The Best Football Games on the Planet…

“Foot­ball is not a mat­ter of life and death.…it’s much more impor­tant that that” — hav­ing the abil­i­ty to unite and divide soci­ety, and see­ing hero’s crowned and vil­lains chris­tened, no sports or events are as obsessed with glob­al­ly than foot­ball — with com­mu­ni­ties and indi­vid­u­als liv­ing and dying with their teams results, tri­umphs and defeats.

While such pas­sion extends from the mighty stands of the Camp Nou, to the ter­races of local non-league foot­ball, regard­less of your affil­i­a­tion — there are cer­tain foot­ball games, moments and inci­dents that stay with spec­ta­tors — and even soci­ety — for­ev­er. So, from the fierce rival­ries of El Clási­co and the Super­clási­co — to being there to wit­ness his­to­ry made in a last minute world cup final win­ner, these are the most intense, most atmos­pher­ic and most spe­cial foot­ball games to attend on the plan­et:

1. El Clásico — Barcelona vs Real Madrid (Spain)

Loca­tion: San­ti­a­go Bern­abéu (Madrid) and Camp Nou (Barcelona), Spain

Esti­mat­ed Tick­et Price: Tick­ets typ­i­cal­ly range from €100 to €500

About: A clash of titans, tak­ing place in the are­na’s of the San­ti­a­go Bern­abéu and Camp Nou where dreams and mem­o­ries are etched into the cul­tur­al fab­ric of Spain. Build-up and antic­i­pa­tion begins in the weeks before, as the coun­try, and the world, gets ready for Madrid’s Galac­ti­cos and Bar­ca’s artists to put on a true foot­balling spec­ta­cle. With play­ers greet­ed by the icon­ic chants of “Hala Madrid” and “Barça, Barça, Baaarça“as they hit the field — the atmos­phere is tru­ly elec­tric, as the game and pas­sion unfolds and teams and play­ers seize the moment to become true leg­ends.

Often played out as a title and sea­son defin­ing game, El Clási­co is as an intense and dra­mat­ic rival­ry on the plan­et, with pres­sure and nerves get­ting to even the very best of play­ers. Filled with icon­ic moments — from Mes­si’s icon­ic shirt rais­ing — to Raul’s leg­endary record break­ing goal, El Clási­co promis­es to deliv­er the best of foot­ball and one of the most intense atmos­pheres — which has to be seen, heard and expe­ri­enced to believe.

Need to know:  While the gold­en era of Mes­si vs Ronal­do may have sad­ly drawn to a close, El Clási­co main­tains its elec­tri­fy­ing atmos­phere- so secur­ing tick­ets can be a chal­lenge due to high demand, so it’s advis­able to pur­chase tick­ets well in advance from offi­cial club web­sites or autho­rized resellers to avoid scams — mak­ing sure you are avoid and are cau­tious of scalpers around the sta­di­ums. We’d also arrive plan­ning to arrive ear­ly to soak in the pre-match excite­ment and watch the warm-ups — whilst also being wary of pick­pock­ets in crowd­ed spaces. Final­ly — if attend­ing as a neu­tral — we’d advise respect­ing the intense rival­ry; avoid­ing cel­e­brat­ing (or not cel­e­brat­ing) if you find your­self in one team’s end and avoid­ing provoca­tive behav­ior and ges­tures that could incite local fans around you.

2. The North West Derby — Liverpool vs. Manchester United (England)

Loca­tion: Anfield (Liv­er­pool) and Old Traf­ford (Man­ches­ter), Eng­land

Esti­mat­ed Tick­et Price: Varies, but typ­i­cal­ly ranges from £50 to £200

About: Tak­ing place in the the­ater of dreams and the icon­ic Anfield — the North West der­by is set against the haunt­ing strains of two of foot­bal­l’s most rec­og­niz­able chants — “You’ll Nev­er Walk Alone” and “Glo­ry, Glo­ry, Man Unit­ed”- which embody and echo the fero­cious clash that takes place over the course of 90 pul­sat­ing and elec­tric min­utes, as brag­ging rights, sea­son aspi­ra­tions and vic­to­ry are up for grabs.

Offer­ing a chance to become a true local hero, Liv­er­pool vs Man­ches­ter Unit­ed is syn­ony­mous with leg­ends and mem­o­rable moments — from Neville’s kiss in front of the Kop to Tor­res demol­ish­ing Man­ches­ter Unit­ed in front of the Stret­ford End, the North West Der­by see’s Foot­bal­l’s biggest stars, rep­re­sent­ing two of the world’s biggest clubs, go head to head in a tru­ly elec­tri­cal charged atmos­phere that embod­ies the very pas­sion, heart­break and atmos­phere that make the game of foot­ball so beau­ti­ful.

Need to know: Whichev­er ground you attend at (but espe­cial­ly for those at Anfield) we’d advise get­ting into the sta­di­um around an hour before kick-off to enjoy the pre-match build-up — and in par­tic­u­lar­ly the singing of  “You’ll Nev­er Walk Alone” — where if you’re in a Liv­er­pool sup­port­ing sec­tion you’ll need to come with your scarf ready to hold aloft. Out­side of the game itself, be sure to only buy tick­ets from trust­ed re-sell­ers and offi­cial plat­forms, plan for traf­fic and pub­lic ser­vices well in advance and look your­self — with team bus arrivals known to be accom­pa­nied by large crowds and flares — and there being fre­quent reports of after-match fight­ing and vio­lence on the streets out­side the grounds.

3. Superclásico — Boca Juniors vs. River Plate (Argentina)

Loca­tion: La Bom­bon­era (Boca Juniors) and Esta­dio Mon­u­men­tal (Riv­er Plate), Argenti­na

Esti­mat­ed Tick­et Price: Varies, but typ­i­cal­ly ranges from ARS 3,000 to ARS 15,000

About: The most intense and elec­tric atmos­phere at any game on the plan­et, Super­clási­co isn’t just a foot­ball match in Buenos Aires; it’s a cul­tur­al phe­nom­e­non that defines the soul of Argenti­na — as fierce rivals Boca Juniors and Riv­er Plate bat­tle it out to become true hero’s and inspire gen­er­a­tions and com­mu­ni­ties that live and breath foot­ball.

A game like no oth­er, and one where sec­tions of fans have to be sep­a­rat­ed with­in the sta­di­ums that are often con­sid­ered unsafe for Women and Chil­dren, entry into either the palaces of La Bom­bon­era or Esta­dio Mon­u­men­tal comes through pass­ing six dif­fer­ent secu­ri­ty checks. Yet once inside the emo­tion and elec­tric atmos­phere will over­take you — as the famous chants of “La Bom­bon­era no tiem­bla, late” and “Soy de Riv­er” ring out, and fire­crack­ers, flares and toi­let paper are set off around you, build­ing to the kick off of this intense der­by.

Once the action begins, you can expect every tack­le, deci­sion, goal and cel­e­bra­tion in the Super­clási­co to be greet­ed with ecsta­sy or deri­sion, as over the course of 90 min­utes teams and play­ers fight to become icons and etch their names into the folk­lore and leg­ends of Boca Juniors and Riv­er Plate.

Need to Know: The Super­clási­co  is not just a foot­ball game, but an emo­tive filled way of life, so for this rea­son it is essen­tial that you are aware of the intense rival­ry — mak­ing sure not wear neu­tral colours and buy­ing a top for the team’s sup­port sec­tion you are in well in advance. Whilst we’d also advise get­ting there ear­ly to enjoy the build-up, it’s advised to be on your guard dur­ing the game — par­tic­u­lar­ly from stray missals and avoid wan­der­ing into the oth­er teams fan sec­tion, as vio­lence against rival fans is com­mon.

4. The Old Firm — Celtic vs. Rangers (Scotland)

Loca­tion: Celtic Park (Celtic) and Ibrox Sta­di­um (Rangers), Scot­land

Esti­mat­ed Tick­et Price: Varies, but typ­i­cal­ly ranges from £30 to £150

About: Across the rugged land­scapes of Scot­land, time stands still for at least three times a year — as the titans of Scot­tish Foot­ball — Celtic and Rangers — go head to head in the elec­tric and hard-hit­ting Old Firm Der­by. Syn­ony­mous with aggres­sive tack­ling and plen­ty of cards, this fierce rival­ry — pits not just the two best clubs in Scot­land against each oth­er but rep­re­sents a rival­ry root­ed in Scot­tish Iden­ti­ty and beliefs as dif­fer­ing views on reli­gion, pol­i­tics and war come to a head over 90 min­utes.

Tak­ing place in the Scot­tish Cathe­drals of Celtic Park or Ibrox, the Old Firm Der­by is a chance for hero’s to be crowned as is syn­ony­mous not just with the red hot atmos­phere but also the tal­ent on the pitch — with Hen­rick Larsson’s hat­trick and Paul Gas­coigne’s stun­ning free-kick both stand­ing as icon­ic Old Firm der­by moments. A game of true emo­tion — you can expect the atmp­shere to bub­ble in the pre-match activ­i­ties which include the famed singing of “You’ll Nev­er Walk Alone” and “Fol­low, Fol­low”- as com­mu­ni­ties, play­ers and a nation stand still to watch one of the hard­est hit­ting games on the plan­et in the Old Firm Der­by.

Need to Know: The Old Firm Der­by is a par­tic­u­lar­ly pas­sion­ate affair — so it’s essen­tial to arrive ear­ly to get through the secu­ri­ty checks to ensure you don’t miss the pre-game build-up and anthem singing. We’d also advise prepar­ing your route in the ground the day before and whilst we’d advise wear­ing oppos­ing teams colours — we’d cer­tiant­ly sug­gest tak­ing advan­tage of Scot­tish Hos­pi­tal­i­ty and espe­cial­ly mak­ing time for a fired Mars Bar and a pint of Irn Bru after the game.

5. The Derby della Madonnina — Inter Milan vs. AC Milan (Italy)

Loca­tion: San Siro (Shared), Italy

Esti­mat­ed Tick­et Price: Varies, but typ­i­cal­ly ranges from €50 to €300

About: Held in the icon­ic San Siro — while the sta­di­um still stands — the Der­by del­la Madon­ni­na is the clash of Milan’s two great­est teams and rivals as world class play­ers grace the hol­lowed ground of the San Siro seek­ing region­al, nation­al and inter­na­tion­al glo­ry. Backed by a heat­ed atmos­phere — that often boils over — fans can expe­ri­ence the rous­ing ‘ti amo’ anthem in all its glo­ry, as well as the clas­sic chants of “Paz­za Inter” and “Forza Milan”  — as the best of Ital­ian foot­ball comes to a front in a tac­ti­cal, skill­ful and art­ful bat­tle.

6. Revierderby — Borussia Dortmund vs. Schalke 04 (Germany)

Loca­tion: Sig­nal Iduna Park (Borus­sia Dort­mund) and Veltins-Are­na (Schalke 04), Ger­many

Esti­mat­ed Tick­et Price: Varies, but typ­i­cal­ly ranges from €40 to €200

About: The icon­ic yel­low wall meets the explo­sive atmos­phere of Shalke’s Veltins-Are­na, as the Moth­er of all foot­ball der­bies see’s these two Ger­man giants — who are seper­at­ed by just 20 miles — clash in an emo­tion­al­ly charged, elec­tric and intense der­by.

A rival­ry that dates back to the start of the Bun­desli­ga, there was a time when fans of either side would refuse to even men­tion the oth­er team, with Dort­mund fans call­ing Shalke fans  ‘Herne-West’ and Shalke mock­ing Dort­mund as being ‘Lüden­scheid-Nord’. How­ev­er in recent years, and part­ly becuase of the cor­po­rate takeover of some ele­ments of foot­ball, rela­tions between the fans and clubs have soft­ened, with mutu­al respect, finan­cial sup­port and even appre­ci­a­tion and acknowl­edge­ments of the oth­ers suc­cess­es tak­ing place — none more so than in 1997 when both Dort­mund and Shalke tri­umphed in Europe. 

A game that has been known to throw-up unique score­lines — includ­ing, 9–0 and 10–0 ham­mer­ings, you can expect an intense but enjoy­able game, with the clas­sic anthems of “Heja BVB” and “Blau und Weiß” echo­ing through the Rhur region as you take in one of foot­bal­l’s most spec­tac­u­lar local der­bies in the heart of Ger­many.

7. De Klassieker — Ajax vs. Feyenoord (Netherlands)

Loca­tion: Johan Crui­jff Are­na (Ajax) and De Kuip (Feyeno­ord), Nether­lands

Esti­mat­ed Tick­et Price: Varies, but typ­i­cal­ly ranges from €30 to €150

About: A cel­e­bra­tion of Dutch foot­ball excel­lence, the De Klassiek­er is not just a cel­e­bra­tion of total foot­ball between the Nether­lands most famous and cel­e­brat­ed teams — but an intense rival­ry, where tem­pers, pas­sions and emo­tions boil over. Played out in either the leg­endary Johan Crui­jff Are­na or the stun­ning De Kuip, the De Klassiek­eris billed as a match-up  and test of foot­ball phi­los­o­phy, and along­side the beau­ty unfold­ing on the pitch you can expect the stands to be alive with the pas­sion­ate anthems of “Ajax Hup!” and “Hand in Hand,” that com­bined with flares, ban­ners and pas­sion­ate screams cre­ates an atmos­phere that mir­rors the dynam­ic and spir­it­ed nature of Dutch foot­ball cul­ture.

A game that has seen some of the world’s most leg­endary moments, includ­ing the cement­ing of Johan Cruyf­f’s inter­na­tion­al lega­cy fol­low­ing his 1972 hat trick and Ibrahi­mović’s late win­ner in 2004, you can expect the De Klassiek­er to be packed with dra­ma. While tick­ets can be hard to come by, for those lucky enough to get to expe­ri­ence this clash between the Nether­lands biggest foot­balling titans — you can expect a game that defines Dutch foot­ball — with free-flow­ing foot­ball on the pitch and pas­sion in the stands, that tru­ly encap­su­lates the beau­ti­ful game.

Need to Know: You can expect the build-up to begin in the hours before the game out­side the sta­di­ums — so we’d encour­age you to get there as ear­ly as pos­si­ble — and enjoy some famous Dutch Cui­sine while watch­ing the fans assem­ble and chants and flares break out. Giv­en the impor­tance of the game local trans­port is usu­al­ly crowd­ed both before and after the game so be sure to allow plen­ty of time when head­ing to and leav­ing the sta­di­um.

8. Lisbon Derby — Benfica vs. Sporting CP (Portugal)

Loca­tion: Está­dio da Luz (Ben­fi­ca) and Está­dio José Alvalade (Sport­ing CP), Por­tu­gal

Esti­mat­ed Tick­et Price: Varies, but typ­i­cal­ly ranges from €20 to €100

About: A der­by that is tes­ta­ment to the endur­ing rival­ry and pas­sion that has shaped both Por­tuguese foot­ball and some of the world’s great­est play­ers, twice a year the Por­tuguese giants of Ben­fi­ca and Sport­ing clash in an intense, dra­mat­ic and pas­sion­ate 90 minute bat­tle.

A clash that takes place in two of foot­bal­l’s most intense and stun­ning foot­ball sta­di­ums — the Está­dio da Luz and Está­dio José Alvalade — both sta­di­ums come alive with fire­works, flares and the pas­sion­ate chants of “Ser Ben­fiquista” and “O Mun­do Sabe Que” that res­onate with the deep-seat­ed pride that defines Por­tugese Foot­ball. A game that has seen foot­balling his­to­ry writ­ten — from the bril­lance of Eusébio’s four goals in 1961 to the 5–0 thrash­ing by sport­ing in the first post war game — you can expect the whole of the great city of Lis­bon to be cap­ti­vat­ed over this intense der­by — which is deeply root­ed in Por­tuguese foot­ball his­to­ry and con­tin­ues to cap­ti­vate fans with its emo­tion and excite­ment.

Need to Know: Along­side com­bin­ing the Lis­bon Der­by with  a long week­end in the great city of Lis­bon, it’s essen­tial that you book accom­mo­da­tion and get tick­ets — prefer­ably from offi­cial sell­ers well in advance, as you can expect prices to sky­rock­et towards the game — as local and inter­na­tion­al fans flock to Lis­bon to take in this increi­d­ble der­by.

9. Istanbul Derby — Galatasaray vs. Fenerbahçe (Turkey)

Loca­tion: Türk Telekom Are­na (Galatasaray) and Şükrü Sara­coğlu Sta­di­um (Fener­bahçe), Turkey

Esti­mat­ed Tick­et Price: Varies, but typ­i­cal­ly ranges from TRY 50 to TRY 500

About: An atmos­phere like no oth­er, the Istan­bul Der­by see’s the emo­tion, inten­si­ty and atmos­phere of a deep rivalvy echo through the enchant­i­ng city of Istan­bul — as Galatasaray and Fener­bache lock horns in one an encap­su­lat­ing his­tor­i­cal and cul­tur­al sig­nif­i­cant bat­tle that defines Turk­ish Foot­ball. A game fought often as a ‘6 point­er’ that can deter­mine the fate of each club — you can expect the Türk Telekom Are­na or the Şükrü Sara­coğlu Sta­di­um­to become glad­i­to­r­i­al are­nas — drowned not only with the anthems of “Aslan­lar Gibisin” and “Sarı Kanaryalar“but a sea of ban­ners, flares, fire­works and pas­sion — in what is one of the biggest games in world foot­ball.

A game defined not only by pas­sion — but also by mem­o­rable moments — none more so than Graeme Souness infa­mous flag plant­i­ng after the 1996 cup final or Ricar­do Quares­ma’s ‘Triv­ela’ Goal in 2018 — the Istan­bul der­by has the chance to make both heroes and vil­lains, and for those lucky enough to take in this incred­i­ble game, you’re guar­an­teed not just an intense and excit­ing atmos­phere — but a chance to wit­ness Turk­ish pas­sion and foot­ball at its best.

Need to Know: Along­side the Super­clási­co, the Istan­bul Der­by is like­ly the game on this list where safe­ty has to be an imme­di­ate con­cern, so we’d advise being vig­i­lant — of both pick­pock­ets and trou­ble at all times when attend­ing the game. The same goes for obtain­ing tick­ets, as scam and forged tick­ets are like­ly to be offered online and at the ground itself — so wed advise only buy­ing tick­ets from trust­ed sources.

10. FIFA World Cup Final, UEFA Euro Final, Copa America Final (Various Host Countries)

Esti­mat­ed Tick­et Price: Varies, but typ­i­cal­ly ranges from €60 to €1000

Loca­tion: Glob­al­ly.

About: The crown­ing glo­ry of foot­ball — noth­ing com­pares in impor­tance to the World Cup, Copa Amer­i­ca or Euro Finals. While the atmos­phere in each game may not com­pare to some of the oth­er fix­tures on this list — helped in no small part by the exec­u­tive atten­dees and Fifa reg­u­la­tions — the chance for indi­vid­u­als and teams to become nation­al and inter­na­tion­al heroes cre­ates a game and fan­zone filled with emo­tion and pas­sion that match­es any event on earth.

To attend a final you’ll need at least 12/18 months of plan­ning — and have to get lucky in tick­et draws, but to wit­ness a final — which is tru­ly the pin­na­cle of the game — rep­re­sents an emo­tive intense expe­ri­ence like no oth­er. Along­side giv­ing fans the chance to expe­ri­ence the best of foot­bal­l’s sta­di­ums — from Wem­b­ley to the mara­canã  — and expe­ri­ence and mix with oth­er inter­na­tion­al fan bases, wit­ness­ing a major inter­na­tion­al final is also a chance to wit­ness foot­balling his­to­ry — from Mes­si final­ly ascend­ing to the top of foot­bal­l’s moun­tain to Di Bag­gio’s penal­ty miss — the inten­si­ty and emo­tion at a major inter­na­tion­al final is tru­ly one of the great­est shows and expe­ri­ence on the plan­et.

Need to Know: For those seek­ing to attend a major inter­naion­al final — the first port of call will be to try and get your hands on tick­ets, which are nor­mal­ly dis­trib­uted through a FIFA lot­tery on their web­site. Hav­ing been for­tu­nate enough to get tick­ets you’ll then need some pri­or plan­ning — as you can expect acco­mo­da­tion and flights to shoot up in price in the host nation. Hav­ing com­plet­ed your plan­ning, we’d then encour­age you to enjoy the game — but keep in mind emo­tions will run high — as his­to­ry is made and cham­pi­ons are crowned.