7. This includes club … Football The 20 Biggest Rivalries In World Football Have Been Named And Ranked. Picture: GETTY IMAGES, 3. Picture: AFP, 4. It is frequently unpleasant, often racist and always intimidating. If anything it has got even worse since – with fighting in the streets and a smoke bomb in 2011. Like all of these rivalries, the plain fact is football fans don’t like other fans on their doorstep who have made a different choice to them. Aston Villa v Birmingham How do I hate thee? Picture: ENTERPRISE, 13. Picture: GETTY IMAGES, 11. Al Ahly v Zamalek With a hundred domestic and continental trophies, Al Ahly make Zamalek, with 47, look like parvenus but the sheer volume the two clubs share demonstrate how their rivalry has come to dominate not just Cairo, but Egypt and Africa. What began as a geographical dispute between the neighbourhood of Prati where Lazio were founded in the centre of Rome 27 years before their neighbours, and Roma, the Mussolini-inspired merged club originally based in Parioli, continues to divide the city and erupts in smoke and loathing whenever they meet. By John Belaska Mar 30, 2014. Picture: ACTION IMAGES, 15. 16. Flags, flares and frustration spice up the atmosphere on match days to a fever pitch. Share Share Tweet Email Comment “Just win, baby." A study has revealed which are the biggest rivalries in English football, based on the hatred each team has for the other, and some fans might be surprised by the list. Picture: GETTY IMAGES, 10. There are of course a number of bitter rivalries across world football but it's for these reasons that The Mirror rated it as the best footballing rivalry. Picture: EPA, 8. Picture: GETTY IMAGES, 17. That Olympiakos have won 16 of the past 18 domestic championships to Panathinaikos’s two has only inflamed derby day. Newcastle v Sunderland The dislike Sunderland and Newcastle supporters feel for each other has been simmering for 115 years since the riots that marred 1901’s Good Friday match. 11 of football's biggest rivalries. We begin north of the border... 20. Ajax’s 33 titles dwarf Feyenoord’s 14 but the prize of being the ‘people’s club’ is one Feyenoord resolutely defend. Picture: GETTY IMAGES, 18. Few experiences in football are as tense or exciting as taking a seat in the Tribuna Est or Ovest on derby night and watching the spectacle of Inter fans in the Curva Nord face off Milan fans in the Curva Sud with flares and beautiful, often profane banners that celebrate their own glory and taunt the opposition. Their head-to-head record in competitive matches currently has Boca in the lead by 84 to 77. Though much of the sectarian discrimination prevalent in the city for generations has been tackled, the hostility between supporters of the two clubs remains intense, giving Old Firm matches a piercing pitch unrivalled in Europe. Even with a number of games taking place between the two sides each year, the electric atmosphere has a different type of feel to it and the passion from the stands transfers onto the pitch in the form of big tackles aplenty. Conor Coady Hilariously Responds To Liverpool Transfer Question From Jamie Carragher, Bruno Fernandes’ Hilarious Reaction To Finding Out He Will Captain Man United For PSG Clash, Virgil van Dijk Has Reportedly Ruptured His ACL, Could Be Sidelined For 7-8 Months. He has never sported a pair of Lonsdale Slip-ons, contrary to reports. Manchester United v Liverpool Another relatively recent rivalry that displaced the affection between Matt Busby and Bill Shankly in the Sixties and the historic see-sawing economic dominance of the two Lancastrian cities with naked hostility in the Eighties, symbolised by the tear gas attack on the Manchester United players as they got off the coach at Anfield in 1985. Nothing, in an age when social media fans those flames, will extinguish them now. Josh is a sports journalist who specialises in football and wrestling. Picture: GETTY IMAGES, 5. Picture: GETTY IMAGES, 2. The 20 biggest rivalries in world football ranked By Rob Bagchi 17 January 2016 • 10:02 am With Liverpool v Manchester United looming, Rob Bagchi casts his eye over the 20 biggest … It is one of the oldest rivalries in world football, dating back more than a century. Hearts v Hibs Having first played each other on Christmas Day 1875, the two have developed an intense rivalry that partly mirrors the sectarian schism of Glasgow but with less of the Ulster dimension. Olympiakos v Panathinaikos The ‘Mother of All Battles’ between Greece’s two most successful clubs, is another that began a century ago between a team from the capital’s port – Olympiakos in Piraeus - and another from the more affluent centre (of Athens), Panathinaikos. “You could take all the derby matches in the world and put them together and they still wouldn't equal one-millionth of the Old Firm,” said Paolo Di Canio. Just this week Panithanaikos have been docked three points for their supporters’ behaviour after violence in the February derby which provoked the government to order the next round of games behind closed doors. Roma v Lazio The Derby della Capitale is the only one in the top 10 to take place in a shared stadium and has been marked over the past few decades by fighting, racist abuse, anti-semitic banners, riots and death. Bilious hostility encompasses everything the two sets of supporters feel about each other, from ethos to style and, of course, fluctuating fortunes that have been largely tilted in Arsenal’s favour since 1970. Youssouf Hersi of the Wanderers is challenged by Hagi Gligor of Sydney FC during the round 22 Sydney derby last season. The game is seen by millions worldwide who flock to the stadiums and their television sets to see some of the best talent in the world on display. The Ruhr is to German football what the North East is to England, its spiritual hotbed and the struggle for local mastery has pitted the two massively supported clubs against each other in a fight to be seen as the true people’s club of the region and republic that transcends the disputes between the miners of Schalke and the brewers of Dortmund that originally kicked this off. Picture: GETTY IMAGES, 6. Wolves v West Bromwich Albion The Black Country derby is one of the oldest on the list, the two founder members of the Football League who are only 12.7 miles apart met for the first time on Jan 2 1886 in the FA Cup. “There's nothing like it." Fenerbahce v Galatasaray Class more than culture or geography played a greater part in ramping up the animosity in Istanbul’s intercontinental derby between Fener in Asia and Gala in Europe. Picture: GETTY IMAGES, 14. Death, injury and mass disorder have made this game the Metropolitan Police’s most arduous and feared fixture. He provides coverage of professional wrestling and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the field - including the first UK interview with The Hardy Boyz after their return to WWE. Encounters over the years – when visiting fans are allowed – have been characterised by running battles, taunts, firebombs and fights. It beat strong competition from huge fixtures such as River Plate vs Boca Juniors, Galatasaray-Fenerbahce, Al Ahly and Zamalek's fiery Cairo derby, El Clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid and Arsenal vs Tottenham Hotspur in the battle for North London supremacy. River moved out in 1923, success inspired the wealth that led to their nickname Los Millionarios and a bitter rivalry grew. The pig’s head Barca fans threw at Luis Figo has come to symbolise the disdain felt by one side for the other, or rather for apostates and defectors, but it’s rather a recent confection – Bernd Schuster, Michael Laudrup and Luis Enrique never faced such opprobrium. Sometimes it’s about oppression, historical schisms, civic pride, cultural divergence, identity. Picture: Getty Images, 16. Tension first turned to violence in 1934 with the players joining the fans in fights and the 81 years since have been marred by antagonism, assaults, racism and murder. Fluminense, Rio state champions in five of the six years preceding the split, have watched Flamingo build a lead of 33-31 in the number of state titles since and a lead of 5-4 in national championships. Liverpool’s extraordinary run of 10 titles in the 15 years from 1976-90 bred envy and resentment at United whose continued high profile in the press and on TV irritated fans at Anfield. 20) Oxford United v Swindon Town Also known as the "right, you'll do" derby. Al Ahly have their roots in the struggle against British colonialism while Zamalek were seen as the team of the king and they have continued to battle each other, so violently that entire league seasons have been suspended and cancelled because of riots. Along came Alex Ferguson and his perch-ejection plan and roles were reversed, which poured yet more petrol on the fire. World Football’s Great Rivalries. The former, traditionally the club of the working class, were founded in 1907, two years after Galatasaray who were considered the bourgeois club of what was still then Constantinople.