Fansided

30 best soccer rivalries in the world

By Andrew Dowdeswell

MADRID, SPAIN - MARCH 23: Shirts bearing the names of Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona and Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid CF are seen on display at a merchandise stall prior to the La Liga match between Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona at estadio Santiago Bernabeu on March 23, 2014 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
MADRID, SPAIN - MARCH 23: Shirts bearing the names of Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona and Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid CF are seen on display at a merchandise stall prior to the La Liga match between Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona at estadio Santiago Bernabeu on March 23, 2014 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images) /
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LISBON – DECEMBER 16: General view of the Stadium of Light during the Portuguese Campeonato match between Benfica and Sporting Lisbon played at the Stadium of Light, in Lisbon, Portugal on December 16, 2001. The match ended in a 2-2 draw. (Photo by Nuno Correia/Getty Images)
LISBON – DECEMBER 16: General view of the Stadium of Light during the Portuguese Campeonato match between Benfica and Sporting Lisbon played at the Stadium of Light, in Lisbon, Portugal on December 16, 2001. The match ended in a 2-2 draw. (Photo by Nuno Correia/Getty Images) /

29. Benfica vs Sporting Lisbon

In the capital of Portugal lies two teams separated by only 2.8 km. Often in soccer, a rivalry is born out of success or an event. Often it born out of locality, and the Derby de Lisboa – the Derby of Lisbon – is most certainly one of these.

On February 8, 2015, before Benfica’s league match with Sporting, supporters of the club gathered outside the Estadio da Luz before marching together into enemy territory. A sea of red shirts wandered down the Segunda Circular highway, the one road that separates the two stadiums. The army of Benfiquistas walk together towards the green, yellow and white Estadia Jose Alvalade and enter the enemy lands.

In Portugal, there are approximately 8.4 million who take allegiance to one half of Lisbon, and with such an entrenched past, the ferocity between the supporters simply grows with ever passing year. The past is what drives the anger between the clubs, the past which started in 1907.

December 2, 1907 is a day every Lisboeta will remember. Eight former Sport Lisboa – Benfica as they were then known – players had defected to play for a new club, Sporting. New rivals full of old friends. And it was indeed the new rivals that came away victorious, after one of the defectors, Candido Rodrigues, scored the opener for Sporting. This was confounded when midfielder and owner Cosme Damiao put the ball in his own net, and downed the hopes of first rival win for Sport Lisboa.

It is this past that stokes the fire of fans in modern times, and the rivalry between the two Lisbon clubs is as strong as ever.

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