London Derbies are the various

local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

football derbies between the teams in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It specifically refers to individual matches between the teams, but can also be used to describe the general ongoing rivalry between the clubs and

fans Fan commonly refers to: * Fan (machine), a machine for producing airflow, often used for cooling ** Hand fan, an implement held and waved by hand to move air for cooling * Fan (person), short for fanatic; an enthusiast or supporter, especially wit ...

. The first London Football League derby took place at Clapton Stadium on 11 November 1905, where

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

beat

Clapton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profess ...

3–0 in a

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

match. Chelsea also won the first top-flight London derby with a 2–1 victory over Woolwich Arsenal, in a First Division game at Stamford Bridge on 9 November 1907. As of the 2021–22 season, there are thirteen clubs in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

and Football League that play in the Greater London area. Arsenal against Tottenham Hotspur and Millwall against West Ham United are ranked as two of the most ferocious London derbies.

Clubs in London

Defunct English Football League clubs Defunct (no longer in use or active) may refer to: * ''Defunct'' (video game), 2014 * Zombie process or defunct process, in Unix-like operating systems See also * * :Former entities * End-of-life product * Obsolescence Obsolescence is ...

based in London include

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

and Wimbledon.

Major London derbies

North London derby The North London derby is the meeting of the association football clubs Arsenal F.C. and Tottenham Hotspur F.C., both of which are based in North London, England. Fans of both clubs consider the other to be their main rivals, and the derby is co ...

– between Arsenal and

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

. A rivalry has existed since Arsenal's move to the

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was sit ...

area of

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire. The term ''nor ...

in 1913, and especially since Arsenal's promotion to the First Division in 1919. It is perhaps the most hotly contested of all London derbies, with the two clubs located just away from each other in neighbouring

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

s. They have played each other about 200 times. * North West London derby **

Arsenal F.C.–Chelsea F.C. rivalry The Arsenal F.C.–Chelsea F.C. rivalry is a rivalry between London-based professional association football clubs Arsenal Football Club and Chelsea Football Club. Arsenal play their home games at the Emirates Stadium, while Chelsea play their ho ...

– is a more recent rivalry between

Arsenal and

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: North Londo ...

, which has increased in importance and intensity since Chelsea's emergence in the late 1990s. They first played each other in 1907 and have competed more than 200 games together. ** Chelsea F.C.–Tottenham Hotspur F.C. rivalry – is a rivalry dating back to their first meeting in 1909, between

and

. They've played each other just over 160 times. * Millwall F.C.–West Ham United F.C. rivalry – is a South London vs East London derby between

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

and

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

, also known as the Dockers derby due to the clubs' historical ties to the shipbuilding industry along the Thames. The fixture grew out of a rivalry between competing London dockers and remains fierce (matches have often been marred by violence and

hooligan Hooliganism is disruptive or unlawful behavior such as rioting, bullying and vandalism, usually in connection with crowds at sporting events. Etymology There are several theories regarding the origin of the word ''hooliganism,'' which is a ...

ism) despite only being contested infrequently, due to the clubs most years being in separate divisions for much of their histories. The rivals have played each other 99 times, mostly before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. It is perhaps the bitterest of the London rivalries and there have been a number of films portraying it, most notably '' Green Street''. * East London derby – any between

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profession ...

and Dagenham & Redbridge, a fixture which, for the same reasons as the Dockers derby, rarely takes place. West Ham and Leyton Orient last met competitively in January 1987, and West Ham and Dagenham & Redbridge have never met since the latter was formed in 1992 from the merger of Redbridge Forest and Dagenham. However, Leyton Orient and Dagenham & Redbridge meet occasionally in the lower leagues. *

South London derby The South London derby is the name given to a football derby contested by any two of Charlton Athletic, Crystal Palace, Millwall, Sutton United, and AFC Wimbledon, the five professional Football Association clubs in South London, England. It is s ...

– any between AFC Wimbledon,

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

and

Sutton United Sutton United Football Club is a professional football club in Sutton, South London, England, who play in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They play home games at Gander Green Lane in Sutton about 11 miles so ...

. Despite Millwall's fiercest rivalry being with East Londoners West Ham United, they also have a rivalry with their neighbours Crystal Palace, and Charlton Athletic. The five teams have contested over 300 games between them. *

West London derby The West London derby is the name given to a football derby played between any two of Brentford, Chelsea, Fulham and Queens Park Rangers, all of whom are situated within West London. This particular derby is less prominent than other such derb ...

– any between Brentford,

, Fulham and

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

. The clubs of Brentford, Fulham and Queens Park Rangers share longstanding rivalries with each other. Fulham regards Chelsea as their major rivals, and Queens Park Rangers regard Chelsea as their major rivals, followed by Fulham. However, in more recent years and due to their success in the last 10–15 years, the West London rivalry has not been fully reciprocated by Chelsea fans, who typically regard the city neighbours, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United, and

North West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

rivals,

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

and Manchester United as more significant rivals.

References

* Harvey, Geoff & Vanessa Strowger
Rivals: The Offbeat Guide to the 92 League Clubs
', Aesculus Press Limited, 2004,
"Understanding London football rivalries"
b
Peter Watts
8 February 2010
"Brentford and Fulham briefly resume a rivalry"
''

When Saturday Comes ''When Saturday Comes'' (''WSC'') is a monthly magazine about football, first published in London in 1986. "It aims to provide a voice for intelligent football supporters, offering both a serious and humorous view of the sport, covering all the ...

'', July 2010
"London: A Football Fan’s Heaven"
SoccerWithoutLimits website, 7 July 2012
"The English Fan"
FussballinLondon website

Transfers-in-London website {{United Kingdom Football Derbies