30 best soccer rivalries in the world

25. Paris Saint-Germain vs Marseilles

Known as Le Classique, the Derby of France is not a rivalry between local clubs. It is, rather, a rivalry between the North and the South.

Paris Saint-Germain are the upper class, Parisian club, with heavy financial backing, expensive players on expensive wages and stylish fans in touch with the fashion world of Paris. The establishment is pitted against the southern, working class, port city of Marseilles. The rivalry is more than a soccer game. It represents the political tensions in France, between the hustle and bustle of the capital and the slow, blue-collar hard-working south.

It is considered one of the greatest rivalries in French soccer and represents many of the cultural differences between Paris and the rest of the French public.

The two teams are the only French clubs to have had success on the European stage, with Marseille winning the Champions League in 1993. The fixture symbolizes the differences between political classes and often results in brutal violence.

In 1995, 146 arrests were made with nine policeman hospitalized due to fan violence. In October 2000, an 18-year-old Marseille fan was paralyzed for life after he was struck by a seat thrown from the Parisian’s section of the Parc des Princes, and in 2010 another Marseille supporter died after being left in a life threatening coma after the February 28th match-up.

In a match that symbolizes much of the political friction in French culture and a rivalry that covers the whole of France, Le Classique is shrouded with violence and is most certainly one of the most violent and aggressive rivalries in world football.