The term North derby is sometimes used to emphasise their relative geographical proximity, when matches are played between Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

clubs

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), a ...

and

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Fo ...

. The clubs first met in a

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

tie played on 8 August 1998. Inverness first entered the Scottish Football League in 1994 alongside fellow

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

side Ross County, forming the

Highland derby The Highland derby is a football rivalry that is based in the Scottish Highlands. It is contested between the only two full-time SPFL clubs in the Highland council area, Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Ross County. The city of Inverness and ...

. However, Inverness progressed over the next 10 years to form a rivalry with Aberdeen, after winning promotion to the Scottish Premier League in 2004. The match is considered to be a derby despite the fact that the two cities are over 100 miles apart. Aberdeen have no immediate rival geographically, although they have a longstanding

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

with Rangers and another with

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

, who have frequently competed with them for Scottish major trophies. Before Ross County were promoted to the SPL in 2012, the lack of an alternative derby opponent for both clubs led to the development of the rivalry. Due to the redevelopment of the

Caledonian Stadium Caledonian Stadium is a football ground in the Longman area of Inverness, Scotland, near the banks of the Moray Firth. It hosts home matches of Scottish Professional Football League club Inverness Caledonian Thistle. History Inverness Cal ...

to meet SPL standard, Inverness had to share

Pittodrie Stadium Pittodrie Stadium, commonly referred to as Pittodrie, is an all-seater stadium in Aberdeen, Scotland. Used primarily for football, it has been the home ground of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) club Aberdeen F.C. since they w ...

with Aberdeen during the first half of the 2004–05 league season. Initially, the match has also been given an edge by Aberdeen enjoying a long unbeaten record against Inverness, partly thanks to a remarkable number of very late goals. This record was finally ended on the opening day of the 2008–09 league season when Inverness won 2–0 at Pittodrie. Other notable matches between the two clubs include a Scottish Cup tie in 2000. Aberdeen beat Inverness after a replay in the round after Inverness had caused a great shock by beating Celtic. The clubs met on 16 March 2014 in their most high-profile game to date, the

2014 Scottish League Cup final The 2014 Scottish League Cup Final was the 68th final of the Scottish League Cup. The final took place on 16 March 2014 at Celtic Park, Glasgow. The clubs contesting the 2014 final were Scottish Premiership clubs, Aberdeen and Inverness CT. Th ...

, with Aberdeen winning on penalties after a 0–0 draw (aet).

Matches played

Head-to-head summary

Goalscorer records

Players with 3 or more goals in the North derby.

Notes

{{United Kingdom Football Derbies Football derbies in Scotland Aberdeen F.C. Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C.