Biggest Rivalries in Football: Merseyside Derby

The city rivalry between Liverpool and Everton has its tensions, charms, beauties, and peculiarities, and the most important thing is that it is completely different. 

It’s nothing like what happens in Athens, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, or Roma.

On the other hand, this is a story about a slightly different city derby. This is, in fact, the story of the “Derby of Friends.”

With 28 titles in the English championship, it is the most trophy-winning tandem of teams from the same city, and the beginnings are very interesting.

Everton is an older club than Liverpool, and the Caramels were formed in 1878.

Initially, they played at the famous “Anfield Road,” their original ground and home stadium. 

For political reasons, a dispute between owner John Houlding and Everton’s management led to the abandonment of the original home and a move to Goodison Park. 

And there is proof that politics has always been involved in football. 

Yes, the Victorian era is in progress, but politics broke out here, too.

Houlding is a conservative, a hard and stubborn guy, and most of the members of the executive committee of Everton belonged to the other stream, the liberals. 

He saw everything quite simply, in an authoritarian way. The rest of society preferred democracy and such spikes, so there was a split. People picked up things, took the club with them, and bought land for a new stadium…

Exactly 400 meters away!

And Houlding founded a new club in 1892 and named it Liverpool. 

From then until today, they are separated by only one park. 

On one side of Stanley Park is the home of Liverpool, and on the other side of Everton. The Merseyside derby was one of the most significant in Europe, and in terms of duration and significance, it was certainly the biggest in England.

Everton and Liverpool played their first match against each other on October 13, 1894, and the match ended with a 3:0 victory for the popular Caramels. 

For some balance, Liverpool has the highest win in head-to-head matches, dating back to 1935, when they won 6-0 against their city rivals. 

Even though Everton and Liverpool fans have often cheered together, there have been occasional disagreements. Everton-Liverpool matches have seen the most red cards since the inception of the Premier League, but this has been portrayed as part of the great rivalry between the two clubs, not as any sign of a major enmity. 

Liverpool is much more successful in titles and head-to-head records than Everton. The Anfield Road Reds are 19-time English champions with twice as many titles as Everton. Liverpool also has many more trophies in the European Cups, with 6 cups from the Champions League and three in the UEFA Cup/ Europa League. 

Still, Everton has the only one in its collection that the rival does not have. 

The Caramels won the former Cup Winners’ Cup in the 1984/85 season, so in the city of Liverpool, the collection is overflowing with every possible trophy in England and Europe won by the Merseyside derby rivals.

There is no place for incidents, fights, and similar nonsense here. 

As we have already said, this is a slightly different city derby. On the stands of Anfield and Goodison, it is normal to see two friends in the jerseys of both clubs and even among family members, some supporting one another. 

What, for example, in Buenos Aires, Athens, Istanbul, or Belgrade, would mean a good reason for fighting? In Liverpool, the city of the Beatles is a completely normal thing.

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