"My greatest challenge is not what's happening at the moment, my greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their f****** perch. And you can print that." Sir Alex Ferguson said this in 2002 on Manchester United’s never-ending rivalry with Liverpool.
10 summers later, United had leapfrogged The Reds to become the most successful club in England. Debated, heated and globally followed, this derby is one of the world’s most charismatic.
Derbies have a different flavour – they are indescribable. Football becomes more than a sport, and jersey colors start flowing in veins, replacing the red of blood. Potshots, fervent banter, and unapologetic attacks add to the excitement of such matches. TV TRP records break on such matches, countries come to a stand-still and football becomes the centre of the Earthly Universe.
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If you’re a football fan, you have a rival.
Football has been growing in India, but we have our share of interesting and intense rivalries on-and-off the pitch. Let’s take a look at some of India’s finest footballing rivalries.
#5 Mohammedan Sporting FC vs Mohun Bagan FC
London has Arsenal, Chelsea, and Spurs, who fight out very exciting derbies. Arsenal and Chelsea have been the better than Spurs and there’s a similar story brewing in India’s footballing capital, Kolkata. With East Bengal and Mohun Bagan being the top 2, Mohammedan Sporting FC has played the role of spoilsport in the recent past.
Historically richer than East Bengal FC, Mohammedan Sporting and its rivalry with India’s most successful club goes back a long way. Having been founded in 1891, Mohammedan had more than just football in its mind. With a pan-India Nationalistic support going towards the Green-and-maroons, Mohammedan Sporting had communal support from the Muslims, who formed a major part of India.
The rivalry between these two teams is said to be one of the most hard-fought games in the history of Indian football. Football researchers reveal that Mohammedan Sporting has lost a lot of its fanbase since partition in 1947, but still has a lot of backing from various parts of the country. Mohun Bagan, on the other hand, has always had a dedicated support base, which seems immovable.
The teams have had their fair share of success and failures, but when they face-off on the field, fireworks are bound to happen. Both call the shots on being more important in India’s freedom struggle, and thus, they keep fighting for proving the supremacy over the other. Both the clubs have numerous records to their name and form the triumvirate of ‘Big 3’ of Indian football, along-with East Bengal FC.
#4 Dempo SC vs Salgaocar FC
A one-of-a-kind rivalry in India’s second most football frenzy state, Goa, Dempo SC vs Salgaocar goes beyond their names.
Owned by Dempo Corp, Dempo SC was founded in 1968 and has Srinivas Dempo as its Chairman while Salgaocar was founded in 1956 by Shivanand Salgaocar. Both the clubs fight to prove the ascendancy in the state with Portuguese roots.
Salgaocar, being the older club, always believed it had the bragging rights but Dempo SC in the recent past has silenced all such notions. With 9 trophies in the last 12 years, Dempo SC has won over huge fan support in Goa. Salgaocar, on the other hand, has 11 domestic trophies in its entire history.
Known for dominant, creative and fast football, Dempo SC had set high footballing standards in the country from 2005 – 2012, in which they won the National League 5 times and other domestic trophies too.
Touted as one of the most creative derbies in India in terms of football game-play, the whole city comes to a standstill when these two teams meet.
In the I-League, Dempo SC wins the duel hands down. The two highly-competitive teams have played 22 matches between them, in which Dempo leads the charts, having won 10, losing 4 and drawing the remaining 8 matches.
#3 Kerala Blasters FC vs Chennaiyin FC
While Dempo SC vs Salgaocar is about State supremacy, this one is about regional authority. The two southern states of India - Kerala and Tamil Nadu fight it out for domination over this regional terrain.
Kerala Blasters is owned by Indian cricket superstar Sachin Tendulkar, while Chennaiyin FC has current cricket fans’ favorite MS Dhoni in the board. If this wasn’t rollicking enough, both teams made sure they made their home grounds their fortresses.
These two states have crazy fan bases and the grounds see unimaginable support whenever the two teams face each other.
Head-to-head, both the teams have equal bragging rights. While Kerala defeated Chennaiyin in the first ISL’s semi-finals, Chennaiyin went on to win the second edition of ISL, going one-up on Kerala Blasters.
These teams are sure to dominate Indian football in the years to come, and with that unrivaled support, they’re sure to have their ‘12th man’ intact. Kerala Blasters had the highest home support in the first season of ISL, with over 45,000 people cheering the team.
#2 Royal Wahingdoh vs Shillong Lajong FC
A rivalry in a region which produces the most talented players, this derby is high stakes and intense. There’s a different character to the matches between these two sides. They play a quick, counter-attacking game with players having great determination to win and are full of youthful exuberance.
Fighting out every year in the Shillong Premier League, both clubs have had almost equal spoils in the region. Both these clubs intend to spot, train and nurture the local football talent.
Both clubs have produced fine players and act like feeder clubs to the richer Indian clubs, and they keep coming up with new superstars every now and then.
Shillong Lajong and Royal Wahingdoh haven’t really made their presence felt in the I-League and shuffle between the lower divisions and the I-League. Minimal budgets, the advent of ISL and inadequate facilities have stopped these two clubs from becoming powerhouses in Indian football.
The teams have usually shared the spoils between them, with no clear favorites, keeping the competitiveness alive and nurturing.
Shillong Lajong FC won the Shillong Premier League on the last two occasions, in 2014 and 2015, while Royal Wahingdoh has the record of highest number of consecutive Shillong Premier League titles, bringing parity to the rivalry.
This is one of the most exciting, full of talents and fairly played rivalries in the country.
#1 East Bengal FC and Mohun Bagan FC
No brownie points for guessing the biggest rivalry in Indian football. Probably the only rivalry in India which has the ferocity similar of a United-Liverpool, Madrid-Barca or Inter-Milan derby, the Kolkata derby is the most followed derby in the country, hands down.
In a derby in 1997, a total audience of 131,000 filled the Salt Lake Stadium! Such fan frenzy has never been recorded in Indian sporting history, let alone football.
The history of these two teams goes back more than 100 years in history and has intensified over the years. Most of the greats of Indian football have been part of either of the clubs at some point in their careers, some playing for both.
Mohun Bagan is about 3 decades older than East Bengal and has won 248 trophies in total, while East Bengal sits comfortably as India's second most successful club with 136 trophies. The two clubs can brag about being the ‘Top 2’ of Indian football, without a doubt.
On head-to-head basis, since the advent of I-League, East Bengal seems to be the better club. These two clubs have met 37 times in the I-League, East Bengal winning on 15 occasions, while Mohun Bagan winning 11 and drawing 11. Let statistics rest for now.
Kolkata runs on its football, and football runs on these two teams. The fan bases are divided. Ghotis, referred to Kolkata natives, are the supporters of Mohun Bagan and immigrants from Bangladesh, known as Bangals, are strongholds of East Bengal. There have been deaths, bombings, fires and even stampedes at this derby, which describes just a little about the intensity of these games.
Thus, the Kolkata derby has seen and felt et al. Every match – irrespective of the tournament – between these teams grabs headlines.
This derby is even touted to be one of Asia’s most talked-about and intense derbies.
