Football rivalries are in abundance. Whether representing club or country, modern day players seem to be embroiled in a rivalry game every month. The intensity and passion are more immense than in other matches and whether stemmed by territory or history, rivalry matches highly entertain and more often than not end with less players on the pitch than it started with. So many footballing rivalries could make this Top 10 list but here is a look into what I believe to be the five biggest country and five biggest club football rivalries in the world...
5. Germany v Netherlands
Both a territorial and historical footballing rivalry, Germany have played The Netherlands a total of 40 times although only eight of which have been competitive matches. There most important meeting was the final of the 1974 World Cup in which a West German team prevailed. It was the first meeting between the two since the Second World War and at the time their was still a great deal of anti-German sentiment in Holland after five years of aggressive occupation and this added fuel to the football fire as it were. Since then the two proud footballing nations have become fierce competitors on the field whilst maintaining a high level of respect for each other. Nevertheless at the root of this great footballing rivalry was the angst felt by the Dutch in the period between 1974-1988. Their was the emotional connection of wartime experiences alongside the sporting element for the Dutch, which was highlighted by a statement made by former midfielder Wilm van Hanagem. "I don't give a damn about the score. 1-0 was enough, as long as we humiliated them. I hate them. It's because of World War Two. They murdered 80% of my family. My father, my sister, two of my brothers. Each time I faced Germany I was angst-filled",
he said. Their most recent meeting was at the 2012 European Championships. The Dutch went into the tournament as equal favourites with Spain but failed to advance from the group stage after defeats to Denmark, Germany and Portugal. The 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Germans put Holland out of the tournament and sealed their fate as one of the worst performing Dutch teams at a major tournament.