Chelsea and Arsenal's rivalry is nothing compared to these top ten grudge match-ups

According to the dictionary rivalry is the state of two sides with ongoing competition. That pretty much means that any two teams/persons that take part in the same competition that has them meeting more than once a season or in multiple seasons can have a rivalry. Just as we use it in the English language, every team within the competition is a rival to the other. With this line of thinking there are probably an uncountable number of rivalries in sports. How can one such rivalry stand out then? How do you rank rivalries?

It’s a fair question. First of all, every rivalry is the most important one for those who actually play a part in it. So rule number one is, it has to be widely known to make any top ten lists. But what makes a rivalry great? As you will see with this list I have compiled below, that only a general answer can be given to this specific question; it’s the circumstances that make certain rivalries stand out. It could be due to a long historical, political, geographical reason, or maybe down to plain weirdness but certain 'rivalries' are just more upfront, more memorable than others.

With this I bring you my top 10 list of rivalries:


10. Hungary vs USSR (Water Polo, 1956 Olympics)

Being Hungarian, I definitely had to include this one on the list. Knowing all the details I can clearly state that this one has a place on the all-time list. Hungary’s national team (and all Soviet bloc teams for that matter) were regularly invited to play against the 'great' Soviet teams. With the matches taking place in Russia, and with referees that were prepped to help the home side, any such excursion was a painful affair and had no real indication on which was the better team. Shortly before the 1956 Olympics began, Hungary played a preparation match in Russia. They promptly lost due to a plethora of dreadful calls which greatly favoured the home side. With the political events in that year (a revolution going on whilst the Hungarian Olympic team traveled to Australia) the water polo match between the USSR and Hungary took on a new role. The match was anything but a contest, with the Russians being baffled by not getting the 'calls' they had grown used to. Hungary’s national team jumped out of the gate with a 4-0 lead and never allowed their opponents back in it. Why we still remember is down to the punch by Valentin Prokopov that found Ervin Zádor’s head which was so hard that Zádor started bleeding instantly and the next day the image was captured in newspapers around the world -  alongside the picture of Soviet tanks reclaiming Hungary’s capital.


9. Manchester Utd vs Every team in the Premiership (Football, England)

The Premiership has its fair share of rivalries ranging from the  north London derby (Arsenal- Tottenham) to the rivalry of Liverpool and Everton. These are all nice and dandy yet probably none has the ultimate hatred needed to stir up a top ten rivalry. What does however live up to the specifications needed to get on this list is the collective hatred every team has towards the one side which has dominated the Premiership since 1992 (and the First Division before it). Manchester United, who have not won the title in three years, are still recognised as Public Enemy No. 1 as far as all other teams in the league are concerned. Even Chelsea (the team that dominated for two seasons) admit, that no matter what the current standings show, playing and beating Manchester United is one of the most satisfying things in the world.


8. England vs Australia (Cricket, The Ashes)

I sincerely do not know a single thing about cricket, other than that the words bowl and wicket do come up from time to time, and that there is some kind of bat and a ball involved. Thus the fact that I am well aware that a series between England and Australia is known as The Ashes pretty much solidifies the notion, that it is one of the top rivalries in sports. My English teacher in college – a nice chap, who generally was quite fond of Australia as far as I know – would teach us select curses about Australia for about a month when England would lose out. Any sporting rivalry that has this kind of effect on a gentleman like my teacher, deserves to get on this list.


7. Los Angeles Lakers vs Boston Celtics (Basketball, NBA)

Not many people can say that they do not know who Larry Bird and Magic Johnson are. The rivalry of these two fierce competitors has elevated a rivalry between these two famed teams to a whole new level. Before Bird and Magic arrived on the scene Boston was the undisputed best franchise in the NBA. The Celtics had won so many championships that not a soul cared about the fact that the Lakers held records for the most wins in one season or anything in that mold. Then these two iconic figures entered the league. Magic immediately changed the way the game was played with his 'showtime' style. Bird was just as much fun to watch, and these two raised TV ratings not only stateside, but worldwide as well. Both had their share of championships won against the other, and whilst both teams still have an unexplainable hatred for each other, the fact that whilst the Lakers continued to be one of the elite, the Celtics have seen some tough times lately and this rivalry is lower on the list than it would have been ten years ago.


6. John McEnroe vs the Umpires (Tennis)

It might just be me, but whenever I think of tennis the first thing that comes to my mind is not any of the player vs player rivalries (and there have been many heated ones) but it’s an image of John McEnroe yelling with an umpire. This has become such a trademark of the sport and of the player, that even today we can see a car commercial which refers to the incidents of the past. The tally of this rivalry? Oh, about 200 broken rackets, more curse words used at Wimbledon than ever before (and since), and a new generation having seen what one of the greatest players of all time did. McEnroe's constant outbursts were fun, they gave tennis a new life, a new fan base. Imagine a rivalry making tennis a (semi)extreme sport - definitely deserving of being on the list.


5. Tonya Harding vs. Nancy Kerrigan (Figure Skating)

If figure skating is a sport, then this 'rivalry' is a must for the top 5. Even if the whole rivalry is about just one act, and that act has not much to do with the sport, it still should be near the top of any rivalry list. In case you don’t remember, Tonya and Nancy were both favoured to win in the 1994 Winter Olympics (neither did eventually). On one of the US Olympic selection events, the US Championships, Tonya hired someone to club Nancy on the knee, thus forcing her to retire from the race. As far as I’m concerned any rivalry, no matter how short lived it was, where one party assaults the other to win, is worthy of a Top Five. And we should not forget the fact that this rivalry got male sports lovers to watch figure skating event (something that hasn't happened since, and probably never will again).


4. North Carolina Tar Heels vs Duke Blue Devils (NCAA College Basketball)

Let me just state, that anyone who likes NCAA basketball and isn’t a Blue Devil fan deeply hates the Blue Devils. Yet that barely scratches the surface of how deeply the Tar Heels and their fans hate the Blue Devils and their fans, and vice versa. These are two highly acclaimed basketball powerhouses that play in the same conference, that reside only eight miles from each other, and who have enjoyed enormous success as far as the players they have groomed and the ACC and national championships won. It has all the makings of one of the great rivalries, and it is the number one team sports rivalry in the US. 


3. Real Madrid vs. Barcelona (Football, Spain)

Any match-up that gets the name El Classico, has to be a Top Three rivalry. Real-Barca is considered one of Europe's fiercest sporting rivalries. The match between the clubs is generally considered to be one of the biggest in all club sports. Two regions, Catalonia and Castile reflect political and cultural tensions (working class Barcelona against the royalty of Real making this one of the most unique rivalries in any team sport.


2.Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier (boxing)

Three epic fights have made this boxing rivalry the best of the best when no politics are involved. Ali was thought to be quicker and more agile, Frazier was thought to be more powerful - these two were simply two of the best boxers in the world. The Fight of the Century (Ali-Frazier I) saw Frazier surprise Ali. The first of three fights already showed just how significant this rivalry would become (there were riots in cities because theatres had to drop showing the bout on a closed-circuit TV channel.) The Revenge (Ali-Frazier II) and the Thriller in Manila (Ali-Frazier III) all had Ali coming out as the winner. The second fight actually started in an ABC studio, where the two were to appear together to recap the first fight. After Ali had some choice words for Frazier the two started boxing live in the studio. Some believe the official second fight was actually duller than what had happened in the studio. The third was probably the best fight of them all and laid the groundwork for every Hollywood fight movie. Ali started well, Frazier came back, then Ali got a few tough hits in and Frazier’s corner threw the towel. Whilst Ali won the match, both of them were considered winners after the bout. A scriptwriter would have had trouble coming up with such a climax and ending to this rivalry, truly one of the greatest of all time.


1. USA vs USSR (sports in general)

This actually goes well beyond sports, it has been made into the fight between good and evil, between what’s right and what’s wrong. Which side was good was decided by your geographical location. Add the fact that any rivalry that completely messes up two summer Olympics (not events, the whole show), like this rivalry had in the eighties in Moscow and Los Angeles has to be on the top of this list. This rivalry has blemished any feats of those who won in the 1980 and 1984 games as both times the field of participants was far from being complete. Many athletes who won gold, to this day consider themselves robbed, as their achievement will forever have an asterisk next to it, to remind us, that not all nations participated in the event. No other rivalry has inspired more movies, TV shows, computer games than this one. Of course it also has the unfair advantage of being a worldwide political rivalry first and foremost, with the sporting rivalry coming a distant second.

In any sport, for both sides, a loss to the other was unacceptable and held consequences we can’t even fathom today. Many Americans had forgotten about the tragic events of the 1972 Munich Olympics (at least until the movie reminded them), but almost all remember the basketball final where a celebrating US squad had to come back onto a packed floor to replay the last few seconds against the USSR and lose. It was considered a huge tragedy in the US.

Just how big is this rivalry? The 1980 'miracle on ice' story lately focuses on the sole fact that the US beat the USSR. Anything else is not that important. Yes, the Russians were favored to win the tournament, but Sweden and Finland were both considered to be likely winners as well. What got lost is exactly what has made this a special miracle. The US was seeded seventh with no-one entertaining any thoughts of them winning the whole thing. I bet you that most Americans would have no idea that the US had to play a four-team round robin event to win. And this is an event that was depicted by a recently made, well-watched movie.