The Derby della Capitale (), also known as Derby Capitolino and Derby del Cupolone, as well as The Rome Derby in English and Derby di Roma in Italian, is the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

local derby A sports rivalry is intense competition between athletic teams or athletes, affecting participants, management, and supporters all to varying degrees. One of the first known sports rivalries occurred in the Roman Empire between the Blues and th ...

in Rome, Italy, between

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

and

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

. It is considered to be one of the fiercest intra-city derbies in the country, along with the other major local derbies,

Derby della Madonnina The Derby della Madonnina (; named after the ''Madonnina'' statue on top of the Milan Cathedral), also known as the Derby di Milano (), is a derby football match between the two prominent Milanese clubs, Inter Milan and AC Milan. In the past, ...

(

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

derby) and

Derby della Mole The Derby della Mole is the local derby played out between Turin's most prominent Association football, football clubs, Juventus FC, Juventus and Torino FC, Torino. It is also known as the Derby di Torino or the Turin Derby in English. It is na ...

(

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

derby), and one of the greatest and most hotly contested derbies in Europe.

History

Football rivalry

Lazio was founded in 1900 in Piazza della Libertà, Borough of

Prati Prati is the 22nd of Rome, Italy, identified by the initials R. XXII. It belongs to the Municipio I since 2013, while previously, along with Borgo and Trionfale and Della Vittoria, it was part of the Municipio XVII. Its coat of arms de ...

and initially played at the Rondinella field in the upper-class

quartiere A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the title of (). Formed a ...

Parioli Parioli () is the 2nd of Rome, identified by the initials Q. II. The toponym is also used to indicate the urbanistic area 2B of the . The name comes from Monti Parioli, a series of tufa hills, and was given to the area before its incorporatio ...

. Roma began playing at the Motovelodromo Appio and subsequently, when the new stadium was built after only two years, moved to the working-class

rione A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the title of (). Formed a ...

Testaccio Testaccio () is the 20th of Rome, Italy, identified by the initials R. XX, deriving its name from Monte Testaccio. It is located within the Municipio I. Its coat of arms depicts an amphora, referencing to the broken vessels that Monte Testaccio ...

. Thus, the Lazio ultras traditionally occupy the northern end ('' Curva Nord'') and Roma's the southern end (''Curva Sud'') of the

Stadio Olimpico Stadio Olimpico (; ), colloquially known as l'Olimpico (The Olympic), is an Italian multi-purpose sports venue located in Rome. Seating over 70,000 spectators, it is the largest sports facility in Rome and the second-largest in Italy, after ...

. Making ironic remarks, known as ''sfottò'', focused on the origins of both sets of fans, is a traditional way of teasing between the supporters of Lazio and Roma. Roma was founded in 1927 as a result of a merger between three teams:

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

, Alba-Audace and Fortitudo, initiated by Italo Foschi. It was the intention of Fascist dictator

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

to create a unified Roman club to challenge the dominance of northern clubs such as

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

. Thanks to the influence of Giorgio Vaccaro, a member of the

National Fascist Party The National Fascist Party (, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian fascism and as a reorganisation of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The party ruled the Kingdom of It ...

, Lazio was the only major team from Rome to be excluded from the merger and remain independent, thus a kind of rivalry emerged from the very early years of the coexistence in the same city. In 1979, Lazio fan Vincenzo Paparelli was hit in the eye and killed by a flare fired by a Roma fan from the opposite end of the stadium, becoming the first fatality in Italian football due to violence. On 17 December 2000, Lazio's

Paolo Negro Paolo Negro (; born 16 April 1972) is an Italian former professional footballer and manager who played as a centre back or as a right back. In an eighteen year professional career, Negro amassed Serie A totals of 362 games and 24 goals, mainly ...

scored an own goal in a 1–0 Roma victory. Roma eventually went on to lift the scudetto that season, as Lazio finished the season in third place. Negro continues to be taunted by Roma fans for the goal. The derby on 21 March 2004 was abandoned four minutes into the second half with the score tied at 0–0, when a riot broke out in the stand; the president of the

Lega Nazionale Professionisti The Lega Nazionale Professionisti (Italian for National Professionals League), commonly known as Lega Calcio (Football League), was the governing body that ran the two highest football divisions in Italy, namely Serie A and Serie B, from 1946 to ...

, Adriano Galliani, ordered referee

Roberto Rosetti Roberto Rosetti (born 18 September 1967) is an Italian former football referee. He is fluent in Italian (native), English and French. He started refereeing in 1983, and took charge of his first match in the Italian Serie A in 1996. He received h ...

to suspend the match. The riots began with the spreading of a rumour that a boy had been killed by a police car just outside the stadium. In fact, from last row of the stadium, some fans noticed in the square below a body covered with a white sheet. Later, medics who put the sheet explained that the boy had difficulty breathing, dangerously exacerbated by the air full of tear gas, and then the sheet was used as a filter. The denial by the police, spread through the speakers of the stadium, though it was not able to remove all doubt. Roma captain

Francesco Totti Francesco Totti (; born 27 September 1976) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played solely for AS Roma, Roma and the Italy national football team, Italy national team. He was a technically gifted and creati ...

then asked for the match to be called off, at which point President Galliani was reached by the referee by mobile phone—from the pitch—and ordered the game postponed. After the match was postponed, a prolonged battle between fans and police, with streets near the stadium being set on fire, eventually resulting in 13 arrests and over 170 injured among the police alone. The match was replayed on 28 March and ended in a 1–1 draw with no crowd trouble. On 26 May 2013, the teams met in the 2013 Coppa Italia Final, the first cup final in the history of the fixture. Lazio won the match 1–0 with a goal by Senad Lulić in the 71st minute, a low right footed shot from a low cross from the right by Antonio Candreva after the goalkeeper Bogdan Lobonț failed to cut out the crossed ball. On 15 January 2015, Roma's

, playing in his 40th derby, scored twice to salvage a 2–2 draw for Roma, becoming the all-time leading goalscorer in the fixture. He celebrated by taking a

selfie A selfie () is a self-portrait photograph or a short video, typically taken with an electronic camera or smartphone. The camera would be usually held at arm's length or supported by a selfie stick instead of being controlled with a self-timer ...

in front of Roma's fans in the Curva Sud, having given his phone to the goalkeeping coach before kick off. On 4 December 2016, Roma recorded their fourth victory in a row against Lazio and extended their unbeaten run in the fixture to seven games with a 0–2 away victory. However, the game was marred by controversy, with Lazio's Danilo Cataldi sent off for grabbing Roma's Kevin Strootman, after Strootman had thrown the contents of a water bottle in Cataldi's face after scoring the opening goal, sparking a mass brawl. Strootman subsequently received a two match ban for his role in the incident. Lazio's Senad Lulić was also given a 20-day ban for offensive comments made towards Roma's

Antonio Rüdiger Antonio Rüdiger (; born 3 March 1993) is a German professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for La Liga club Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid and the Germany national football team, Germany national team. He is known for his aggressive playi ...

after the game.

Cultural rivalry

The devout regionalism that is perceived throughout the country is one of the reasons that make the derby more heated, as the fans view it as a battle between two clubs fighting for the right to represent the city in the rest of the country and local bragging rights. This is partly fueled by the fact that Italian football has mostly been dominated by three clubs, all of which are based in Northern Italy – namely

and

Internazionale Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Since 1 ...

. The Rome derby has been the scene of several actions related to the political views of the fan bases. Lazio's ultras used to use

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...

s and

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

symbols on their banners, and they have displayed racist behaviour on several occasions during the derbies. In particular, at a match in the 1998–99 season, Laziali unfurled a 50-metre banner around the Curva Nord that read "

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

is your town, the ovens are your houses". Black players of Roma have often been receivers of racist and offensive behaviour. In November 2015, Roma's ultras and their Lazio counterparts boycotted Roma's 2–0 victory in the Derby della Capitale in a protest against the new safety measures imposed at the Stadio Olimpico. The measures, imposed by Rome's prefect, Franco Gabrielli, had involved plastic glass dividing walls being installed in both the Curva Sud and Curva Nord, splitting the sections behind each goal in two. Both sets of ultras continued their protests for the rest of the season, including during Roma's 4–1 victory in the return fixture. Lazio's ultras returned to the Curva Nord for Roma's 2–0 victory in December 2016, but the Roma ultras continue to boycott games. In 2017, Lazio fans left anti-Semitic stickers of

Anne Frank Annelies Marie Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – February or March 1945)Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new li ...

in a Roma jersey, as well as graffiti, at the Stadio Olimpico. The resulting controversy prompted anti-racist actions by Serie A clubs including Lazio, though some of these actions were opposed by their fans. On 30 April 2017, Lazio beat Roma 3–1 in a Serie A match, and four days later, Lazio ultras hung dummies with Roma jerseys from a pedestrian walkway near the

Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; , ultimately from Ancient Greek word "kolossos" meaning a large statue or giant) is an Ellipse, elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphi ...

in the Italian capital. The mannequins were accompanied with a banner read "a warning without offence...sleep with the lights on!"

Official match results

* SF = Semi-finals * QF = Quarter-finals * R16 = Round of 16 * GS = Group stage * R1 = Round 1

Statistics and records

*The first derby was played on 8 December 1929, and ended 1–0 for Roma with a goal by Rodolfo Volk. Lazio won its first derby on 23 October 1932 with goals by Demaría (L), Volk (R) and Castelli (L). *The biggest win in a derby was the 5–0 victory for Roma in 1933–34. The biggest win for Lazio was the 3–0 victory in 2006–07, 2018–19 and 2020–21. *Roma holds the record for the most consecutive derby wins with five, while Lazio holds the record for most wins in a single season, winning four derbies in the 1997–98 season: two in the league (3–1 and 2–0) and two in the quarter-finals of the

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

(4–1 and 2–1). *Only on one occasion was the derby played as a cup final, on 26 May 2013. Lazio won 1–0, winning their sixth Coppa Italia title.

Goalscorers

Players

has played the most derbies, with 44 for Roma. The player with the most derby appearances for Lazio is Giuseppe Wilson, with 23. *Francesco Totti and Dino da Costa have scored the most goals in the derbies, with each player scoring 11 for Roma. The top scorer for Lazio in the derby is

Silvio Piola Silvio Piola (; 29 September 1913 – 4 October 1996) was an Italian footballer who played as a striker. He is known as a highly prominent figure in the history of Italian football due to several records he set, and he is regarded as one of the ...

, with 7 goals. *

Vincenzo Montella Vincenzo Montella (; born 18 June 1974) is an Italian association football, football manager and former striker (association football), striker. He is the current head coach of the Turkey national football team. Montella's nickname during his p ...

holds the record for the most goals scored in a single derby; on 11 March 2002, he scored four goals in a 5–1 Roma victory. * Arne Selmosson,

Aleksandar Kolarov Aleksandar Kolarov (, ; born 10 November 1985) is a Serbian former professional footballer who played as a left back. He is the current assistant coach of Serie A club Inter Milan. Kolarov began his career at Red Star Belgrade, but he did not br ...

and Pedro are the only three players which have scored in the derby for both teams. *Francesco Totti has won the most derbies, with 15 for Roma. The second player is Daniele De Rossi who won 14 derbies as a Roma player and 1 as Roma coach.

Honours

Note: Roma won the

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, most commonly referred to as the Fairs Cup and sometimes as the European Fairs Cup or Fairs Cities' Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. The Fairs Cup was the idea of FIFA vice-presid ...

once, but it does not count towards their official European record.

Chronological order of honours

:''Table correct as of 25 May 2022''

Head-to-head ranking in Serie A (1930–2025)

• Summary: Roma with 52 higher finishes and Lazio with 30 higher finishes as of the end of the 2024–25 season (only including seasons in which both teams played in Serie A). Notes: * Lazio spent eleven seasons in

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

, and Roma one season in Serie B. * Only Roma qualified for the final round of 8 teams in

1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

; Lazio finished 7th in their

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

and didn't qualify. * Both teams finished with the same number of points in

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 � ...

, but Lazio had better goal difference.

Players who played for both clubs

;Lazio, then Roma * 1928:

Fulvio Bernardini Fulvio Bernardini (; 28 December 1905 – 13 January 1984) was an Italian football player and coach who played as a midfielder. He is regarded as one of Italy's greatest ever footballers and managers. Club career During his playing career, Ber ...

''(via

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

; then managed both, Roma (1949–1950) and Lazio (1958–1960))'' * 1935: Piero Pastore ''(via

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

)'' * 1938:

Attilio Ferraris Attilio Ferraris (; 26 March 1904 – 8 May 1947) was an Italian footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Club career Ferraris played ten seasons (254 games, two goals) in the Serie A, for AS Roma, SS Lazio and AS Bari. Internation ...

''(return)'' * 1958: Arne Selmosson * 1987:

Lionello Manfredonia Lionello Manfredonia (; born 27 November 1956 in Rome) is an Italians, Italian former Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender or midfielder. He is currently the leader of the youth sector at Bre ...

''(via

)'' * 1995:

Luigi Di Biagio Luigi Di Biagio (; born 3 June 1971) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is currently managing Saudi Arabia U23. A former midfielder, Di Biagio last played for Ascoli in 2007, and previously also played for seve ...

''(via

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

, then

Foggia Foggia (, ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) of Apulia, in Southern Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. In 2013, its population was 153,143. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere delle Puglie, Tavoliere, also know ...

)'' * 2001: Diego Fuser ''(via

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

)'' * 2017:

''(via

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

)'' ;Roma, then Lazio * 1927:

''(then back to Roma in 1938)'' * 1938:

Luigi Allemandi Luigi Allemandi (; 8 November 1903 – 25 September 1978) was an Italian association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender, usually as a left back. He was a member of the Italy national football team, Ita ...

''(via

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)'' * 1972: Sergio Petrelli * 1985: Astutillo Malgioglio * 1993: Fabrizio Di Mauro ''(via

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)'' * 1998:

Siniša Mihajlović Siniša Mihajlović ( sr-Cyrl, Синиша Михајловић, ; 20 February 1969 – 16 December 2022) was a Serbian football manager and professional footballer who played as a defender. Mihajlović had an illustrious playing career, winni ...

''(via Sampdoria)'' * 2000: Francesco Colonnese ''(via

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

then

)'' * 2000: Angelo Peruzzi ''(via

, then

)'' * 2003: Roberto Muzzi ''(via

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, then

Udinese Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

)'' * 2004: Sebastiano Siviglia ''(via

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and

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)'' * 2021: Pedro * 2022:

Alessio Romagnoli Alessio Romagnoli (born 12 January 1995) is an Italian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a centre-back for club SS Lazio, Lazio and the Italy national football team, Italy national team. Romagnoli began his career with ...

''(via

)'' * 2023: Luca Pellegrini ''(via

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and

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)''

References

External links

Five classic Rome derbies over the past fifteen years
on

CBC News CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Derby Della Capitale Capitale AS Roma SS Lazio Football in Rome

History

Football rivalry

Cultural rivalry

Official match results

Statistics and records

Goalscorers

Players

Honours

Chronological order of honours

Head-to-head ranking in Serie A (1930–2025)

Players who played for both clubs

See also

References

External links