The Derby di Sicilia or Sicilian Derby in English, is a local derby between Italian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

clubs

Calcio Catania Catania S.S.D., commonly known as Catania, is an Italian football club based in the city of Catania, Sicily, that plays in . Originally founded in 1908 as ''Associazione Sportiva pro Educazione Fisica'', the club boasts 17 appearances in the ...

and S.S.D. Palermo.

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also b ...

and

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its ...

are the two main cities on the island of

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, and the teams are fierce rivals. However, they have seldom played each other within the Italian football league system, because in many seasons they have played in separate divisions of the league. The first time the Sicilian derby took place in the context of league football was on November 1, 1936, at

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

level; it ended in a 1–1 draw. The Sicilian derby has been played 10 times in

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

: Catania leading their rivals by 5 victories to Palermo's 4; the other occasion was drawn. The teams have also met in local Sicilian competitions, and

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

es. The most notorious derby was on 2 February 2007, when 40-year-old policeman

Filippo Raciti On 2 February 2007, football violence occurred between football supporters and the police in Catania, Sicily, Italy. The clashes occurred during and after the Serie A match between the Catania and Palermo football clubs, also known as the Sicil ...

died in

from severe liver injuries during riots following the derby. The events led

FIGC The Italian Football Federation ( it, Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio; FIGC), known colloquially as ''Federcalcio'', is the governing body of football in Italy. It is based in Rome and the technical department is in Coverciano, Florence. I ...

commissioner Luca Pancalli to indefinitely suspend all professional and amateur football games in the country. For the 2007 season, all Palermo fans were banned from Catania's Stadio Massimino for the Catania-Palermo match on December 2, 2007. Catania subsequently proceeded to defeat Palermo 3–1, a historic derby win for Catania, their first in Serie A.

Statistics

''As of 3 March 2021''

Results

League results

⁽¹⁾ See

2007 Catania football violence On 2 February 2007, football violence occurred between football supporters and the police in Catania, Sicily, Italy. The clashes occurred during and after the Serie A match between the Catania and Palermo football clubs, also known as the Sicil ...

for more details about the riots during and following the match.

⁽²⁾ 2–0 Catania victory later awarded by the Federation. The match ended in a 1–0 win for Palermo.

Cup results

Sicilian derbies with Atletico Catania

For five seasons, Palermo played an "alternate" Sicilian derby against Atletico Catania, a minor team which reached its peak during the late 1990s, when it was the major football club in Catania, following the disbandment of the old

. In 1999–2000 and 2000–2001, Palermo contested derbies with both Catania and Atletico Catania, as all three teams were playing Serie C1/B at the time.

References

{{Sicily Palermo F.C. Catania S.S.D. Sicilia Sport in Sicily