From Aberdeen to Zimbabwe, football – at both club and international level – is blessed with intense rivalries across the globe. Those hostilities could be steeped in geographical proximity or historical competitiveness, but either way there’s noting quite like the intensity of a grudge match in football.
But when it comes to rivalries in the beautiful game, few regions do it quite as fierce as in South America – as evidenced by the clash between Corinthians and Palmeiras in Brazil’s Serie A in November 2024, which saw a pig’s head thrown onto the pitch.
Meanwhile in Brazil, a real pig’s head was thrown onto the pitch during the derby match Corinthians – Palmeiras. 😳🐗🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/NBx20hy7Sc
— 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐔𝐥𝐭𝐫𝐚 𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 (@thecasualultra) November 6, 2024
Paulista Derby
From El Clásico to the Derby della Madonnina, you know a football rivalry is good when it has its own name that is known across the globe. The classic clash between Corinthians and Palmeiras is known as the ‘Derby Paulista’, which is drawn from the proximity between the two clubs in Sao Paulo. Like all bitter rivalries, these two sides have that locality that tends to promote a certain level of hatred (be it pantomime or otherwise) between the two sets of supporters, but there’s also a cultural angle at play, too.
Corinthians is the club of the working-class people of Sao Paulo. Founded in 1910, they have long been one of the most popular outfits in Brazil. Palmeiras, meanwhile, were originally called Palestra Italia: a nod to the club’s roots as a representative of the large Italian expat community in the city.
It All Started with an Ox Bone
The rivalry was forged as far back as 1918, when the Palestra Italia (they wouldn’t switch their name to Palmeiras until 1942) players spotted the Corinthians team eating lunch. They found an ox bone, wrote a rough translation of, ‘Corinthians are chicken soup’ upon it, and tossed it at the refectory where the meal was taking place. Apparently, the very same bone is on display in Corinthians’ trophy cabinet to this day.
The passion and desire of the two sets of supporters is intense, to say the least, and defeat to the rival can have serious consequences; in 1933, Palmeiras defeated Corinthians by a mammoth 8-0 scoreline, which enraged Corinthians fans so much that they tried to burn down their own club’s headquarters.
Violent Scenes
There’s always been angst between the pair in the years since, which came to a head in 2018 when the two teams played out a championship decider over two legs. The fixture went to a penalty shootout at Palmeiras’ stadium, which Corinthians duly won, and that sparked violent scenes across the city, with entire subway trains destroyed.
Why a Pig?
But nothing made global headlines quite like that 2024 meeting between the sides. Palmeiras adopted the pig as their mascot back in the 1980s, and since then they have been informally known as ‘porcos’ by Corinthians supporters. All of which probably helps to explain why a pig’s head was thrown onto the pitch when the teams met at the Corinthians Arena. It was a rather ghastly sight, and a reminder of just how deep football rivalries run in South America.
Superclásico
There are many much-vaunted football writers and reporters around the globe that describe the ‘Superclásico’ rivalry between Boca Juniors and River Plate in Argentina as the best in the world. And by ‘best’, they mean the fiercest, most intense and bloodthirsty.
Superclásico ticks all three boxes of great football rivalries: it’s local, with both Boca and River Plate based in Buenos Aires and it is socio-cultural. River were typically supported by the monied, hence their ‘Los Millonarios’ nickname, and Boca by the working class and Italian immigrants, many of whom worked in agriculture – hence the cruel ‘Manure Collectors’ nickname bestowed upon them by River fans.
A Truly Raucous Affair
It’s a competitive rivalry too… these are the most decorated clubs in the Argentinean game, and apparently 70% of the country’s population supports one or the other. So, when they meet, be it at La Bombonera or River’s gigantic Estadio Mas Monumental home, it’s a rather raucous affair, with the terraces bedecked in the blue-and-yellow of Boca or the red-and-white of their rivals.
The rivalry celebrated its centenary back in 2013, and, in truth, there’s simply not enough column inches here to mention every single flashpoint in one of the most vibrant – and, occasionally, violent – fixtures in football. If the action on the pitch is manic enough, what goes on before and after the Superclásico is all the more terrifying. From gun battles to knife fights, pockets of Buenos Aires are a no-go zone on the day of the game.
The Puerta 12 Disaster
The two clubs are joined in tragedy – the Puerta 12 disaster saw 74 people die as they tried to exit El Monumental back in 1968. As is common in such moments, they were unable to put on a united front; both clubs blaming the other for causing the tragic stampede that ensued.
Fla–Flu
Although there’s plenty of other intense rivalries worthy of mention across South America, the annual clashes between Flamengo and Fluminense in Brazil are steeped in history.
The Guinness World Records cites Brazil and Uruguay’s World Cup game in 1950 as the best-attended in history where more than 170,000 crammed into the Maracanã Stadium, shared by Flamengo and Fluminense. But the unofficial highest attendance in football came when the two sides met in 1963 – a mammoth 194,000 passing through the turnstiles at the iconic venue.
1911: The Antagonism Begins
The antagonism between the clubs began way back in 1911 when Flamengo didn’t even exist. But a group of ten Fluminense players, disgruntled about how the club was being run, quit the Fluzao and helped to found Flamengo instead. Although not as bloodthirsty and outwardly aggressive as Superclásico, there’s still plenty of ill-feeling between two of the best-supported clubs in Brazil – as many as nine Fla-Flu derbies were watched by crowds in excess of 130,000, before seating and new safety measures saw the capacity at the Maracanã capped at 73,000.
While the ultimate source of success in Brazilian club football is Serie A, there’s still so much desire to win the regional competitions – not least the Campeonato Carioca, the state football league of Rio de Janeiro. The two teams have won this regional title 71 times between them, sharing the last six up to 2024. Getting one over on their rivals is the driving force behind the success of Flamengo and Fluminense here.
