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The Big Blue (A-Leagues)

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The Big Blue
Sydney FC vs Melbourne Victory, Allianz Stadium, February 2010
LocationMelbourne
Sydney (Australia)
TeamsMelbourne Victory
Sydney FC
First meeting28 August 2005
A-League
Sydney FC 1–1 Melbourne Victory
Latest meeting21 October 2023
A-League Men
Sydney FC 0–2 Melbourne Victory
Next meeting16 December 2023
Statistics
Meetings total62
Most winsSydney FC (25)
Most player appearancesLeigh Broxham (46)
Top scorerArchie Thompson (14)
Largest victoryMelbourne Victory 5–0 Sydney FC (16 October 2005)
Melbourne Victory 0–5 Sydney FC (26 January 2014)
Sydney FC 6–1 Melbourne Victory (12 May 2019)

The Big Blue,[1][2] is the name of the soccer rivalry in Australia between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory. While the main colour of both teams and their respective states are shades of the colour blue, in Australian English the word "blue" can also mean "a fight, brawl or heated argument".[3]

Sydney and Melbourne are the two largest cities in Australia, and Sydney FC and Victory are two of the league's most supported and most successful clubs. The rivalry was further sparked by a number of highly competitive meetings between the two teams in early seasons. The Big Blue generally attracts some of the largest crowds and TV audiences of the regular season.

History

Regional rivals

Main article: Australian regional rivalries § Sydney–Melbourne rivalry

There has been a long-standing rivalry between the cities of Sydney and Melbourne, the two largest cities in Australia.

In soccer terms, the rivalry has existed for almost 140 years, starting with the first inter-colonial match between Victoria and New South Wales taking place on 16 August 1883 at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground, which ended as a 2–2 draw in front of a crowd of 2,000.[4] These intercolonial and later interstate matches continued regularly as a highlight of early Australian soccer until the outbreak of World War I. Although there were many later matches between various mostly immigrant-founded teams from Melbourne and Sydney in the Australia Cup and the National Soccer League prior to the A-League Men era, the interstate rivalry aspect was not as much of a focus, given the context and identity of the clubs involved.

Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory FC were destined to become major rivals at the inception of the A-League Men due to the historic regional rivalry between their home cities. At the time, the A-League Men operated under the "one-team, one-city" model,[5] so the rivalry was almost instantaneous.

Significant moments

The 2015 A-League Grand Final at AAMI Park.

The first competitive match between the two clubs was significantly played on the opening weekend of the inaugural 2005–06 A-League season. It was held on 28 August 2005 at Sydney FC's home ground, Sydney Football Stadium. Both teams were eager to stamp their authority as the biggest club in the league, with Sydney FC having already won the 2005 OFC Club Championship during pre-season. The match ended in a 1-all draw as Victory's first player signing and soon to become stalwart, Archie Thompson, cancelled out Sydney FC's marquee signing, Dwight Yorke's first half goal.[6] The second meeting on 16 October 2005 resulted in a landslide win for Victory at their then home ground, Olympic Park Stadium, defeating Sydney FC 5–0.[7] The result still stands as Sydney FC's worst defeat in this fixture.

The first encounter between the clubs during the 2006–07 A-League season (and fourth overall) entrenched the rivalry between the teams as passion and tension fueled the match. Sydney FC skipper, Mark Rudan was sent off after fourteen minutes and Victory player Fred elbowed Sydney FC defender Mark Milligan in the throat. Fred avoided sanction as he was substituted before the referee could see a replay on the big screen.[7] The ugly incident required urgent medical attention as it left Milligan struggling to breathe and there were fears he swallowed his tongue.[8] The following match in Melbourne, the sixth overall, set the record for attendance at an A-League match when 50,333 fans crammed into Etihad Stadium on 8 December 2006. The match ended in a nil-all draw.[7]

After sealing the 2010 Premiership at home on the final day of the season by beating Melbourne 2–0, Sydney FC went on to win the Championship Grand Final on penalties at Melbourne's home stadium.

The rivalry reached another level in 2011, with both teams in pursuit of the signature of Socceroo Harry Kewell pre-season. Melbourne Victory announced they had signed Kewell on 20 August and five days afterwards Sydney FC announced that they had signed Socceroo Brett Emerton from Blackburn Rovers. The teams played out a 0–0 stalemate in the first round of the 2011–12 A-League season, with Australia's head coach not picking either player for national duty, allowing the eagerly-anticipated match up to occur.

A Big Blue match has been played each Australia Day at either the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium or Docklands Stadium in Melbourne since the 2011–12 A-League season which ended in a 2–all draw. However, the 2014–15 A-League season did not feature this fixture due to the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.

Since 2012, the teams have played for the BeyondBlue Cup, which is awarded to the winning team in the Big Blue.[9] Sydney FC claimed the inaugural BeyondBlue Cup by defeating Melbourne Victory 1–0 at Allianz Stadium on 10 March 2012.

On 10 November 2012, Melbourne Victory came from 2–0 down to win 3–2 at Allianz Stadium, with two late goals from substitute player Andrew Nabbout helping them achieve the result. This match turned out of be Ian Crook's last match as Sydney FC manager, as he announced his resignation shortly after the defeat, which was Sydney's fourth in six games.

The fixture played 8 December 2006 holds the record for the second highest attendance at a regular season match with 50,333 in attendance. Currently, three fixtures between the two sides make up the top ten of the League's highest regular season attendances.[10]

With Sydney defeating Melbourne on 3 March 2017 (36th match), they became the first side to win all 3 games of the rivalry in the normal season.

Melbourne Victory and Sydney met in the 2017 A-League Grand Final. Despite Sydney only losing 1 game throughout the whole season, it was Melbourne Victory who took the lead through a Besart Berisha goal. Sydney FC equalised after halftime thanks to Rhyan Grant. The game went to penalties and Sydney won 4–2 on penalties. It was exactly the same scoreline as there meeting in the 2010 Grand Final.

Head-to-head summary

As of 21 October 2023
Competition Played Melbourne Victory wins Draws Sydney FC wins
A-League Men regular season 54 15 17 22
A-League Men finals (except Grand Finals) 5 3 1 1
A-League Men Grand Finals 3 1 0 2
A-League Men (overall) 62 19 18 24
Australia Cup 0 0 0 0
Total 62 19 18 25

All-time results

Regular season matches

# Date Home team Score Away team Goals (home) Goals (away) Venue Attendance
1 28 August 2005 Sydney 1–1 Melbourne Yorke (44) Thompson (72) Sydney Football Stadium 25,208
2 16 October 2005 Melbourne 5–0 Sydney Kitzbichler (34), Muscat (53, 78), Thompson (57, 69) — Olympic Park Stadium 18,208
3 3 December 2005 Sydney 2–1 Melbourne Corica (24), Carney (81) Allsopp (88) Sydney Football Stadium 17,272
4 2 September 2006 Melbourne 3–2 Sydney Allsopp (8, 51), Muscat (11 p) Fyfe (18), Vargas (83 o.g.) Docklands Stadium 39,730
5 21 October 2006 Sydney 1–2 Melbourne Corica (8) Thompson (50, 73) Sydney Football Stadium 20,881
6 8 December 2006 Melbourne 0–0 Sydney — — Docklands Stadium 50,333
7 6 October 2007 Sydney 0–1 Melbourne — Allsopp (82) Sydney Football Stadium 18,436
8 10 November 2007 Melbourne 0–0 Sydney — — Docklands Stadium 31,884
9 20 January 2008 Sydney 2–2 Melbourne Corica (4), Brosque (62) Milligan (46 o.g.), Allsopp (76) Sydney Football Stadium 33,458
10 16 August 2008 Sydney 0–0 Melbourne — — Sydney Football Stadium 16,227
11 25 October 2008 Melbourne 0–2 Sydney — Bridge (20), Aloisi (62) Docklands Stadium 31,654
12 27 December 2008 Melbourne 3–2 Sydney Thompson (14), Ward (78), Ney Fabiano (80) Cole (1), Gan (4) Docklands Stadium 33,458
13 9 October 2009 Melbourne 0–3 Sydney — Brosque (14), Bridge (17, 19) Docklands Stadium 30,668
14 19 December 2009 Melbourne 0–0 Sydney — — Docklands Stadium 27,344
15 14 February 2010 Sydney 2–0 Melbourne Kisel (34), Aloisi (49) — Sydney Football Stadium 25,407
16 7 August 2010 Sydney 3–3 Melbourne Brosque (36), McFlynn (54), Cole (85) Broxham (66), Dugandzic (67), Celeski (73) Sydney Football Stadium 12,106
17 16 October 2010 Melbourne 3–0 Sydney Vargas (20), Hernández (49), Kruse (90) — Docklands Stadium 17,299
18 15 January 2011 Sydney 1–1 Melbourne Mäkelä (90) Allsopp (51) Sydney Football Stadium 11,387
19 8 October 2011 Melbourne 0–0 Sydney — — Docklands Stadium 40,351
20 26 January 2012 Melbourne 2–2 Sydney Cernak (45), Fabio (45+2) Cazarine (56), Ryall (90) Melbourne Rectangular Stadium 20,053
21 10 March 2012 Sydney 1–0 Melbourne Kisel (34 p) — Sydney Football Stadium 18,180
22 10 November 2012 Sydney 2–3 Melbourne Yau (14), Bosschaart (48) Nabbout (75, 88), Thompson (83) Sydney Football Stadium 21,531
23 26 January 2013 Melbourne 3–1 Sydney Rojas (23, 73), Thompson (67) Griffiths (75) Melbourne Rectangular Stadium 26,882
24 16 March 2013 Sydney 1–1 Melbourne Yau (85) Milligan (3) Sydney Football Stadium 22,233
25 9 November 2013 Sydney 3–2 Melbourne Garcia (3), Ryall (15), Del Piero (37 p) Thompson (18), Troisi (27) Sydney Football Stadium 18,784
26 26 January 2014 Melbourne 0–5 Sydney — Despotovic (11), Del Piero (20 p, 54), Ryall (25), Carle (87) Docklands Stadium 24,354
27 29 March 2014 Melbourne 1–1 Sydney Troisi (63) Chianese (48) Melbourne Rectangular Stadium 20,447
28 15 November 2014 Sydney 0–0 Melbourne — — Sydney Football Stadium 21,242
29 13 December 2014 Melbourne 3–3 Sydney Thompson (23, 47, 79) Janko (17), Smeltz (51, 76) Docklands Stadium 25,242
30 14 February 2015 Sydney 3–3 Melbourne Janko (8 p), Smeltz (73 p, 85) Barbarouses (34), Finkler (41), Ansell (78) Sydney Football Stadium 17,352
31 14 November 2015 Sydney 2–4 Melbourne Hološko (5), Brosque (20) Berisha (9, 90+2), Finkler (28), Barbarouses (68) Sydney Football Stadium 15,947
32 26 January 2016 Melbourne 1–0 Sydney Jurman (79 o.g.) — Docklands Stadium 30,493
33 27 February 2016 Melbourne 1–1 Sydney Barbarouses (46) Carney (76) Melbourne Rectangular Stadium 20,112
34 5 November 2016 Sydney 2–1 Melbourne Carney (63, 78) Austin (41) Sydney Football Stadium 19,143
35 26 January 2017 Melbourne 1–2 Sydney Troisi (18) Hološko (38), Ibini (65) Docklands Stadium 30,262
36 3 March 2017 Sydney 1–0 Melbourne Bobô (20) — Sydney Football Stadium 13,310
37 7 October 2017 Melbourne 0–1 Sydney — Deng (53 o.g.) Docklands Stadium 24,804
38 26 January 2018 Melbourne 1–3 Sydney Berisha (58 p) Bobô (60, p 78), Carney (84) Melbourne Rectangular Stadium 21,037
39 13 April 2018 Sydney 1–0 Melbourne Bobô (8) — Sydney Football Stadium 15,567
40 25 November 2018 Sydney 1–2 Melbourne Le Fondre (35) Toivonen (23), Honda (71 p) Jubilee Oval 19,081
41 26 January 2019 Melbourne 2–1 Sydney Toivonen (20), Troisi (58) Ninkovic (63) Melbourne Rectangular Stadium 21,085
42 6 April 2019 Sydney 2–1 Melbourne O'Neill (6), Ninkovic (90+3) Barbarouses (16) Sydney Cricket Ground 14,155
43 17 November 2019 Sydney 2–1 Melbourne Le Fondre (61), Barbarouses (68) Toivonen (45) Jubilee Oval 16,116
44 24 January 2020 Melbourne 0–3 Sydney — Le Fondre (27), Barbarouses (53), Baumjohann (85) Melbourne Rectangular Stadium 17,814
45 7 March 2020 Melbourne 1–4 Sydney Rojas (5) Ninkovic (43), Caceres (64), Le Fondre (66), Barbarouses (87 p) Docklands Stadium 15,102
46 4 April 2021 Melbourne 0–3 Sydney — Bobô (42), Barbarouses (50), Baumjohann (84 p) Melbourne Rectangular Stadium 5,347
47 27 April 2021 Sydney 1–0 Melbourne Bobô (6) — Jubilee Oval 4,816
48 19 May 2021 Sydney 2–0 Melbourne Bobô (10), Barbarouses (83) — Jubilee Oval 4,226
49 25 January 2022 Melbourne 2–2 Sydney Folami (17), Kruse (77) Ninkovic (37), Bobô (81) Melbourne Rectangular Stadium 10,496
50 7 May 2022 Sydney 1–4 Melbourne Le Fondre (16) D'Agostino (14), Brimmer (30), Geria (38), Hamill (87) Jubilee Oval 11,404
51 8 October 2022 Sydney 2–3 Melbourne Mak (15), Donachie (79) D'Agostino (31), Ikonomidis (67), Brillante (83) Sydney Football Stadium 21,840
52 26 January 2023 Melbourne 1–2 Sydney Brimmer (26) Burgess (32), Le Fondre (52) Melbourne Rectangular Stadium 8,181
53 4 March 2023 Sydney 1–0 Melbourne Caceres (35) — Sydney Football Stadium 15,167
54 21 October 2023 Sydney 0–2 Melbourne — Fornaroli (62), Machach (86) Sydney Football Stadium 14,586
55 16 December 2023 Melbourne Melbourne Rectangular Stadium
56 26 January 2024 Melbourne Melbourne Rectangular Stadium
League home record
Home team Matches Wins Draws Losses
Sydney 28 12 8 8
Melbourne 26 7 9 10
Overall league head-to-head record
Matches Sydney FC wins Melbourne Victory wins Draws
54 22 15 17

Finals series matches

# Date Round Home team Score Away team Goals (home) Goals (away) Venue Attendance
1 18 February 2010 Semi-final 1st leg Melbourne 2–1 Sydney Mrdja (16), Hernández (40) Aloisi (43) Docklands Stadium 28,453
2 7 March 2010 Semi-final 2nd leg Sydney 2–2 AET Melbourne Kisel (36 p), Bridge (54) Kruse (15), Thompson (114) Sydney Football Stadium 23,818
3 20 March 2010 Grand Final Melbourne 1–1 (a.e.t.)
(2–4 p)		 Sydney Leijer (81) Bridge (63) Docklands Stadium 44,560
4 18 April 2014 Elimination Final Melbourne 2–1 Sydney Thompson (19), Finkler (90+2) Ryall (33) Docklands Stadium 20,802
5 17 May 2015 Grand Final Melbourne 3–0 Sydney Berisha (33), Barbarouses (83), Broxham (90) — Melbourne Rectangular Stadium 29,843
6 7 May 2017 Grand Final Sydney 1–1 (a.e.t.)
(4–2 p)		 Melbourne Grant (69) Berisha (20) Sydney Football Stadium 41,546
7 28 April 2018 Semi-final Sydney 2–3 (a.e.t.) Melbourne Nigro (24 o.g.), Antonis (90+5 o.g.) Barbarouses (31), Troisi (47), Antonis (117) Sydney Football Stadium 17,775
8 12 May 2019 Semi-final Sydney 6–1 Melbourne Calver (3), Brosque (43), Broxham (45+2 o.g.), Le Fondre (63 p, 68), Ninkovic (88) Toivonen (90+1) Jubilee Oval 12,141
Finals home record
Home Team Matches Wins Losses Draws
Sydney 4 2 1 1
Melbourne 4 3 1 0
Overall finals head-to-head record
Matches Sydney FC wins Melbourne Victory wins Draws
8 3 4 1

Leading goalscorers (4+ goals)

As of 4 March 2023
Player Club Goals scored
Australia Archie Thompson Melbourne 14
New Zealand Kosta Barbarouses Melbourne/Sydney 11
England Adam Le Fondre Sydney 8
Brazil Bobô Sydney 8
Australia Danny Allsopp Melbourne 6
Albania Besart Berisha Melbourne 5
Australia James Troisi Melbourne 5
Australia Alex Brosque Sydney 5
Australia Mark Bridge Sydney 5
Australia David Carney Sydney 5
New Zealand Shane Smeltz Sydney 4
Sweden Ola Toivonen Melbourne 4
  • BOLD indicates player still playing for that club.

Players who played for both clubs

As of 8 October 2022
Player Nation Melbourne Sydney FC Total "Big Blues"
Years Record Years Record Apps Goals Record
Sebastian Ryall[11] Australia 2007–2009 2–1–0 2009–2018 8–12–6 29 (3 / 26) 4 (0 / 4) 10–13–6
Mark Milligan[12][13] Australia 2012–2015,
2017–2018		 4–5–3 2005–2008 1–3–3 19 (12 / 7) 1 (1 / 0) 5–8–6
Fabio[14] Brazil 2011–2012 0–2–1 2012–2013 0–0–2 5 (3 / 2) 1 (1 / 0) 0–2–3
Danny Vukovic[15][16] Australia 2015–2016 2–1–0 2016–2017 4–0–0 7 (3 / 4) 0 6–1–0[a]
Terry Antonis[17][18] Australia 2018–2019 3–0–3 2010–2015 1–5–2 14 (6 / 8) 1 (1 / 0) 4–5–5
Mitch Austin[19][20] Australia 2016–2018 0–0–2 2019 0–0–0 2 (2 / 0) 1 (1 / 0) 0–0–2
Kosta Barbarouses New Zealand 2013–2016, 2017–19 7–4–5 2019–2022 6–0–1 23 (16 / 7) 11 (6 / 5) 13–4–6
James Donachie Australia 2016–2018, 2019–20 1–0–10 2021–2023 2–1–2 16 (11 / 5) 1 (0 / 1) 3–1–12
Elvis Kamsoba Burundi 2019–2021 1–0–7 2021–2022 0–1–1 10 (8 / 2) 0 (0 / 0) 1–1–8
Joshua Brillante Australia 2021–2023 2–1–1 2016–2019 9–0–3 16 (4 / 12) 0 (0 / 0) 11–1–4

Players in bold denote currently still active at either Melbourne Victory or Sydney FC

  1. ^ Wins include 2017 A-League Grand Final won in penalty shootout

Played for one, managed the other

As of 23 February 2023
Manager Played for Managed
Team Span League

apps

League

goals

Team Span G W D L Win %
Tony Popovic Sydney FC 2007–2008 27 1 Melbourne Victory 2021–present 63 29 13 21 46.03

See also

References

  1. ^ "Motorsport Video |Motorsport Highlights, Replays, News, Clips".
  2. ^ Di Fabbio, Robbie (25 January 2013). "Big Blue, Australia's national derby". theroar.com.au. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  3. ^ "Blue". The Macquarie Essential Dictionary. The Macquarie Library Pty Ltd. 1999. p. 81.
  4. ^ INTERCOLONIAL FOOTBALL MATCH – VICTORIA v. NEW SOUTH WALES, Sydney Morning Herald, 17 August 1883
  5. ^ Gorman, Joe (8 November 2012). "'Big Blue' still the A-League's big rivalry". theroar.com.au. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  6. ^ "Round 1". ultimatealeague.com. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  7. ^ a b c Bossi, Dominic (15 May 2015). "A-League grand final: 10 moments that define the Sydney FC v Melbourne Victory rivalry". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  8. ^ Bossi, Dominic (14 February 2015). "History fuels the rivalry between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory, says Mark Milligan". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  9. ^ "The 'Big Blue' becomes the beyondblue Cup - Football Australia 2013". www.footballaustralia.com.au. Archived from the original on 15 April 2014.
  10. ^ "Statistics Attendance". ultimatealeague.com. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  11. ^ "Ryall A-League opponents". ultimatealeague.com. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  12. ^ "Milligan Record against Sydney FC". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  13. ^ "Milligan Record against Melbourne". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  14. ^ "Fabio A-League opponents". ultimatealeague.com. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  15. ^ "Vukovic against Sydney FC". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  16. ^ "Vukovic against Melbourne". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  17. ^ "Antonis against Sydney FC". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  18. ^ "Antonis against Melbourne". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  19. ^ "Austin against Sydney FC". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  20. ^ "Austin against Melbourne". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
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