The Eternal Derby: Red Star vs Partizan and Football in Belgrade

Two clubs, half a kilometre apart

The Eternal Derby (večiti derbi) between Red Star and Partizan is the defining event of Belgrade sport and one of the most intense football rivalries anywhere. Both clubs were founded in 1945, in the last year of the Second World War: Red Star (Crvena zvezda) in March by a communist youth organisation, Partizan in October as the club of the Yugoslav army. Their first meeting came in January 1947. Nearly eighty years and well over 170 league derbies later, the fixture still stops the city.

The geography makes it sharper. Both grounds sit in the Dedinje district of southern Belgrade, barely half a kilometre apart, so on derby day the whole neighbourhood belongs to football.

Red Star and the Marakana

Red Star play at the Rajko Mitić Stadium, universally called the Marakana after Brazil's Maracanã. Opened in 1963 and holding around 53,000, it is the largest stadium in Serbia. It was renamed in 2014 after Rajko Mitić, the club's first great star. Red Star are the more decorated side internationally: in 1991 they won the European Cup in Bari, beating Marseille on penalties, still the only Yugoslav or Serbian club to lift it. Their ultras, the Delije, fill the north stand.

Partizan and the black-and-whites

Partizan play a short walk away at the Partizan Stadium, the former JNA Stadium, holding roughly 30,000. Their colours are black and white, their supporters the Grobari (the gravediggers), massed on the south stand. The two sets of ultras produce enormous choreographed displays, flags, flares and pyrotechnics that are genuinely spectacular and, at times, genuinely dangerous.

What the atmosphere is really like

A derby in Belgrade is loud, smoky and tribal. Expect walls of colour, deafening chants, red or black flares that turn the pitch invisible for minutes, and a police operation to match. The football is often secondary to the theatre in the stands. It is thrilling, but it is not a family day out in the way an English or German match might be. Fans are segregated, searches are thorough, and trouble is not unheard of.

How to see a match

Pick your fixture

You do not have to start with the derby. A regular Serbian SuperLiga home game for either club is cheap, easy to attend and a good introduction. Tickets for ordinary league matches often cost only a few hundred dinars. The derby itself is harder: tickets sell fast, prices jump, and demand is huge.

Buying tickets

Tickets are sold through each club's official channels and the stadium box offices, and for big matches you generally need photo identification that matches the ticket. Buy from official sources rather than the street. If you only want the experience without the intensity, aim for a midweek league game rather than the derby or a match against a fierce rival.

Where to sit and how to behave

For a first visit, choose a side stand (the west or east) rather than behind the goals, where the hardcore ultras stand. Do not wear the opposing club's colours, do not photograph the ultras up close, and keep political and national gestures to yourself. Get there early, because entry with searches takes time.

Beyond the ninety minutes

Both clubs are more than football teams. They run basketball, water polo and volleyball sections that are among Europe's best, and a Red Star or Partizan basketball night at the Aleksandar Nikolić Hall is another way to feel the rivalry. If your visit does not line up with a derby, the club museums and megastores at the stadiums are open on non-match days, and a stadium tour of the Marakana lets you see the ground without 50,000 people around you.

Local tip: derby dates are set only a few weeks ahead and can move for television. If seeing it matters to you, keep your travel flexible and buy the moment tickets are released.