The approach to La Bombonera roars that one is about to enter something that goes far beyond the realms of football normality.
The path descends into a park where harmless fairground carousels circulate, their tinkling music submerged beneath explosions of pyrotechnics that resemble military artillery in their power to jolt the senses.
Then you cross a railroad track and the stadium comes into view. It is guarded by cordons of riot police. There are searches, demands for identification and then you climb the ladder to the highest point of the terrace.
The stadium bounces, the terrace trembles underfoot. The noise is constant, the light show spectacular. Fans climb the wire mesh fences that separate the crowd from the players.
There is much to witness, hear and experience. It’s the day of the Boca Juniors-River Plate derby. There are two hours left until the start of the largest local skirmish on the planet.
Here are the 10 best soccer derbies in the world. There are some criteria. I have chosen only one from any country. And I have ruled out classics like Barcelona-Real Madrid or Bayern Munich-Borussia Dortmund to concentrate on urban or regional rivalry.
Tensions boil over in the Buenos Aires 2023 derby between Boca Juniors and River Plate
The view of the iconic La Bombonera stadium on derby day is unlike any other in world football
Former Manchester United defender Marcos Rojo delights in his gaze upon entering La Bombonera
1 Boca Juniors-River Plate
The most intense football experience of my life was the 10 days I spent in Buenos Aires and I attended five games.
This immersion in the largest football city in the world was golden with a derby. There are multiple theses about the difference between Boca and River. Some involve finance, class, and politics.
Whatever it is, it’s also visceral. Fans identify with their team. On a tour of El Monumental, River’s stadium, I asked the guide what the club meant to him. “It’s my life,” he responded.
2 Celtic against Rangers
This could be dismissed as a parochial election. However, the truth is that in a lifetime traveling the world for football, there has been one constant. People hear your accent and ask you about the derby.
Its sporting importance far exceeds its weight. It stands as a unique event that will be known throughout the world without any sporting context.
3 Partizan Belgrade – Red Star Belgrade
This has a political history, since the clubs represented the sports wing of sectors of the communist government.
It has survived the death of communism and, in fact, may have even increased its antipathy. The lands are separated by 400 meters. There is a park in this area that usually becomes a battlefield on derby day.
Partizan Belgrade and Red Star Belgrade fans always guarantee a colorful atmosphere
Souness risks causing a civil war by planting a Galatasaray flag on the Fenerbahce pitch in 1996
4 Fenerbahce – Galatasaray
Known as the Intercontinental, because Fenerbahçe is from the Asian side of the city and Galatasaray is from the European side, this rivalry dates back to 1935, when a match was abandoned after off-field riots and on-field brutality occurred. It was a friendly one.
It has, of course, a Scottish link: Graeme Souness, then Galatasaray manager, placed a club flag in the center circle after emerging victorious in the 1996 cup final.
5 AC Milan – Internazionale
Two of the best teams in the world (although Italian football has been one of the main victims of the dominance of the English Premier League) share one of the most historic stadiums in the world.
The clash has featured some of the best players in the history of the game over the years. It has enduring appeal beyond Italy.
Sulley Muntari approaches David Beckham in a Milan derby in 2009.
Peñarol fans take advantage of any point to watch the clash with Nacional at the Centenario stadium
6 Nacional vs Peñarol
It is sometimes forgotten that Uruguay was once the leading soccer power in South America and won the first World Cup.
Nacional and Peñarol share the city of Montevideo and the reduced circumstances of the domestic game have not diluted the passion that the game provokes.
Nacional proudly clings to the tradition of being created for local players, while Peñarol was largely the construction of European immigrants.
7 Corinthians – Palmeiras
The temptation was to opt for a Rio de Janeiro derby, but the clash between rivals from Sao Paulo is irresistible.
It is described in social and economic terms. Corinthians clings to its working-class roots, while Palmeiras, a club created by the city’s Italian community, has gravitated upward in economic terms.
In the Copa Libertadores semi-final against Boca in 2023, Palmeiras fans burned Argentine currency in La Bombonera to show contempt for the locals’ economic problems.
The regional clash between Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao has become spicier over the years
8 Athletic Bilbao-Real Sociedad
The Basque derby does not divide a city (the Society has its headquarters in San Sebastián) but it divides a population.
It is probably the most benign derby on the list, although its acrimony has increased in recent years.
It would be best seen in San Mamés, located in the center of Bilbao, where the atmosphere is spectacular and fans spill out into the streets full of bars and restaurants.
9 Al Ahly – Zamalek
The Cairo derby has its origins in 1917, but has prospered over the years thanks to the success of both clubs.
Zamalek’s Kabongo Kasongo aims a kick at Al Ahly’s Aliou Badji during a Cairo derby in 2020
Fan violence is routine, although the worst incident in Egyptian football occurred after a match between Al Ahly and Al Masry in Port Said in 2012, when 74 people died following a pitch invasion.
10Borussia Dortmund-Schalke
The Revierderby is contested by two teams whose cities are located 32 kilometers away from each other in the Ruhr Valley.
Meetings with Schalke in Buli 2 have become a rarity lately, but the rivalry is the largest in Germany, eclipsing Dortmund-Bayern, which is a modern construction based on purely sporting issues without other problems.