Spain is a complex country where people often take greater pride in their region than they do in their nation. It is full of contrasting regional identities and those really do manifest themselves on the football pitch and in the stands, not least on derby day.
For visitors to the country looking for the best football experiences and matchday atmospheres, derby days are tough to beat. While the demand is higher, and ticket prices do rise when two big rivals clash, it’s still normally possible to find seats for most fixtures. Tickets can typically be purchased via the official website of the home team, and if availability is low, some fans secure seats by using services such as Hellotickets. Any purchases made via third-party sites are done at your own risk however.
Let’s take a look at some of the biggest Spanish football rivalries. You may also want to check out the excellent Copa90 documentaries on several of the big Spanish derbies, a few of which feature below.
10 of the biggest Spanish football rivalries
The Seville derby
Sevilla vs Real Betis
This is Spain’s fiercest city derby by some distance. The other major cities have rivalries that have historically been quite one-sided but not this one. It’s only really over the past 15 years that Sevilla have truly emerged as the more successful club with no fewer than seven UEFA Cup/Europa League successes, following their latest triumph in 2023, giving them a clear edge in terms of trophies won and a real modern identity.
However Betis fans will be quick to claim the bigger fanbase and attendances at the larger Benito Villamarin do back that up, with the green and white half of Seville averaging around 16,000 more fans per home game than their rivals during the 2024/25 LaLiga season and the third highest figures in Spain overall. They also see themselves as the working class club and this is a derby day where tempers regularly flare both on and off the pitch in arguably Spain’s most passionate football city.
Right now, Los Verdiblancos also have the edge on the pitch, with Sevilla going through a really difficult period on many levels. The 2025/26 season will see these two clubs face off at least twice in LaLiga, with Betis’ home fixture set to take place at La Cartuja due to renovation work at the Benito Villamarin.
El Clasico
Barcelona vs Real Madrid
This one doesn’t really need any introduction. It would be silly to even try to summarise the complexities and politics of El Clasico into a short paragraph but it’s safe to say that this remains the biggest game in world football, featuring the two biggest clubs on the planet.
Unlike many major football club rivalries around the world, the action more often than not lives up to the hype with attacking football, sublime skill and a few goals usually guaranteed. While it’s true that the fixture may have lost something in the years immediately following Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s departures from LaLiga, the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham, Pedri and Lamine Yamal ensure today’s Clasicos are not short on star quality.
Tickets for this fixture don’t come cheap, but if there’s one game you want to experience in your lifetime, it’s surely the eternal rivalry between Madrid and Barça, and fans travel from far and wide to sample the atmosphere. Tickets for El Clasico can sometimes still be found in the week of the game via the home team’s website, but club members do often snap all of them up before they go on general sale. Those eager to secure their seats much further advance do have options thanks to services such as sportsbreaks.com, an official LaLiga ticket and hotel breaks provider.
The clubs always meet at least twice per season in LaLiga, with cup and pre-season clashes also common. Find out when the next Clasico is here.
The Basque derby
Athletic Club vs Real Sociedad
The Basque Country is a truly unique place, and given that, it’s no surprise that its biggest football fixture doesn’t quite fit the usual mold of a derby game. Most local dust-ups have their unsavoury elements and passionate atmospheres that at times cross the line into something far more unpleasant. However the meeting of the two biggest Basque clubs sees fans of opposing sides mingle to drink together before the game and often sit next to each other in the stadium.
Despite the friendly nature, it is unquestionably still one of the biggest rivalries in Spanish football. Athletic have had more success down the years and have boldly hung on to their “Basque only” transfer policy. Real Sociedad abandoned that stance when they signed John Aldridge in 1989 but still take great pride in their academy and ability to produce local talent, something which helped them get the better of Athletic in the delayed 2020 Copa del Rey Final, arguably the biggest ever meeting between the clubs.
As of 2025, Athletic appear to be in the ascendancy again, but whether it’s at San Mames or the Reale Arena, you can still count on there being a cracking atmosphere on derby day.
The Madrid derby
Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid
For long periods, this was one of those lopsided city rivalries dominated by Real Madrid, but there are few things Atleti fans enjoy more than getting one over on their illustrious neighbours. The rise of Los Rojiblancos under Diego Simeone in the 2010s ensured it became an increasingly important and more even contest.
Such was Atleti’s impressive rise, that we even had two Champions League final Madrid derbies, both won in dramatic circumstances by Los Blancos in 2014 and 2016. In terms of the quality and levels of the two teams, this is up there with the very best city derbies in world football and Madrid has even been referred to as the European capital of football in recent years.
The clubs met again in the 2024/25 Champions League, and true to form, there was late heartbreak for Atleti fans as their side lost a competitive two-legged clash on penalties. They’ll be out for revenge during the 2025/26 season.
The Galician derby
Celta Vigo vs Deportivo La Coruña
Galicia is in some respects one of the least Spanish parts of Spain. With a climate, landscape and even culture that has a Celtic feel, this isolated corner of Iberia is home to two major clubs, who historically have been roughly equal in terms of size and stature.
Vigo, home of Celta, is marginally the bigger city and can currently claim to be the home of the region’s only top-flight club. However, in terms of silverware, Depor have the edge thanks to a remarkable period when they defied the odds to challenge the Spanish elite around the turn of the century.
Following a shock relegation from the Segunda Division in 2020, Depor have fallen on hard times in recent years though and even suffered the humiliation of losing against Celta’s B team who were in their section of the Primera Federacion. Things are finally looking a bit brighter at the Riazor now, with Depor back in the second tier, although the Galician derby remains off the Spanish football menu for the 2025/26 campaign, unless the clubs are paired together in the Copa del Rey.
The Asturian derby
Real Oviedo vs Sporting Gijon
Another of the most ferocious football rivalries in Spain takes place in Asturias, a small but incredibly picturesque northern region. Gijon and Oviedo are just 30 km apart, which certainly adds to the spice in a country where many “local” derbies involve teams that are actually fairly distant neighbours by the standards of most European countries.
A bit like the Galician derby, fans of Sporting Gijon and Real Oviedo are both really proud to be Asturian, but when derby day comes, passions rise and the battle to be the pride of the principality can spill over into the streets with violent clashes between rival groups not uncommon.
These clubs are relatively evenly matched in terms of size and stature, and the 2024/25 season was the eighth in a row that both were in the Segunda Division.
Canary Islands derby
Las Palmas vs Tenerife
The Canary Islands are most widely known as a pleasant, winter-sun destination, but not many visitors appreciate the extent of the passion for football which exists. Even within Spain, their distant location, at least a two-hour flight from the mainland, means they are often overlooked, but the Canaries have played a real part in Spanish football history. The likes of David Silva and current Barcelona star Pedri hail from the two major islands whose biggest clubs contest the Canary Islands derby.
Las Palmas, from the island of Gran Canaria, have spent more seasons in the top flight, but Tenerife have had periods when they’ve been the more successful club too, particularly during the 1990s when they spent 10 straight seasons in the Primera.
To some extent, it’s surprising how rarely this fixture has been played with the clubs often in different leagues, but it was a regular on the Segunda Division calendar until Las Palmas won promotion in 2023.
The 2024/25 season was a dismal one for Canarian football with Las Palmas relegated from the Primera, while Tenerife were relegated from the Segunda, meaning they’ll be in different leagues once more next term.
Catalan derby
Barcelona vs Espanyol
The big derby in Catalunya is between the two major clubs in the city of Barcelona and is also known as the Derbi barceloni. It has been one of the most one-sided rivalries in European football with FC Barcelona the dominant force, but their rare derby slip-ups have often been memorable.
One of the sweetest moments for Espanyol fans was not even a victory, but a 2-2 draw at Camp Nou in a match dubbed “El Tamudazo” as visiting forward Raul Tamudo scored a brace late in the 2006/07 season which proved decisive in Barcelona’s failure to win the league.
They’ve not had much to shout about since though with the RCDE Stadium playing host to Barca title celebrations in 2023, as Espanyol dropped down into the second tier. The Cornella-based side bounced straight back up though, and survived on the final day of the 2024/25 LaLiga season, although they again had to endure the sight of their rivals clinching the title in their own stadium.
Alicante Province derby
Hercules vs Elche
This is another of those derbies that younger football fans may not be aware of, with the most recent meetings having taken place in the relative obscurity of the Segunda B in 2017/18. While Elche have since risen back to take their place amongst the Spanish elite, Hercules have slid further, ending up in the fourth tier following a restructure of the Spanish lower leagues, before winning promotion to the Primera Federacion in 2024.
It may still be some time before we get another derby between the two regional rivals, but Hercules are a club who really should be higher up Spain’s football ladder. Based in Alicante, the country’s 11th-largest city, and with a stadium which holds almost 30,000, Hercules followers certainly do not view themselves as inferior to their rivals in nearby Elche, less than 30 km away.
Both clubs have spent 20+ seasons in the top flight, but it’s now more than 40 years since this derby was played out at the highest level.
Derbi de la Comunitat
Valencia vs Villarreal
For basically the entire 20th Century, Valencia had things almost all their own way in their region of Spain. While city rivals Levante have become a more regular top-flight fixture in recent years, regional neighbours Villarreal have been the team to emerge as their main 21st Century rivals in the Valencian Community, eclipsing the likes of Elche, Hercules and CD Castellon.
The Yellow Submarine have risen from virtually nowhere, admittedly with the help of some significant financial backing, to take the fight to Valencia, regularly finishing above and beating their big city neighbours. They’ve even started pinching their players with Dani Parejo, arguably Valencia’s best player at the time, moving to the Ceramica in 2020. A year later, Villarreal won their first trophy – the 2020/21 Europa League.
Villarreal again finished above their neighbours during LaLiga 2024/25, with ex-Valencia boss Marcelino leading them to Champions League qualification. Los Che recovered to finish in mid-table under Carlos Corberan, but many fans believe the better days will not return until their unpopular owner Peter Lim departs.
Spanish football derbies – The best of the rest
Big derby matches are often the most difficult games to get LaLiga tickets for, but there are plenty of smaller derbies to experience that mean the world to supporters all around Spain.
Other notable ones include the South Madrid derby between Getafe and Leganes, briefly a top-flight fixture again in 2024/25, before the relegation of Los Pepineros. While the clubs are small, there is no love lost between the two sets of fans with just 5 km separating the two stadiums.
Geographically speaking, the derby in the city of Valencia is the closest in Spain’s top two leagues, and it will take place once more in LaLiga 2025/26, after Levante won the Segunda Division.
Meanwhile, sizable cities such as Salamanca, Murcia and Jerez de la Frontera have witnessed their main clubs go bust in recent years, with more than one new entity rising from the ashes. That has led to the emergence of several new derbies, with splits even created between fans who used to cheer on the same side.