Favourite International Rivalries?

[TollefsenFan]

Gods... What about Norway - Denmark. The mounain apes vs the half german alcoholics Thats what i call a real rivalry

 

[Nordic Pride]

In general the sports rivarly for swedes looks like this:

Hockey - Finland
Skiing - Norway
Football - Denmark

However, beating Canada means more to me than beating Finland, since a win against Finland is just the way it's supposed to be.

So Im gonna go with this;

Sweden: "The team we really don't want to lose to is Finland, the team we really want to beat is Canada."

And I also want to add that if Norway were on the same level as the finns they would quickly grow to be a more important nation to beat than Finland.

Norway is the Nordic country that I both like and respect the most and hate to lose to the most.

The same goes with Football and Athletics. But we never seem to play against Norway in Football and they aren't at the same level in Athletics to make "Finnkampen" interesting.

 

[babyshamble]

Norway-Denmark without a doubt.

Canada-USA is also fun to watch, always a lot of emotion

 

[Grabovski]

Top 5 imo:
1. Canada vs. Russia
2. Finland vs. Sweden
3. Slovakia vs. Czech Republic
4. Canada vs. USA
5. Canada vs. Sweden

 

[PahaMatti]

Canada vs. Russia has died down considerably after the cold war. Doesn't seem relevant anymore.

Nothing rises above Sweden these days

 

[BusQuets]

Sweden-Belarus is quite fierce and even

 

[vsk92]

finland vs sweden and finland vs russia

 

[BigT2002]

Sweden vs Finland
Czech vs Slovakia (obvious reasons)
Russia vs USA
Russia vs Canada
Canada vs USA

 

[Requoter]

My Top 5:

1. Canada - Russia
2. Canada - US
3. Russia - Czech Republic
4. Finland - US
5. Russia - US

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

I voted Finland-Russia. Finland-Sweden is like two brothers going at it, Finland-Russia is Winter War reloaded.

 

[vsk92]

I voted Finland-Russia. Finland-Sweden is like two brothers going at it, Finland-Russia is Winter War reloaded.

totally agree with this but other finns might have during opinions, but its always good when we beat either russia or sweden

 

[NewFang]

Canada / Russia is listed twice. someone needs to fix the poll and add up the totals.

 

[ponder]

As a Canadian it's all about Canada vs. USA for me, we've had some great tilts and they're always tight, entertaining games.

 

[zorz]

Czech R. vs Slovakia mentioned by some people isn't real rivalry. It's the same thing as like people were saying USA has rivalry with Mexico in hockey

 

[PhillyPhinn]

In general the sports rivarly for swedes looks like this:

Hockey - Finland
Skiing - Norway
Football - Denmark

However, beating Canada means more to me than beating Finland, since a win against Finland is just the way it's supposed to be.

So Im gonna go with this;



And I also want to add that if Norway were on the same level as the finns they would quickly grow to be a more important nation to beat than Finland.

Norway is the Nordic country that I both like and respect the most and hate to lose to the most.

The same goes with Football and Athletics. But we never seem to play against Norway in Football and they aren't at the same level in Athletics to make "Finnkampen" interesting.

For me the Sweden-hate exists only in hockey, and in sports where Finland isn't any good, I often even semi-root for Sweden. In soccer I very often root for Sweden(or other nordic countries) in the World Cup or European Championship, and have found that a lot of finns do the same. Especially finns who mostly follow finnish football, tend to root for Sweden and other nordic countries in international tournaments.

In winter sports I feel Norway is the biggest finnish rival as well, especially in Ski Jumping, where Sweden sucks for some reason. But I think finns consider Norway the main rival in cross country skiing as well, even though Sweden is a major force. I doub't that Norway considers Finland a rival in cross-country skiing though, so I guess it may be one-way.

It may have to be added that I'm finlandssvensk(Swedish-speaking finn), so maybe my 100% finnish-speaking brothers have a bigger Sweden-hate in other sports as well.

In hockey, though, I do hate Sweden, probably even more than the average finn..... For some reason there is a surprisingly widespread misconception about swedish-speaking finns that we would root for Sweden vs. Finland in hockey, and I remember as a kid in 1995 that my teammates on my local hockey team started "bragging" to me about how "they" beat "us".
I mean, I doubt english-speaking canadians think Mario Lemieux and Danny Briere root for France over Canada?

 

[Michael Scofield]

Agree with OP's choices

 

[Ati]

1.Canada - Russia

2.The rest.

 

[Everlasting]

I would have voted Swe - Fin but whenever they play its so one sided that its not fun.

Seeing Sweden beat Canada is way more exciting then Finland tho. Beating Finland is natural.. the way it suppose to be. Nothing special :/

 

[mrSlot]

FIN-SWE and FIN-RUS equally fierce for me.

Objectively it's clearly CAN-RUS.

In football Finland - Azerbaidjan.

obviously can-rus! intensified (in the earlier days) by political issues between East and West!

but haha you need to explain the azerbaidjan comment!

 

[Keeptdos]

1. Fin-Swe
2.Can-Usa


No need to explain.

 

[Alessandro Seren Rosso]

There's nothing like Canada - Russia!

 

[Oyabun]

My favorite rivalry is the one taking place tonight. Sweden - Finland means the most to me. Winning is always fun but the most important thing is not to lose against Finland.

Second favorite is Canada - USA. Two big hockey nations with an armada of registered hockey players. It's always fun to see the North Americans go at it.

 

[Blank]

but haha you need to explain the azerbaidjan comment!

The Azers seem to always land on the same qualifying group in soccer.. And it's always a tough game for the Finns. Even if they should be the better team (not by much tho)

And the points lost to the Azers are crucial in the difference between 2nd/3rd in the qualifying group.

 

[21]

I'll just quote what I wrote in the gold medal game-thread:
Sweden: "The team we really don't want to lose to is Finland, the team we really want to beat is Canada."

I don't think the Sweden/Canada-rivalry can beat Sweden/Finland, Canada/Russia or US/Canada, but it's evident that it's on the rise.

Hockey wise Sweden-Canda is a much more fun and exciting hockey to watch. I just love how Sweden nowadays answers to Canadas physical hockey and it always becomes great intense games.

Sweden-Finland is like big brother vs little brother. ;-) It's classical.

 

[21]

Sweden-Belarus is quite fierce and even

*big laugh* :-D