30 best soccer rivalries in the world

7. Ajax vs Feyenoord

Opposites attract, right? Not so in Dutch football. Ajax and Feyenoord are the quintessential upper and lower class clubs, representing upper and lower class cities. While Feyenoord comes from the biggest port city in Europe, Rotterdam, Ajax is the celeb-filled, high-flying club of the capital. They are the big spenders, the flashy, more successful older brother. Feyenoord is the younger brother out in the fields, working hard. The blue-collar city looks on, often enviously, at the canal-filled, tourist centered, hip city of Amsterdam.

The class divisions between the cities drives the rivalry between the two clubs, and manifests itself, like so many do, in violence, rioting and death.

Anger and hatred has always been felt between the two sides, but over a decade ago, in 1997, such loathing became lethal. In an organized riot, away from the match, two firms from Ajax and Feyenoord organized a mass brawl which ended in the brutal murder of Ajax hooligan, Carlo Picornie as he was beaten to death. Another fan, who went to help him, was stabbed twice in the lungs and the murders have cast a dark shadow over the rivalry ever since.

In recent years, the conflict has manifested itself in the form of abusive banners and chants, often referring to the murder of Picornie and the high proportion of Jewish supporters in Amsterdam. Often the Dutch are known as tolerant and accepting, but when it comes to such a fierce hatred between the two major cities, tolerance is nowhere to be seen.