Derby du Rhône

The Derby
City or region	Rhône-Alpes
First contested	28 October 1958
Teams involved	Olympique Lyonnais Saint-Étienne
Most wins	Saint-Étienne (38)

The Derby du Rhône (Rhône Derby), or simply The Derby, is a football (soccer) match contested between two Rhône-Alpes neighbors: Olympique Lyonnais and AS Saint-Étienne.

The derby, which pits the "the recently most successful French club" (Lyon) against "the formerly biggest French club" (Saint-Étienne), is also a symbolic challenge between the "rich" of Lyon and "the workers" of Saint-Étienne. The match is often cited as one of the highpoints of the Ligue 1 season.

Contents 1 Background 2 History 3 Statistics 4 External links

[edit] Background

The rivalry stems from both clubs close proximity of each other, separated by just 38 miles, as well as historical social and cultural difference between the two cities where they are based; Lyon cited as being more upper-class, while Saint-Étienne is cited as being more working-class.

The recent reversal of success of the two clubs is another reason the strong rivalry exists. During the early 60s and 70s, Saint-Étienne dominated the French championship winning 10 titles, while Lyon was a mid-level competitor. However, since the beginning of the new millennium, the trend has reversed with Lyon winning 7 straight Ligue 1 titles from 2002 to 2008, while Saint-Étienne has hardly accomplished anything other than winning Ligue 2 in 2003-04 and finishing as a semi-finalist in the Coupe de la Ligue in 2004 and 2005.

[edit] History

The two clubs first met on October 28, 1958 at the Stade de Gerland. Lyon won the match 4-2. As of August 31, 2008, 95 more matches have been contested with Saint-Étienne winning 38 matches, Lyon 30, and 28 matches ending in a draw. The majority of the matches have been contested in Ligue 1, except the 1984-85 and 1985-86 seasons, during which both clubs played in the second division.

[edit] Statistics

	Saint-Étienne wins	Draws	Lyon wins
League	35	27	27
Coupe de France	1	1	3
Trophée des Champions	1	0	0
Coupe Drago	1	0	0
Total	38	28	30

[edit] External links

• (French) Olympique Lyonnais Official Site
• (French) AS Saint-Étienne Official Site

v • d • e Olympique Lyonnais Honours · Players · Managers · Records and Statistics · Reserves and Academy · Ladies History History of Lyon Olympique (1896–1950) · History of Olympique Lyonnais (1950–Present) Seasons 2007–08 · 2008–09 · 2009–10 Facilities Stade de Gerland · OL Land · Centre Tola Vologe Rivalries Derby du Rhône · Choc des Olympiques Organizations European Club Association · G-14 Related Articles Jean-Michel Aulas · Lyon Olympique · Superleague Formula team · Richest football clubs

v • d • e Local derbies in France Atlantique · Brittany · Choc des Olympiques · Corsica · Côte d'Azur · Garonne · Le Classique · Nord-Pas-de-Calais · Rhône