South Coast derby

South Coast derby
LocationHampshire
TeamsPortsmouth
Southampton
First meetingPortsmouth 2–0 Southampton
(6 September 1899 (Friendly))[1]
Latest meetingPortsmouth 0–4 Southampton
(24 September 2019)
Statistics
Meetings total71
Most winsSouthampton (35)
Largest victorySouthampton 5–1 Portsmouth
(FA Cup, 13 January 1906)
Portsmouth 5–1 Southampton (18 October 1919)
Southampton 5–1 Portsmouth
(11 September 1920)
Southampton 5–1 Portsmouth
(27 August 1960)
Southampton 4–0 Portsmouth
(17 April 1975)
Portsmouth 0–4 Southampton
(League Cup, 24 September 2019)

The South Coast Derby is a term used to describe football matches played between Portsmouth Football Club and Southampton Football Club. The term is popular in broadcast media and newspapers.

Portsmouth play their home games at Fratton Park, while Southampton play theirs at St. Mary's Stadium. Portsmouth and Southampton are historically the most successful clubs on the southern coast of England and lie only 19 miles (31 km) apart in Hampshire. However, because the two clubs have often been in different divisions, the derby game has only been played 71 times in "First Class" competition since the first one in 1899.

Portsmouth have won the most titles of the pair, being champions of England twice (1948–49 and 1949–50) and twice FA Cup winners (1939 and 2008), whilst Southampton have won a single FA Cup (1976). In "first class" matches between the two teams, Southampton have the most wins, and have been more regularly in a higher league than Portsmouth, including their 27 consecutive years in the top flight of English football. However, Portsmouth were southern England's first club outside of London to reach the First Division, in 1927, and stayed for 34 consecutive years until relegation in 1961, five years before Southampton reached the First Division.

In the 2024–25 season, Southampton will play in the top tier of English football, the Premier League and Portsmouth will play in the second tier of English football, the EFL Championship.

  1. ^ Juson 2004, p. 9.