HINT SHEET #16
Club Rivalries & Derbies
As the rivalry deepens, match intensity and prestige increase
⭐ Club Rivalries & Derbies — How It All Works
Rivalries in Soccer Supremos are a long-term system that builds quietly in the background – match by match, season by season. They’re not just cosmetic. A rivalry that reaches the top tier changes how your players perform, how your fans behave, and gives you a named derby competition that lives permanently in the record books. But getting there takes patience and a bit of strategy.
⚔️ 1. The Rival Score
Every match you play against another club – league, cup, or friendly – generates a hidden Rival Score between your two clubs. This score accumulates over time and drives your rivalry from nothing through to Legendary Derby status.
The exact formula is deliberately kept secret, but there are a few things that are known to matter:
| Factor | Impact on Rival Score |
|---|---|
| Match closeness | The biggest driver – tight, competitive matches build rivalry fastest |
| Cup matches | Score the most points per match |
| League matches | Solid points – 30 per season means plenty of opportunities |
| Fan clashes | Crowd incidents, policing trouble, and stand damage all boost rivalry growth |
| Friendlies | Add a small amount – useful, but not a substitute for competitive fixtures |
🔍 Volume helps – more matches means more chances to score points – but it’s match closeness and crowd conflict that really fuel rivalry over the long run.
📈 2. Rivalry Levels
As your Rival Score climbs, the rivalry progresses through a series of levels. Each one unlocks something new.
| Rival Score | Level | What Happens |
|---|---|---|
| 100+ | Rival Aware | Your Top 10 Rivals list unlocks in the Manager’s Report |
| 200+ | Official Rival eligible | You may formally declare this club an Official Rival |
| Both declare | Linked Rivalry | Rivalry becomes mutual – an additional 150 points needed to advance |
| Linked + 150 | Legendary | All future matches become Derby Games |
| Legendary + 100 | Legendary Derby | Named Derby Cup competition unlocks |
💡 The Linked Rivalry threshold is calculated from the score at the point the second declaration is made – not from zero. See Section 4 for a worked example.
📋 3. Your Top 10 Rivals List
Once any club hits 100 Rival Points with you, your Top 10 Rivals list unlocks. This appears each week in your Manager’s Report and shows:
| Column | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Rival Club | The club name and number |
| Match Stats | Head-to-head record across league, cup, and friendlies |
| Status | Aware / Official / Linked / Legendary / Legendary Derby |
| Detail | Any additional rivalry information (e.g. derby competition name) |
| Rival Score | Your current accumulated score with that club |
Keep an eye on this list. It tells you which rivalries are worth investing in and which clubs are quietly building a score against you whether you like it or not.
📜 4. Declaring Official Rivals
Once a rival score hits 200 points, you can formally declare that club an Official Rival using an Executive Order. You can hold up to 3 Official Rivals at any time. To withdraw a declaration, you’ll need another Executive Order – so think before you commit.
⚠️ Only pick clubs you’ll face regularly. Cup and league matches are what drive rivalry growth – Official status won’t help much if you’re in different divisions with no cup path between you.
When both clubs declare each other, the rivalry becomes Linked. At the point of linking, an additional 150 Rival Points must be earned to advance to Legendary – calculated from the score at the moment the second declaration is made.
Worked example: Club A declares Club B as a rival when the score reaches 230. Club B returns the declaration several weeks later when the score has grown to 247. The rivalry is now Linked, and both clubs need to reach 397 points (247 + 150) to reach Legendary status.
🏟️ 5. Legendary Status and Derby Matches
Once a Linked rivalry reaches the required threshold, it becomes Legendary. From that point on, every match between the two clubs is treated as a Derby Game – with all the additional intensity, risk, and reward that brings.
Reaching Legendary is just the penultimate step. A further 100 Rival Points beyond the Legendary threshold unlocks the top tier: Legendary Derby.
Continuing the example: Club A and Club B reach 397 points – Legendary status. All their matches are now derbies. At 497 points (397 + 100), they reach Legendary Derby.
🏆 6. The Derby Cup Competition
At Legendary Derby level, you can name your own derby competition – the Iron Cup, the Steel City Clash, whatever fits. This is done via an Executive Order, but there’s an important catch: both managers must submit the same name in the same game week. Get this wrong and you’ll need to try again the following week.
Once named, the Derby Cup works like this:
| Detail | How It Works |
|---|---|
| Cycle length | Every 5 derby matches complete one Derby Cup cycle |
| Cup Holder | The club with the better record across those 5 matches wins the cycle |
| Next cycle | Begins immediately after the previous one ends |
| Records | All results are recorded permanently in the game’s history |
💡 The Derby Cup is the only competition in Soccer Supremos that’s entirely manager-created. What you name it, and how you perform in it, becomes part of your club’s permanent record.
🎯 7. What Rivalry Actually Does to Your Club
Rivalry isn’t just a number on a list. The higher your rivalry with a club, the more it affects what happens when you meet:
| Effect | What to Expect |
|---|---|
| 🔥 Player performance | Players may rise to the occasion in big matches – or crumble under pressure |
| 🩹 Injuries & bookings | Higher chance of cards and knocks as the stakes increase |
| 📣 Attendance & revenue | Bigger rivalries bring bigger crowds and more matchday income |
| ⚠️ Fan volatility | Crowd incidents become more likely – which in turn feeds more rivalry growth |
⚠️ Fan clashes that boost your rivalry score also cost you in policing and potential ground damage. The bigger the rivalry gets, the more you’ll need to manage the consequences.
🎯 8. How Smart Managers Use This
- Pick your rivals deliberately. You only get 3 Official Rival slots – use them on clubs you share a division with, or are likely to meet in cup runs.
- Keep matches competitive. A 1-0 win builds more rivalry than a 5-0 hammering. Closeness is the biggest driver of Rival Score growth.
- Don’t rush the declaration. You need 200 points before you can declare, and withdrawing costs another Executive Order. Make sure the score is genuinely building before committing.
- Coordinate the derby name early. Once you reach Legendary Derby, both managers need to agree a name and submit the same Executive Order in the same week. Sort it out via DM beforehand.
- Watch the Top 10 list. Other clubs may be building a score against you without you realising. Sometimes the most interesting rivalries are the ones you didn’t plan.
📋 Executive Orders are shared with ground and finance orders – you have 4 total per turn. See Hint Sheet #13 (Stand Developments) and Hint Sheet #15 (Revenue Generators) for other uses of your order slots.