The Derby di Sicilia or Sicilian Derby in English, is a

local derby A sports rivalry is intense competition between athletic teams or athletes, affecting participants, management, and supporters all to varying degrees. One of the first known sports rivalries occurred in the Roman Empire between the Blues and th ...

between

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

clubs Catania FC and Palermo FC.

Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

and

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

are the two main cities on the island of

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

, and the teams are fierce rivals. However, they have seldom played each other within the

Italian football league system The Italian football league system, also known as the Italian football pyramid, refers to the hierarchically interconnected league system for association football in Italy. It consists of nine national and regional tournaments, the first three b ...

, 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 (), officially known as 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 b ...

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

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

: 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, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

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

from severe liver injuries during riots following the derby. The events led FIGC 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 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 Calcio Catania. 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 FC Catania FC Sicilia Football in Sicily