Classic Derbies and Epic Rivalries: A Journey Through the World’s Most Captivating Football Clashes

by Andy Bollen

Andy Bollen explores the history, tradition and violent nature of football's biggest clashes.

In unravelling the history of these infamous feuds, Bollen gets to the crux of each conflict, exploring why the fans dislike each other so vehemently.

Football is often a search for political identity, as in Spain's El Clásico between Barcelona and Real Madrid, while in Buenos Aires' Superclásico, it's poverty and privilege at the heart of the rivalry between working-class Boca Juniors and bourgeois River Plate.

Whether it's the Cairo derby with Al Ahly and Zamalek, the Croatian chaos of Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split or Turkey's Intercontinental derby with Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe, these clashes are a potent mix of fanatical zealot, political rally and crazed ultras preparing for war.

Showcasing and detailing football's great games, names and most memorable moments, Bollen has penned an important work on classic derbies and epic rivalries.

Genres: Football

288 pages, Paperback

Published March 4, 2025

Reviews

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I always judge these types of books based on what they have to say about the Eternal Derby of Belgrade. The notion is simple - if the chapter that I am most knowledgeable about is well-researched and worth reading, then I can be assured that the author did a similar job discussing the other derbies I may not be as familiar with. If, however, the Belgrade chapter is a disrespectful propaganda piece of shit that the author probably spent an hour tops ,,researching" by reading a couple of articles from the first page of Google search, as is the case with this ,,book" (it's not really a book, it's a collection of Wikipedia information and blatant contextless misinformation), then I'm sure it's not worth reading at all.