The Superclásico between Boca Juniors and River Plate is the world’s most famous derby, and for good reasons: enthused fans, impressive venues, good football and old history of the rivalry.
This occasion also reminds us of other big rivalries in the football world like Celtic-Rangers, Manchester United-Arsenal, Real Madrid-Barcelona. But there are lesser-known ones that are just as interesting.
So, while Buenos Aires is getting ready to have a blue-yellow-red-white confetti shower, we are happy to serve you The 'Other' Clàsicos, some lesser-known stories of worldwide derby games from Egypt, Iran and Bosnia.
The Cairo Clàsico
The most famous derby game on the list is Al-Ahly SC, Africa’s no. 1 side and the richest club in Egypt and Zamalek SC, from the historic district of Zamalek, home of the famous Egyptian singer, Umm Kulthum.
Egypt’s two most successful clubs were chosen as the 1st and 2nd best African football clubs of the 20th century, sharing between them 146 titles and honours, continental and local alike. As both teams are from Greater Cairo, matches between the two teams always generate a heated environment in the capital of Egypt.
They first played each other in 1917 and now, after 213 meetings, El-Ahly leads by 91 to 52 (70 matches have finished in draws). El-Ahly also has more titles with 98; Zamalek is far behind with 48.
The derbies in Cairo are well known for the heated rivalry between the fans, which sometimes end in violent clashes, injuries and even death. This brought the Egyptian regime to send heavy shipments of troops to the derby games in order to control the anarchy and killing by both teams’ fans.
The Egyptian football association imports foreign referees to prevent rumours of match-fixing and death threats against match officials.
In 2008, World Soccer Magazine ranked the Cairo Derby as the 8th fiercest derby in the world.
The Sarajevo Derby
The Balkans is home to a few of the meanest football rivalries in the world and Bosnia’s derby is surely one of them. FK Željezničar Sarajevo versus FK Sarajevo is a tremendous show between Bosnia’s biggest clubs.
The history of Sarajevo’s derby somewhat resembles the story of English football’s Merseyside Derby, Everton-Liverpool. Zeljeznicar was established back in 1921, won a few trophies and titles and, after the Second World War, won the second-tier championship of Yugoslavia. The Government wanted to create a club that to compete at federation level, so, in 1946, FK Sarajevo was formed as the new representative club of Sarajevo and Bosnia, not before stealing Zeljeznicar’s top players by offering them better salaries and new suits. A new rivalry was born.
Originally, FK Sarajevo fans were known as upper-class individualists from the Bosniak quarter, while those of Zeljeznicar were liberal working-class people from the newer parts of the city. Today both teams have fans all over the country.
In the past, the two camps of supporters were hostile to each other, but since the end of the war, the climate has changed and they now get along pretty well. The rivalry these days is focused on the creativity and choreography of each group and every derby is a colourful experience with a lot of fireworks, flags, etc.
The two teams have met 103 times, in many sorts of tournaments due to the changing political situation in Yugoslavia. FK Sarajevo has won 31 times, Zeljeznicar has done the same and 41 matches ended in draws. The race for the number of titles is also very close: Each club has won the league 4 times; Zeljeznicar has won the Bosnian cup 3 times, while FK has lifted it 4 times; and Zeljeznicar have twice won the Bosnian Super Cup and FK only once.
To conclude: it’s one of the most exciting derbies in Eastern Europe.
The Tehran Clàsico شهرآورد تهران
The Tehran derby is considered by many as the biggest in Asia. The rivalry goes back to the time of the Shah, while Persepolis (founded in 1968) represented the working-class people and Esteghlal (Established in 1945) was the team of the King and the Iranian elite of society.
The first meeting between the two teams took place in 1968 and ended in a scoreless draw. Persepolis’ fan base is a lot bigger than that of Esteghlal. In addition, before the Islamic Revolution of 1979, many aspects of Iranian culture were changed in order to reflect the new values of society, and so Estghlal was called Taj (Crown) until ’79, and there was an attempt to change the name of Persepolis to Pirouzi, a name that failed to inspire the locals, so the club’s name was left the same.
The sensitive nature of this ‘clash of the classes’ has never taken an extremely violent twist involving fans, players, managers and damage to public property.
Like in Egypt, the IFF (Iranian Football Federation) also invites foreign referees for those games, to calm the fans and the rumours that surround these matches, although, in recent seasons, Persian referees have handled this game successfully. In order to reduce the potential for trouble, the match is being moved to other cities around the country.
The two teams have met 71 times (not including friendlies) with 18 wins for Esteghlal, 20 for Persepolis and 33 matches drawn.
Esteghlal have 7 championship titles and Persepolis have 8; Esteghlal has won 6 Hafzi Cups, while Persepolis has won 5; and each one of the two has won continental silverware: Esteghlal won the Asian Club Championship in 1970 and 1991 and Persepolis grabbed the Asian Cup Winners’ Cup back in 1990.
Character, social-economic differences and a close race for titles make this derby the biggest in Asia.
These are just three examples of derby games from Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa. Latin America and the Middle East have even more.
So next time you're watching a derby match from England, Germany or Spain, remember: there are more rivalries, outside of western Europe, that may not be attracting billions of TV viewers, but they surely should be. They're totally up there!