2025-26 Derby Tracker (Preliminary Version)
By: AT
Image Credit: Liam McKay
*Read the first article of our next project: tracking famous football derbies around Europe! (Potentially expanding to leagues around the world.)
Introduction
Around the world, football contains many matches that breed excitement among fanbases. These matches include season openers, home openers, thrilling end-of-season matches with high stakes, domestic cup finals and prestigious champions league matches.
To the supporters’ excitement, however, no matches are better suited than derby matches, from local rivalries within cities or regions to prestige-based rivalries involving two of a country’s most iconic clubs (think Liverpool FC versus Manchester United — the two EPL clubs with the most leagues titles — or Der Klassiker between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund). Other rivalries are both local and prestige-based (think Il Derby della Madonnina between AC Milan and Inter Milan), whereas some rivalries contain both elements, plus politics (think El Clásico between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid).
This tracker provides an overview of the most prestigious and highly anticipated derby matchups across Europe’s top five leagues: Bundesliga, LaLiga, Ligue 1, Premier League (EPL) and Serie A.
We start with a derby that, so far this season, took place on September 21, 2025: Il Derby della Capitale/Rome Derby.
Derby della Capitale/Rome Derby
This derby, between the two Serie A clubs from Rome, the capital of Italy, is undoubtedly Italy’s most hostile and violent clash. The matchup also consists of the only two clubs from the Lazio region — hence the name of one of the clubs: SS Lazio. As well, both clubs share the iconic Stadio Olimpico, which hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics, the 1990 FIFA World Cup final (a 1-0 West Germany victory against Argentina) and the 2008-09 UEFA Champions League final (a 2-0 FC Barcelona victory against Manchester United).
In anticipation of the major clash of clubs, the Rome police, sometimes with assistance from the Carabinieri — the Italian federal police — deploy platoons of officers to patrol the streets and parks of The Eternal City. Scores of cafes, restaurants and stores shudder their doors for the day — either due to concerns for their property or because of their personnel taking time off to watch the match.
Both clubs have distinct fanbases. AS Roma, known by their colours as I Gallorossi (the yellow and reds), generally boast supporters from the southern city districts, including Esquilino, San Lorenzo and Pigneto; SS Lazio, known by their colours as Biancocelesti (the white and sky-blues), generally boast supporters from the city’s northern districts — including Parioli, Flaminio and Monte Mario — and several peripheral and rural areas within the Lazio region.
Moreover, this rivalry is politically charged: Roma supporters generally sit on the left side of the political spectrum, whereas Lazio generally sit on the right side of that spectrum.
On the pitch, hostilities persist. It is very common for players from both clubs (though these days, mostly from Lazio) to receive red cards throughout the match, as well as supplemental disciplinary action following the match — from fines to additional suspensions. Most of the recent expulsions during these matches have taken place near the end of the match or after the final whistle.
Historically, both clubs have played each other 163 times, including the match that took place on September 21, 2025. The derby record is the following:
59 Roma wins;
42 Lazio wins; and
62 draws.
The September 21, 2025 match ended in a 1-0 away victory for Roma, which was the first derby match for newly hired Roma manager Gian Piero Gasperini. It was the first of at least two matchups that are scheduled to take place throughout the 2025-26 season. Also, Lazio midfielders Reda Belahyane and Matteo Guendouzi received direct red cards (i.e., having not received a yellow card earlier in the match) during that match. Belahyane earned his red card at the 86th minute after a dangerous and unnecessary tackle on Roma midfielder Manu Koné; Guendouzi earned his red card after the final whistle, likely for using extreme foul language towards the match officials.
The next Derby della Capitale match is scheduled to take place on May 26, 2026. It will be both clubs’ penultimate Serie A match of the 2025-26 season, as well as Roma’s final home match of the season.
Image credit: Ferdinand Stöhr
El Derbi Madrileño/Madrid Derby
This derby, between the two biggest clubs from Madrid, the capital of Spain, is one of the country’s most known and fierce rivalries, perhaps behind only the famous El Clásico. That said, however, El Derbi Madrileño is undoubtedly Spain’s most fierce local rivalry. Although the two clubs each have their own stadiums — the contemporary Estadio Metropolitano for Atlético and the iconic Santiago Bernabéu for Real Madrid — this derby is a battle to conquer the Spanish capital.
Both clubs were originally founded by student groups. While both clubs boast fanbases worldwide today, historically, people residing in Madrid have generally supported one of the two clubs according to their economic standing. Supporters of Real Madrid were typically in the middle- to upper-classes, whereas supporters of Atlético were predominantly of the working class. While Real Madrid piqued the interests of such supporters as Francisco Franco, Atlético attracted supporters from such working class neighbourhoods (at least at the time) as Vallecas and Arganzuela.
Atlético had originally played in the Madrid district of Vallecas, but then moved to Arguanzuela, where they played at Estadio Vicente Calderón, their former iconic home ground. However, as the Spanish economy and society broadened, and employment and living opportunities opened up to individuals of all classes, both clubs became appealing for supporters from all socio-economic classes. Today, Real Madrid are the most followed football club in the world on social media, boasting 306.5 million followers across Facebook, Instagram, Tik-Tok and X/Twitter.
Both clubs became fierce rivals in no time. However, until the 2010s, Real Madrid dominated the derby almost every season. While Real Madrid also became the most successful club in Spain and Europe — which culminated in Real Madrid winning the first (and only) Club of the Century award — Atlético languished in mediocrity, continually suffering heartbreaking results (for example, the 4-0 loss against Bayern Munich in the replay match of the 1973-74 European Cup final) or enduring relegation to Segunda División at the turn of the 21st century.
This continual misery culminated in Atlético becoming known as El pupas (the cursed/jinxed one) by both their opponents and fanbase. However, that curse — and a 14-year winless streak against Real Madrid — snapped in 2013 after Atlético shockingly defeated a star-studded Real Madrid squad in the 2013 Copa del Rey/Spanish cup final by a 2-1 score after extra-time. Since then, owed in part to Diego Simeone’s stewardship as Atlético manager, the rivalry has become consistently competitive, with both clubs duelling in the 2013-14 and the 2015-16 UEFA Champions League (UCL) finals. In another saga of El pupas heartbreaks, Real Madrid defeated Atlético in both UCL finals (4-1 after extra-time in 2014 and on penalties after finishing 1-1 after extra-time in 2016).
Overall, both clubs have played each other 241 times across all competitions, including the match that took place on September 27, 2025. The Madrid Derby record is the following:
123 Real Madrid wins;
60 Atlético Madrid wins; and
58 draws.
The September 27, 2025 match ended in a resounding 5-2 Atlético home victory, courtesy in part of a Julian Álvarez brace in the second half. That victory extended Atlético’s unbeaten streak against their rivals to six matches, equaling a personal record for Simeone, which was previously completed in February 2016. While Simeone faced Real Madrid for the 48th time in his managerial career, newly hired Real Madrid manager Xabi Alonso (a former Real Madrid player) faced Atlético for the first time as the manager of Los Blancos.
The next Derbi Madrileño match is scheduled to take place on March 22, 2026.
