10 Greatest Sports Rivalries in History [Ranked]

Sport in general is one of the biggest interests in the world as today, the vast majority of sport is big business. Most games and past times have been successfully commercialised. The reason being is that they provide all manner of great entertainment. Although perhaps entertainment is the wrong work. A soap opera can be entertaining, mildly, sometimes.

Sport is more than just entertainment. It is passion too. And lying beyond that are the great contests between teams and individuals, and their fans, who desperately want to beat each other. Over the decades there have been many great rivalries in sport, but listed here are the 10 greatest sports rivalries in history.

Ranking Factors

• Longevity – the length of the rivalry and how many times they have competed against each other.
• Intensity – how keenly fought the competition between the two was contested.
• Scrutiny – the level of interest and passion from the fans and media.

3:28

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10

Bobby Fischer v Boris Spassky

1972 World Chess Championship

In 1972, the world was gripped by the World Chess Championship between current champion, Soviet Union player Boris Spassky, and US challenger Bobby Fischer. The contest was described as the match of the century and was very much billed against the backdrop of the Cold War.

It very much triggered interest in the game. Chess was certainly not seen as a media-friendly contest. However, Bobby Fischer was no ordinary character. An intense and controversial figure, Fischer won the match and broke the Soviet Union’s domination of chess. Spassky was aware of Fischer’s huge presence.

9

Conor McGregor v Khabib Nurmagomedov

UFC

Conor McGregor did much to increase the profile of UFC. His bouts with Russian fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov drew millions of pay-per-view fans on TV. It was a very controversial fight too. It took place in Las Vegas in 2018. Although McGregor did win a round, it was not enough to prevent an overall victory for Nurmagomedov.

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Anyone thinking that was the end of the contest was very much mistaken. Words were exchanged after the fight, which created a melee between each fighters’ camp. It resulted in a lot of fines and probably even more interest in the UFC overall. The two have one of the most bitter rivalries in UFC.

8

USA V Europe

Ryder Cup

The Ryder Cup, the golf competition between Europe and the USA, has been going on since 1927. Although the sport has so often been billed as a game for gentlemen, in recent decades large shows of emotion and passion have been shown in the contest. One of the incidents that has upped the ante came in 1999.

Having come back on one hole from four shots down, USA’s Jason Leonard holed a 45-foot putt for a birdie. It caused a host of players, their wives and even cameramen to rush to the green to embrace Leonard. This went completely against the etiquette of the game, as Europe’s Jose Maria Olazabel had yet to attempt his own putt to keep the match going.

7

New Zealand All Blacks v South Africa

Rugby Union

When it comes to rugby union, the power and passion of teams from the Southern Hemisphere cannot be denied. And the best two teams from that part of the world are the All Blacks, who have been world champions three times, and South Africa, who have won that title on four occasions.

The two countries first met in 1921. Whenever the two meet, sparks tend to fly. South Africa have beaten the All Blacks twice in the World Cup final, giving them something of the edge when it comes to the spoils. That’s even if the All Blacks side from 2011-2015 is seen as one of the greatest sports teams ever due to their scintillating style of play.

6

Ayrton Senna v Alain Prost

Formula One

Alain Prost was the calculated Frenchman and Ayrton Senna was the hell for leather Brazilian who thrilled fans, if not other Formula One drivers. The two did once have respect for one another until a series of events saw the two involved in an ongoing spat for the world title.

In 1988, with Prost about to overtake Senna’s car at the Portuguese grand prix, Senna swerved into Prost at 175 miles per hour. Prost avoided crashing his vehicle, but he was furious with Senna, who was actually a teammate at the time. Senna lost his life from injuries sustained at the San Marino grand prix in 1994.

5

India v Pakistan

Cricket

Tricky political relations throughout history between India and Pakistan make their cricket matches a very tense and fiery affair. The two nations have been playing cricket with one another since the 1950s. Test matches between the two have been known to draw in more than one hundred thousand spectators.

There has been much sledging between players of the two nations over the years. India has more one-day cricket World Cup wins to their name than Pakistan. Up until 2025, Pakistan have never managed to beat India in the one-day cricket World Cup. That is something they would certainly like to change in this bitter rivalry.

4

Bjorn Borg v John McEnroe

Tennis

Bjorn Borg was the ice man who won the Wimbledon tennis championships five times in a row. While John McEnroe was the brattish New Yorker, who was as prone to tantrums as he was brilliant. Both are considered two of the greatest ever tennis players and the rivalry between the two, along with the opposites of their characters, drew a lot of extra interest in tennis in the early 1980s.

They only actually ever played against each other in four grand slam finals. The first was at Wimbledon, which saw Borg win his fifth All England club title. McEnroe got revenge the following year in 1981. McEnroe would beat Borg twice in the final of the US Open, a tournament Borg never ended up winning.

3

Boston Celtics v Los Angeles Lakers

Basketball

During the 1980s, the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, played out one of the great NBA rivalries. They would play each other three times in the NBA finals in the 1980s. The Celtics took the title in 1984, with the Lakers getting revenge in 1985 and 1987.

The rivalry between the two was built largely around two players – Magic Johnson of the Lakers, and Larry Bird of the Celtics. This accelerated the rivalry and the spectacle. As both players seemed to rile one another and elevate each other’s performances to new levels of excellence. Decades on, the matches between the two sides are still revered.

2

Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali

Boxing

Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier were both excellent boxers in their own right, yet the history of each is linked strongly with each other. They fought three classic title bouts. The first, in 1971, saw Frazier win a bruising encounter on points after 15 rounds. It was Ali’s first loss as a professional boxer.

The two met again in 1974, with Ali winning this time on points. They met again in 1975 in the Philippines, in what is known as the Thrilla in Manilla. Widely regarded as one of the most brutal fights in the history of boxing, which Ali eventually won out in.

1

Celtic v Rangers

The Old Firm Derby between Celtic and Rangers has been played regularly since 1888. Both clubs are based in Glasgow and have huge followings. The game between the two has gained some of the highest attendances of all time.

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The rivalry has elements of political, social and religious division to it, which serves only to heighten the rivalry. Then there’s the fact the two sides have been left to tough it out for the Scottish Championship since the late 1980s, playing each other multiple times each season. The game itself is often a highly volatile and passionate fixture that justifies its place as the greatest sports rivalry in history.