It does not produce the passions stirred by Barcelona versus Madrid. It does not make New York stop dead like Buenos Aires does when River Plate plays Boca Juniors. It does not even match the historical enmity of Islanders-Rangers hockey at Madison Square Garden.
But the New York City Football Club and the New York Red Bulls will meet in a playoff match for the first time on Saturday, and their fans — and Major League Soccer — can dream. The two small but growing fan bases vehemently dislike one another, or at least enjoy playing the role of enemies. The question is whether the energy generated by what they call the Hudson River derby will one day captivate a metro area that absorbs even Super Bowls with ease.
“For only a decade-long rivalry, it’s had some great moments, which have accelerated the fire,” said Marc de Grandpré, the president and general manager of the Red Bulls. “In due time this will be considered one of the great rivalries in the metro New York area. But it needs time.”
The stakes will be higher than ever on Saturday, when every goal, sliding tackle and disputed call will play a part in transforming a niche rivalry into a full-scale, interstate soccer feud. The winner of the quarterfinal match will play either Orlando or Atlanta in the Eastern Conference championship and then perhaps reach the M.L.S. Cup on Dec. 7.
M.L.S. is still considered a second-rate league compared to many leagues around the world, and some snobby American footie fans would prefer to watch Grimsby Town play Stoke in England than the M.L.S. championship game. But both of New York’s teams — like those all over the world — can produce heated emotions.
Dylan Nealis, a Red Bulls defender, said supporters of his Harrison, N.J.-based team have worked up a genuine loathing for upstart N.Y.C.F.C., which will play most of its games in Yankee Stadium until its soccer-specific venue opens in Queens in 2027.
“So many fans come up to us with this hatred they express toward them,” said Nealis, who grew up in Massapequa on Long Island. “We want to win the game for them, as much as for us.”
Saturday will be a busy day in New York sports, with all three hockey teams plus the Knicks in action. The Hudson River derby will be at Citi Field, since Notre Dame is playing a football game against Army at Yankee Stadium. That American football game is expected to draw nearly twice the number of fans than the hotly contested soccer match, but global football is still holding its own.
The number of available tickets was originally capped at 22,500. But demand was so high that another 2,500 were made available on Wednesday. The average ticket price was $109, according to Seat Geek, but some premium seats were on the resale market for over $400, and a few for over $1,000.
For nearly 30 years, Major League Soccer has sought a foothold in the busy and profitable landscape of American sports, and has made significant strides. In New York, both teams averaged over 20,000 fans per game this year, more than half a dozen teams in Italy’s top tier.
The league has struck a balance between copying international soccer’s traditions and retaining some of its American sports identity. Many teams are named “football clubs” even though they play in a “soccer” league, and many fans emulate the customs of European and South American fans, joining supporters clubs, singing during games, banging on drums and wearing scarves even in sweltering heat.
The Hudson River derby itself is something of an imported concept. A derby is an intracity rivalry that Britons pronounce “darby.” (Don’t feel shamed for pronouncing it like the Kentucky Derby; just listen to a British person say “clerk” or “pasta.”) The Hudson River version doesn’t rival the great North London derbies, like those between Tottenham and Arsenal. It’s more derby lite. But every year it grows, and nothing stokes a rivalry like a playoff matchup.
Some fans have summoned more disdain for their cross-river rivals in just 10 years than Yankee and Mets fans have in over half a century.
“I only know three or four Red Bull fans, and that’s the way I prefer to keep it,” said Felix Palao, a graphic designer from the Bronx and a devoted N.Y.C.F.C. supporter. “I’ve got nothing to say to them. In fact, I look on them with pity.”
The Red Bulls were created as the New York/New Jersey MetroStars in 1996 and were renamed after being purchased by an energy drink magnate with similarly named clubs in Germany, Austria and Brazil. They have never won the M.L.S. Cup.
Along comes N.Y.C.F.C. in 2015, produced out of thin air with the financial backing of the owners of England’s Manchester City, plus a minority investment from the New York Yankees. In 2021, just their seventh season, N.Y.C.F.C. won the title that the Red Bulls still crave.
“I would think it bugs them a little bit,” said Justin Haak, an N.Y.C.F.C. midfielder who grew up in the East Village and Brooklyn. “But the only thing that matters now is Saturday.”
While soccer continues to muscle its way into the American sports consciousness, in much of the world, football is everything.
Lewis Morgan, a Red Bulls midfielder from Scotland, grew up amid the Old Firm derby in Glasgow between Rangers and Celtic, one of the most contentious rivalries in sports.
Morgan supported Rangers and played in their youth academy until, in a shocking development, he played professionally for Celtic. He said that no one outside Scotland can truly comprehend that rivalry, with its political and religious underpinnings. He also noted that the Old Firm rivalry has no real competition from other sports in Glasgow the way the New York soccer teams do.
“It’s the only thing there,” he said, and added that the Hudson River rivalry is just as important to him, now. “It doesn’t matter what other derbies are going on around the world,” he said.
Frank Isola, a television and radio sports analyst who lives in Montclair, N.J., has supported the Red Bulls since they were the MetroStars. He plays in a weekly soccer game with some coaches from the Red Bulls Academy. One day he showed up in a borrowed N.Y.C.F.C. sweatshirt. One of the Red Bulls coaches told him, in all seriousness: “Don’t wear that again.”
“There is real dislike between the organizations and the fans,” Isola said. “I’ve been to games in England and Italy, and when N.Y.C.F.C. comes to Red Bull Arena, it feels like that. It’s what the English call a proper football atmosphere.”
Nick Cushing, N.Y.C.F.C.’s coach, is from Chester, England, and grew up cheering for Everton to smear Liverpool in games that captivated much of Merseyside. He knows the Hudson River derby does not have the same history or level of play. But he says New York should recognize what it does have.
“There’s eight teams left and two are from New York,” he said. “We should be really proud of that. It’s a natural byproduct of how big soccer is here, and how much it is thriving.”
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