The world’s greatest international football rivalries – ranked and reviewed

1) Brazil v Argentina

Arguably the daddy, the big one, one of the longest-standing rivalries in the world between two of the biggest and most successful teams. Quite apart from the brilliant football on display, there have been plenty of lively old encounters down the years, from the 1937 Copa America game that the Brazilians team departed before the final whistle, apparently fearing for their safety amid much barracking from the crowd, to the 1946 game which descended into a mass brawl involving players and spectators, after Argentina’s captain José Salomon’s leg was broken in two places, to the 1982 World Cup game in which Diego Maradona was sent off for booting João Batista up in the air. Perhaps the most notorious encounter was at the ‘Holy Water’ game at the 1990 World Cup, where the drinks of the Brazilian players were apparently spiked with a little something to hamper their performance, something confirmed by Maradona but denied by Argentina coach Carlos Bilardo. NM

2) Germany v Holland

As with many sporting rivalries, there is more than a touch of politics and history to this one, even ignoring the many big encounters between the two sides down the years. Will van Hanegem, a midfielder who played for the Dutch in the 1960s and 70s, said after the 1974 World Cup final between the two sides: “I didn’t give a damn about the score. 1-0 was enough, as long as we could humiliate them. I don’t like them. It’s because of World War II.” West Germany would of course win that final despite Holland going ahead with an early penalty, a tournament in which the German newspaper Bild ran a story about a ‘naked pool party’, with accounts differing as to whether it really was an episode of bacchanalian excess by Johan Cruyff and chums, or whether it was a sting/honey-trap from the ever-willing newspaper. Of course the rivalry manifested itself in a rather revolting manner during the 1990 World Cup, when Frank Rijkaard enthusiastically spat into Rudi Völler’s mullet, as covered in some depth by Barry Glendenning. NM

3) Egypt v Algeria

If anyone wondered about the extent of the rivalry between these two, who are separated geographically by Libya, they were given a gentle reminder in 2009, when the pair found themselves neck and neck for World Cup 2010 qualification. Algeria had won their home game, that June, 3-1 in relative calm but the stakes were somewhat higher by November. When they met in Cairo, Egypt had to win by three goals to overhaul the Fennec Foxes, or by two to force a play-off between the two. When the Algerian side arrived, two days prior to the game, their bus was stoned by hooligans to such an extent that three players and an official were injured; explanations in the Egyptian media that the visitors had smashed the windows from the inside in a bid to see the game moved to a neutral venue held little water. In the end, despite suggestions from within the Algerian camp that they were mentally unfit to play, the match was played in an atmosphere of staggering intensity and ended in typically high-octane fashion when, 30 seconds from the end of injury time, Emad Moteab’s goal gave the Egyptians the 2-0 win they needed.

So they met again, in a winner-takes-all shootout staged in the calmer climes of Omdurman, in Sudan. It did not stop 15,000 police being deployed to keep order, and nor did it prevent all manner of claim, counter-claim and posturing about dastardly needs perpetrated by either side. Algeria won 1-0 and proceeded to send everyone to sleep in South Africa.

But the mould for these tensions was firmly set in 1989, as Brian Oliver recounted in these parts five years ago, when a crowd including Mido was present for an edition of the ‘hate match’ that ended in criminal proceedings from Interpol. It was far from the first time that there had been trouble between the two; this one is as hot as it gets, on and off the pitch. NA

4) England v Scotland

That this is the oldest international fixture of all used to be imprinted into the minds of schoolchildren on both sides of the border, and there is no doubt that the clash of the ‘Auld Enemy’ has seen heady enough times. Played every year of peacetime between 1872 and 1989, usually as part of the long-gone British Home Championship or – latterly – the Rous Cup, its clockwork regularity became for many years a genuine case of familiarity breeding contempt. While never the incendiary fare seen elsewhere on this list, each meeting was loaded with centuries-old cross-border antagonism and as such was one of the most important fixtures on the football calendar.

Highlights have generally been more football-based than off-field – Scotland’s ‘Wembley Wizards’ won 5-1 in London back in 1928 and England had to wait until 1961, when they won 9-3, to inflict something even more miserable. The next two stand-out meetings both ended in Scottish victories on English soil, a 3-2 win in 1967 leading to plenty of crowing about being ‘unofficial world champions’ and a 2-1 success a decade later resulting in such unbridled joy among the visiting faithful that they took to yanking the goalposts down after the game.

England prevailed in rather more meaningful affairs in 1996 and 1999, in European Championship group stage and play-off ties respectively, but the fixture then died a 14-year death until being revived at Wembley last year. The decline of the Scottish side and a growing apathy towards international football among England followers meant that, to all bar the old-timers, it was not missed as much as it should have been.

“For me what mattered was that we had lost to the Jocks and I have never gone home from Wembley in such a bad mood. I was furious,” quoth Stuart Pearce of the second leg of that 1999 tie, which England lost 1-0 but still went through 2-1 on aggregate. It is tempting, from that alone, to make conclusions about the difference 15 years makes. NA

5) Japan v South Korea

A good case could be made for the North Koreans’ rivalry with the Japanese too, but it is the South who really go way back against a country with which they have grappled for regional supremacy – and so much more – since 1954.

Back then, wounds were still especially raw from Japan’s 35-year occupation of Korea, which had come to an end in 1945. Korea had subsequently been divided into north and south. In 1954 South Korea were paired with their former colonial masters in a World Cup play-off to decide who represented Asia in Switzerland. Both games had to be played in Tokyo after Syngman Rhee, the South Korean president, refused to allow the Japanese to enter his country. It mattered little: an inspired, whirlwind performance from the visitors saw Japan blown away 5-1 on home soil in the first leg, a 1-1 draw doing nothing to alter things at the second time of asking.

If that could be viewed as spectacular payback on the Koreans’ part, things have continued to bubble along in the years since. Cardiff was the venue for one flashpoint in 2012, when the pair’s Under-23 sides met in the 2012 Olympic bronze medal match and South Korea’s Park Jong-woo, whose team had just won, held up a banner proclaiming “Dodko is our territory’, referring to a group of islands claimed by both nations. And they don’t even have to be playing against each other for sensitivities to be piqued: in 1993, a late goal for Iraq against Japan sent the Koreans through to the USA World Cup at their bitter rivals’ expense. That match is known in Seoul as the “Miracle of Doha” and in Tokyo as, yes, the “Agony of Doha”. NA

6) England v Germany

Like a bigger, more intelligent and better-looking older brother, England have generally been in Germany’s footballing shadow over the years. Other than in 1966 and the clownish encounter at Euro 2000 when Kevin Keegan’s men just about succeeded in being slightly less terrible, the Germans have held sway over the English, winning in heart-breaking circumstances in 1970, 1990 and 1996, and of course the embarrassing shellacking in 2010. As if this ritual humiliation wasn’t enough, Germany were also the last team to beat England at the old Wembley, and the first to beat them at the new version, asserting their superiority at just about every turn. The imbalance extends to women’s football as well, with the Germans taking 17 of their 19 encounters, with the other two being draws.

Of course, it’s something of a one-sided rivalry that tends to bring the worst out of the more bombastic sections of the media and indeed population, with a crass reference to either world war just round the corner whenever the two sides face each other. Indeed, Germans tend not to bother particularly with England, preferring to focus their ire on Holland, their true rivals, as Marina Hyde wrote back in 2010, before Mesut Özil and chums delivered their first-order paddling in Bloemfontein: ‘From the minute England’s round of 16 destiny was clear, you will have heard much about this sainted antagonism with Germany. Yet the so-called rivalry is quite obviously an illusion, existing only in the minds of those wishful to the point of insanity – which is to say, the English. We are rivals with Germany in the same way Christine Bleakley is rivals with Oprah.’ NM

7) Serbia v Croatia

That there is no love lost between Serbia and Croatia was underlined on 22 March 2013, when the Croatians beat their rivals 2-0 in a World Cup qualifier amid a tempestuous atmosphere in the Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb. It was a rivalry whose tale was well told in the match-up between the teams’ then-managers, as Jonathan Wilson recounted at the time, and one that exploded from intra-Yugoslavian enmity (fans of leading clubs such as Dinamo Zagreb and Crvena Zvezda had famously fought before, notably in a shocking riot at the Maksimir in 1990 in the run-up to Croatian independence) to a full-blown international conflict following the terrible war that followed the old nation’s break-up. The rematch in Belgrade six months later saw honours finish even at 1-1, but it is unlikely that much bread was broken afterwards. Not only did the result rule Serbia out of any remaining interest they had in a trip to Brazil, but Croatia’s well-known shrinking violet Josip Simunic cleaned out Miralem Sulejmani with one of the most cynical challenges imaginable. Predictably, the bad blood now extends into many other sports and, even though last year’s two meetings were their first as independent countries on the football field, its early incarnations suggest that this one is going to run and run for many a year. NA

8) USA v Mexico

A rivalry spiced up by geography and a healthy dose of Mexican immigration to the States, this wasn’t much of a rivalry for some years, with Mexico losing just one game between 1937-1990. However, the Americans have improved since then, and the rivalry has gained some of the petty bickering that make feuds like this so entertaining. In 2004 before an Olympic qualifying game in Guadalajara, Landon Donovan allegedly relieved himself on the training pitch, causing a minor international incident in the Mexican media, until it was revealed that Landycakes actually did his wee in a bush outside. In the game two days later, the Mexican crowd, perhaps irked by this flagrant display of urination, responded by chanting ‘Osama! Osama! Osama!’ at the Americans. Charming. When they faced each other again three years later, Mexico keeper Oswaldo Sanchez rather cheekily attempted to trip US striker Eddie Johnson up, which might not seem that unusual, apart from the fact he did so after Johnson had scored, and was wheeling away to celebrate. NM

9) Serbia v Albania

As we have seen very recently, things are liable to go south in a hurry when these two face each other. The history between Serbia and Albania is long and complex, but Uefa didn’t deem the rivalry to be dangerous enough to keep the two apart as they had for Spain v Gibraltar and other potentially explosive encounters. As you’ll recall, the match between the two sides in October descended into chaos after a drone carrying the flag of ‘Greater Albania’ was flown into the Partizan Stadium in Belgrade, an incident covered by the Guardian’s Nick Ames at the time:

“The vision – as surreal as anything you might be confronted by at an international football match – had a dreamlike quality at first but, once the Serbian defender Stefan Mitrovic had leapt to receive the flag and was rounded upon by Albanian players hotly seeking to retrieve their national symbol, reality quickly bit. By any standards, the violence that followed was shocking. The number of marks overstepped during the next two and a half minutes may keep Uefa busy for weeks: it will want to consider the fan who attacked Bekim Balaj with a chair as he carried the flag towards the away dugout, the supporter who attempted to kick one Albania player in the head as the team fled down the tunnel never to return, even the intensity of Lorik Cana’s retaliation on Balaj’s assailant – and these are just for starters.” NM

10) Denmark v Norway

Not the first pair of countries that springs to mind when thinking about big international rivalries, but things can get pretty spicy between these two Scandinavian nations, and when things get spicy, the insults get personal and childish. Before the teams faced off in a Euro 2004 qualifier back in 2003, the Danish press referred to their rivals as ‘mountain apes’, apparently quite cross about a late John Carew equaliser in their previous encounter, as the Guardian reported at the time:

“This week the feud has left the pitch and strayed down a much more nationalistic path. The Danish newspaper BT started the unpleasantries with a piece headlined “Why we can’t lose”. Its reason was that Norway was “a nation full of losers” and “blue-eyed Arabs” and it also complained about their attitude to sex - Norwegians are over-horny, apparently.” NM