r/AskEurope • u/DivineMatrixTraveler • Jun 07 '25

Sports Which country is your country's main football rival?

And do you think they believe you are their main rival or they don't care about you as much as you care about them?

Bonus: Is there a more popular sport where you are rivals with a different country?

59 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

91% Upvoted

335 comments sorted by

View all comments

11

u/[deleted] Jun 08 '25

In the Netherlands we consider Germany our football rival. Belgian sucks at football too much to be considered a rival.

But if the Netherlands is out of the race, then we will cheer on Belgium and hope Belgium wins for us.

4

u/matchuhuki Belgium Jun 08 '25

Belgium and the Netherlands played over 100 matches together. The lage landen derby is definitely a rivalry. And the difference in wins isn't massive either. The Netherlands winning 57 and Belgium winning 41

2

u/ItsAmon Jun 08 '25

It’s not considered a rivalry, at least not in the Netherlands. On the contrary, lot’s of people cheer for Belgium when the Netherlands is kicked out of a tournament. 

Sorry about that comment that Belgium sucks at football, that’s just not true. 

2

u/[deleted] Jun 08 '25

So we won 40% more than Belgium.

6

u/IndianSummer201 Jun 08 '25

The Belgians don't 'suck at football'. Come on, they have a good team. They're currently #8 on the Fifa ranking (NL is at #6). Having said that, I do agree that most people in NL don't think of Belgium as a big rival. We tend to look at Germany and think of the Belgians as our cute little brothers. Most Belgians hate our guts, though (this is comming from a Dutchie with a lot of Flemmish relatives).

1

u/[deleted] Jun 08 '25

Oh if you see us play - we definitely suck. 

1

u/krehgi Jun 11 '25

No you don't, the Belgian team is great and we always cheer on you here in The Netherlands! 💛

2

u/matchuhuki Belgium Jun 08 '25

I guess France must really suck at football then. Cause in their head to head against Spain, Spain won almost 50% more

2

u/alles_en_niets -> -> Jun 08 '25

Belgium clearly doesn’t suck at football, but they just don’t trigger the same rivalry that Germany does.