There are several notable football rivalries in Spain, some of which attract worldwide attention.
Summary
The history of
association football in the country dates from the 1890s, when the game was introduced to some port cities by British sailors and dock workers, and to other locations by locals who had been to Britain for education or work and had been exposed to the developing sport there. The earliest national competition was the
1902 Copa de la Coronación, followed by the introduction of the
Copa del Rey a year later. In those formative decades, the dominant clubs were
Athletic Bilbao,
Real Madrid and
FC Barcelona,[1] a pattern which continued into the early editions of
La Liga, the national league which was established in 1929.
The frequent important meetings in the cup and regular league fixtures, as well as each club becoming adopted as a symbol of their
respective home regions,[1] caused
rivalries to develop between them,[2] with the feud between Barcelona from
Catalonia and Real Madrid from
Castile, known as
El Clásico, now being one of the most watched football matches around the world due to the sustained success of the two teams, who attract global fanbases, possess some of the top playing talent and have stadia which are among the
largest in Europe.[3]
In the early 21st century, a
significant rivalry developed between the two most prominent forwards in each team, Portuguese
Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentinian
Lionel Messi, who consistently vied to break goalscoring records and win global individual awards in addition to helping their clubs to several major finals, with their mutual levels of performance seldom seen in the past – this added a new element to the matches between them and generated even more attention from media and supporters.
Atlético Madrid,
Valencia and
Sevilla form a group of clubs who have caught up with Athletic Bilbao in terms of performance and cup wins[7][8] and have similar levels of support, with attendances of 40,000 or better on average[9][10] but are still far behind Barcelona and Real Madrid in both respects. Their proud histories feature complicated relationships with the 'big two'[11][12][13][14][15][16][17] and with one another,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] as well as being involved in other local rivalries including the
Seville derby[26] and the
Valencia derby.[27]
After the biggest clubs, there are several significant derbies or rivalries[28] which usually fall into one of three categories: a local rivalry within the same city (most of these involve one of the six clubs above, such as the
Derbi barceloní[29] and the
Madrid Derby);[30] a regional rivalry involving two or more teams in the same
autonomous community, (often with each representing a
province within that region, as in the
Basque derby and the
Galician derby); or an inter-regional rivalry between clubs from neighbouring autonomous communities, for example
Osasuna of
Navarre and
Real Zaragoza of
Aragon.[31][32] Teams with significant support each have
ultras groups with diverse connections and policial affiliations, which have often led to violence between them.[33][34]
The term morbo (roughly translating to morbid fascination and antagonism)[2] has sometimes been used[1][35] to describe the attitudes relating to the complex network of identities and relationships between Spanish clubs.[2]
There are several notable football rivalries in Spain, some of which attract worldwide attention.
Summary
The history of
association football in the country dates from the 1890s, when the game was introduced to some port cities by British sailors and dock workers, and to other locations by locals who had been to Britain for education or work and had been exposed to the developing sport there. The earliest national competition was the
1902 Copa de la Coronación, followed by the introduction of the
Copa del Rey a year later. In those formative decades, the dominant clubs were
Athletic Bilbao,
Real Madrid and
FC Barcelona,[1] a pattern which continued into the early editions of
La Liga, the national league which was established in 1929.
The frequent important meetings in the cup and regular league fixtures, as well as each club becoming adopted as a symbol of their
respective home regions,[1] caused
rivalries to develop between them,[2] with the feud between Barcelona from
Catalonia and Real Madrid from
Castile, known as
El Clásico, now being one of the most watched football matches around the world due to the sustained success of the two teams, who attract global fanbases, possess some of the top playing talent and have stadia which are among the
largest in Europe.[3]
In the early 21st century, a
significant rivalry developed between the two most prominent forwards in each team, Portuguese
Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentinian
Lionel Messi, who consistently vied to break goalscoring records and win global individual awards in addition to helping their clubs to several major finals, with their mutual levels of performance seldom seen in the past – this added a new element to the matches between them and generated even more attention from media and supporters.
Atlético Madrid,
Valencia and
Sevilla form a group of clubs who have caught up with Athletic Bilbao in terms of performance and cup wins[7][8] and have similar levels of support, with attendances of 40,000 or better on average[9][10] but are still far behind Barcelona and Real Madrid in both respects. Their proud histories feature complicated relationships with the 'big two'[11][12][13][14][15][16][17] and with one another,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] as well as being involved in other local rivalries including the
Seville derby[26] and the
Valencia derby.[27]
After the biggest clubs, there are several significant derbies or rivalries[28] which usually fall into one of three categories: a local rivalry within the same city (most of these involve one of the six clubs above, such as the
Derbi barceloní[29] and the
Madrid Derby);[30] a regional rivalry involving two or more teams in the same
autonomous community, (often with each representing a
province within that region, as in the
Basque derby and the
Galician derby); or an inter-regional rivalry between clubs from neighbouring autonomous communities, for example
Osasuna of
Navarre and
Real Zaragoza of
Aragon.[31][32] Teams with significant support each have
ultras groups with diverse connections and policial affiliations, which have often led to violence between them.[33][34]
The term morbo (roughly translating to morbid fascination and antagonism)[2] has sometimes been used[1][35] to describe the attitudes relating to the complex network of identities and relationships between Spanish clubs.[2]