B. David Tyler

The genesis of team rivalry in the New World: sparks to fan animosity in Major League Soccer

While rivalry debates rage among soccer fans and the media, scholars have focussed much of their research on clashes between specific clubs that share a considerable history of competition. Yet, historical conflict is just one of several elements that contribute to enduring sports rivalries, and several soccer teams – particularly in America and Canada – have limited history but salient rivals. This study compares the intensity of rivalries within Major League Soccer through a league-wide fan survey that also measures the importance of eleven antecedents to rivalry and how these elements are associated with fans’ negative reactions to rivals. While geography and frequency of play are the two most important rivalry antecedents according to fans, elements of bias such as cultural difference and unfairness are more closely associated with fans’ schadenfreude and relationship discrimination against rivals. Quotes from fans aligned with the most intense rivalries in MLS illustrate these findings.

Superclásicos and rivalry antecedents: exploring soccer club rivalries in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico

This essay utilizes empirically derived rivalry antecedents as an analytical framework to encapsulate the basis of a selection of enduring football club rivalries in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. The inclusive cases (rivalries) in this study were selected based on longevity as well as the presence of key rivalry antecedents which, in the end, allow for rich contextualized descriptions. The authors make connections between salient rivalry antecedents and existing literature about the clubs to provide descriptions of the spatial, historical and cultural foundations of competing ideologies and assertions of identity that define and give meaning to the rivalries.