About rivals.football

We love derby day

rivals.football is the brainchild of Rob Clarkson. Rob is from the red side of Sheffield and came up with the idea of rivals.football in late 2024, whilst looking forward to his son's first Sheffield derby experience:

"My son Alex has been a season ticket holder at United since birth but had never been to a Sheffield derby (the teams have largely been in different divisions since he regularly started going to matches). But with our relegation from the Premier League in 2024 and their promotion from League One, he was very much looking forward to his first derby experience.

"I'd spent time in the weeks leading up to the match showing him some of the golden moments of the past - our 4-2 win away at Hillsborough in 2017, Michael Brown's incredible volley on that Friday night in 2003 and of course the Bobby Davison derby in 1992 (which was actually my first ever away game).

(Apologies - if you're not a Sheffield United fan, none of the above will mean anything to you).

"It was then that I realised that there's no websites which celebrate the uniqueness of derby days. Sure, you can go online and find out how many wins and losses each team has. But you can't easily find the really important stats - the stuff that really matters for football fans. And that's when rivals.football was born"

A note on statistics

The stats you can find on this website are sourced manually from various different websites and record books.

Most derbies go back to the late 1800s when record-keeping wasn't as good as it is today - goalscorer names should be largely accurate (though some are missing). Attendance figures were largely rough guesses in the early days of football, but all stats are as accurate as I could find from multiple trustworthy websites. Saying that, if you spot something that's amiss, please contact me to let me know.

Disciplinary records for all teams should be accurate back to around the year 2000.

You'll also probably notice an abundance of 90th minute goals - that's because it's only fairly recently the official record books have recorded how deep into injury time something has happened (eg, a winner in 90+6 would have been reported as simply 90 just a few years ago).

Which games count?

We've only included competitive derbies here. Friendlies do not count, nor do matches between youth teams (including the EFL Trophy), women's games or matches played during the regional wartime leagues.

FAQs

Why isn't my team's derby covered?

Time. I've tried to start with the biggest/fierciest rivalries in the UK, but getting the data is a manual process and can take a long time to get. I'm constantly working on adding new derbies, they will be added to the site on an ongoing basis. If there's a particular derby you'd like to see stats for, please contact me.

How can I help?

If you want to lend a hand researching data that would be great - it's a non-technical task that anyone with an internet connection can do. If you'd like to help, please get in touch.

Why is some data missing?

I've scoured the internet for as much information as I can find, but sometimes it's just not readily available.

Why isn't the data up-to-date?

Data is updated manually and can take a little time to do so. Feel free to reach out if you'd like to help though!

Why is my team listed second against our rivals?

It's not favouritism. All rivalries are listed a-z by team name, so Arsenal come before Tottenham, Everton before Liverpool, Aston Villa before Birmingham.

I have spotted a mistake - can you fix it?

Happy to fix any mistakes that are found - simply drop me an email to let me know what needs changing.

Can I use your data?

Of course! I don't own any of the data, I have simply pulled it from multiple sources and displayed it in an interesting way. Feel free to pull any stat you see and use it on your website or anywhere else. It would be super awesome if you could mention the site and link back to us though.

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Rob's other websites

Rob also runs the successful footballgroundmap.com website which allows fans to tick off the stadiums they have visited and create an online map. From a small Facebook app in the mid-2000s, the site has now grown to a database of over 30,000 stadiums and (almost) 200,000 registered users. The site also sells a range of posters allowing you show off your progress on your wall.

Buy Rob a Pint

If you enjoy football.rivals and would like to say thanks, you can buy me a pint using the buttons below. Cheers!

Buy Rob a Pint (£5)