The biggest gap between derby rivals who once played in the same division

“If Nottingham Forest are promoted to the Premier League and Notts County remain in the National League, would this create the biggest difference in league positions between two local rivals who had played in the same league before?” muses Makoto.

Nottingham’s finest last played each other in the league in 1993-94, in what is now the Championship. If Forest are promoted and County stay in the National League, there will be four tiers between the sides. But there is a much quicker example, albeit involving a local rivalry that isn’t quite as intense.

“Sheffield United and Chesterfield played in League One in 2016-17,” writes David Taylor. “By the end of 2019-20 United were ninth in the Premier League, Chesterfield 20th in the National League.”

Bernd Wilms can see those four tiers and raise them. “There is at least one six-tier difference in Germany: Freiburg,” he writes. “From 1978 to 1982, Freiburger FC (the historically larger club) and SC Freiburg both played in the 2 Bundesliga. By 2009, FFC had fallen to the seventh-tier Landesliga and SCF had reached the Bundesliga.”

There are plenty of other five-tier differences in Germany, which Bernd has also highlighted. FC Köln and Fortuna Köln; Hertha Berlin and Tennis Borussia; and VfL Bochum and Wattenscheid 09. “However, this is just counting rivals that were in the Bundesliga or 2 Bundesliga together,” he adds. “If you look at some of the teams that Hertha BSC, 1860 München or MSV Duisburg played during their 1980s stints in the (then third tier) Oberliga, you could probably get even bigger swings today.”

Speaking of Duisburg and the Oberliga. “I can offer local rivals MSV Duisburg and Sportfreunde Hamborn 07,” offers Bernd Jatzwauk. “They played each other in the