Football History: Football’s Closet Rivals
Football History: Top 3 Closest Rivals
There’s local city rivals and then there is being within a single mile of your fiercest enemy. In this piece we are going to look into three of the closest rivalries in football.
Red Star Belgrade & Partizan Belgrade – 0.47 Miles
We begin in Serbia, with one of Europe’s most intimidating fixtures known as the “Eternal Derby”.
The Eastern European powerhouses have been the dominant forces of Serbian football. Red Star have won 62 domestic trophies as well as the European Cup in 1991, beating Marseille on penalties.
Partizan on the other hand have won 42 domestic trophies and finished as European Cup runners-up in 1965, losing 2-1 to Real Madrid in the final which was hosted in Brussels.
Independiente & Racing Club – 0.23 Miles
Although Football in Argentina is best known derby is River Plate and Boca Juniors, there are also two rivals who are a mere 200 yards away from each other.
Racing Club and Independiente are Argentina’s third and fourth most successful clubs, both playing in the Buenos Aires suburb of Avellaneda.
Racing have 18 top-flight titles and one Copa Libertadores trophy. They have also had players such as Diego Simeone among their ranks.
Independiente are two titles behind Racing with 16 but have an outstanding seven Copa Libertadores titles, the most of any side in history, although the last time they had their hands on the trophy was 1984.
This rivalry has even reached footballing families. Diego Milito, famously known for helping José Mourinho’s Inter Milan win the treble in 2010, started his career at Racing Club. Diego’s younger brother Gabriel opted to join Independiente instead.
Both even returned to their respective clubs after their playing careers had finished. Gabriel in the dugout as manager and Diego behind the scenes as sporting director.
Dundee & Dundee United – 0.20 Miles
Tannadice Street, Dundee is where the closest footballing rivalry takes place between Dundee and Dundee United. These two Scottish sides are quite literally a two minute walk from each other.
Both sides have five trophies each as well as having famous runs in Europe.
Dundee United reached the 1984 European Cup semi-finals and despite leading AS Roma 2-0 after the first leg, lost in Rome 3-0 meaning The Terrors just missed out on a European Cup final against Liverpool.
United also reached the UEFA Cup Final in 1987, but lost 2-1 over two legs against Swedish side IFK Göteborg.
Dundee also made it to the European Cup semi’s in 1963, where they faced AC Milan. The Dee lost the first leg 5-1 but did famously win their second leg 1-0 against a Milan side that included the likes of Cesare Maldini and Giovanni Trapattoni.
