The Big Blue

Sydney FC vs Melbourne Victory,Allianz Stadium, February 2010
Location	Melbourne Sydney (Southeast Australia)
Teams	Melbourne Victory Sydney FC
First meeting	28 August 2005 A-League Sydney FC 1–1 Melbourne Victory
Latest meeting	22 November 2025 A-League Men Sydney FC 3–0 Melbourne Victory
Next meeting	26 January 2026 A-League Men Melbourne Victory v Sydney FC
Statistics
Meetings total	67
Most wins	Sydney FC (27)
Most player appearances	Leigh Broxham (47)
Top scorer	Archie Thompson (14)
All-time record	Melbourne Victory: 21 Drawn: 19 Sydney FC: 27
Largest victory	Melbourne Victory 5–0 Sydney FC (16 October 2005) Melbourne Victory 0–5 Sydney FC (26 January 2014) Sydney FC 6–1 Melbourne Victory (12 May 2019)
Melbourne Victory Sydney FC

The Big Blue,^[1] is the name of thesoccerrivalry in Australia betweenSydney FC andMelbourne Victory. While the main colour of both teamsand their respective states are shades of the colour blue, inAustralian English the word "blue" can also mean "a fight, brawl or heated argument".^[2]

Sydney andMelbourne are the two largest cities in Australia, and Sydney FC and Victory are two of the league's most supported and most successful clubs. The rivalry was further sparked by a number of highly competitive meetings between the two teams in early seasons.The Big Blue generally attracts some of the largest crowds and TV audiences of the regular season.

There has been a long-standingrivalry between the cities of Sydney and Melbourne, the two largest cities in Australia.

In soccer terms, the rivalry has existed for almost 140 years, starting with the first inter-colonial match between Victoria and New South Wales taking place on 16 August 1883 at theEast Melbourne Cricket Ground, which ended as a 2–2 draw in front of a crowd of 2,000.^[3] These intercolonial and later interstate matches continued regularly as a highlight of early Australian soccer until the outbreak ofWorld War I. Although there were many later matches between various mostly immigrant-founded teams from Melbourne and Sydney in theAustralia Cup and theNational Soccer League prior to the A-League Men era, the interstate rivalry aspect was not as much of a focus, given the context and identity of the clubs involved.

Sydney FC andMelbourne Victory FC were destined to become major rivals at the inception of theA-League Men due to the historic regional rivalry between their home cities. At the time, the A-League Men operated under the "one-team, one-city" model,^[4] so the rivalry was almost instantaneous.

This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(September 2020)

The first competitive match between the two clubs was significantly played on the opening weekend of the inaugural2005–06 A-League season. It was held on 28 August 2005, at Sydney FC's home ground, theSydney Football Stadium. Both teams were eager to stamp their authority as the biggest club in the league, with Sydney FC having already won the2005 OFC Club Championship during the pre-season. The match ended in a 1-all draw as Victory's first player signing and soon to become stalwart,Archie Thompson, cancelled out Sydney FC's marquee signing,Dwight Yorke's first half goal.^[5] The second meeting, on 16 October 2005, resulted in a landslide win for Victory at their then home ground, theOlympic Park Stadium, defeating Sydney FC 5–0.^[6] The result still stands as Sydney FC's worst defeat in this fixture.

The first encounter between the clubs during the2006–07 A-League season (and fourth overall) entrenched the rivalry between the teams as passion and tension fueled the match. Sydney FC skipper,Mark Rudan was sent off after fourteen minutes and Victory playerFred elbowed Sydney FC defenderMark Milligan in the throat. Fred avoided sanction as he was substituted before the referee could see a replay on the big screen.^[6] The ugly incident required urgent medical attention as it left Milligan struggling to breathe and there were fears he swallowed his tongue.^[7] The following match in Melbourne, the sixth overall, set the record for attendance at an A-League match when 50,333 fans crammed intoEtihad Stadium on 8 December 2006. The match ended in a nil-all draw.^[6]

After sealing the 2010 Premiership at home on the final day of the season by beating Melbourne 2–0, Sydney FC went on to win the ChampionshipGrand Final on penalties at Melbourne'shome stadium.

The rivalry reached another level in 2011, with both teams in pursuit of the signature of SoccerooHarry Kewell pre-season. Melbourne Victory announced they had signed Kewell on 20 August and five days afterwards Sydney FC announced that they had signed SoccerooBrett Emerton fromBlackburn Rovers. The teams played out a 0–0 stalemate in the first round of the 2011–12 A-League season, with Australia's head coach not picking either player for national duty, allowing the eagerly-anticipated match up to occur.

ABig Blue match has been played eachAustralia Day at either theMelbourne Rectangular Stadium orDocklands Stadium inMelbourne since the2011–12 A-League season which ended in a 2–all draw. However, the2014–15 A-League season did not feature this fixture due to the2015 AFC Asian Cup.

Since 2012, the teams have played for the BeyondBlue Cup, which is awarded to the winning team in the Big Blue.^[8] Sydney FC claimed the inaugural BeyondBlue Cup by defeating Melbourne Victory 1–0 atAllianz Stadium on 10 March 2012.

On 10 November 2012, Melbourne Victory came from 2–0 down to win 3–2 atAllianz Stadium, with two late goals from substitute playerAndrew Nabbout helping them achieve the result. This match turned out of beIan Crook's last match as Sydney FC manager, as he announced his resignation shortly after the defeat, which was Sydney's fourth in six games.

The fixture played 8 December 2006 holds the record for the second highest attendance at a regular season match with 50,333 in attendance. Currently, three fixtures between the two sides make up the top ten of the League's highest regular season attendances.^[9]

With Sydney defeating Melbourne on 3 March 2017 (36th match), they became the first side to win all 3 games of the rivalry in the normal season.

Melbourne Victory and Sydney met in the2017 A-League Grand Final. Despite Sydney only losing 1 game throughout the whole season, it was Melbourne Victory who took the lead through a Besart Berisha goal. Sydney FC equalised after halftime thanks to Rhyan Grant. The game went to penalties and Sydney won 4–2 on penalties. It was exactly the same scoreline as their meeting in the 2010 Grand Final.

As of 22 November 2025

As of 22 November 2025

Player	Club	Goals scored
Archie Thompson	Melbourne	14
Kosta Barbarouses	Melbourne/Sydney	11
Adam Le Fondre	Sydney	8
Bobô	Sydney	8
Danny Allsopp	Melbourne	6
Besart Berisha	Melbourne	5
James Troisi	Melbourne	5
Alex Brosque	Sydney	5
Mark Bridge	Sydney	5
David Carney	Sydney	5
Joe Lolley	Sydney	4
Shane Smeltz	Sydney	4
Ola Toivonen	Melbourne	4

• BOLD indicates player still playing for that club.

As of 26 January 2024

Player	Nation	Melbourne		Sydney FC		Total "Big Blues"
		Years	Record	Years	Record	Apps	Goals	Record
Sebastian Ryall[10]		2007–2009	2–1–0	2009–2018	8–12–6	29 (3 / 26)	4 (0 / 4)	10–13–6
Mark Milligan[11][12]		2012–2015, 2017–2018	4–5–3	2005–2008	1–3–3	19 (12 / 7)	1 (1 / 0)	5–8–6
Fabio[13]		2011–2012	0–2–1	2012–2013	0–0–2	5 (3 / 2)	1 (1 / 0)	0–2–3
Danny Vukovic[14][15]		2015–2016	2–1–0	2016–2017	4–0–0	7 (3 / 4)	0	6–1–0[a]
Terry Antonis[16][17]		2018–2019	3–0–3	2010–2015	1–5–2	14 (6 / 8)	1 (1 / 0)	4–5–5
Mitch Austin[18][19]		2016–2018	0–0–2	2019	0–0–0	2 (2 / 0)	1 (1 / 0)	0–0–2
Kosta Barbarouses		2013–2016, 2017–19	7–4–5	2019–2022	6–0–1	23 (16 / 7)	11 (6 / 5)	13–4–6
James Donachie		2016–2018, 2019–20	1–0–10	2021–2023	2–1–2	16 (11 / 5)	1 (0 / 1)	3–1–12
Elvis Kamsoba		2019–2021	1–0–7	2021–2022	0–1–1	10 (8 / 2)	0 (0 / 0)	1–1–8
Joshua Brillante		2021–2023	2–1–1	2016–2019	9–0–3	16 (4 / 12)	0 (0 / 0)	11–1–4

Players in bold denote currently still active at either Melbourne Victory or Sydney FC

As of 12 May 2024

• Soccer in Australia
• List of association football club rivalries by country

• Soccer rivalries in Australia
• Melbourne Victory FC
• Sydney FC
• Soccer in Melbourne
• Soccer in Sydney
• Nicknames in association football
• Recurring sporting events established in 2005
• 2005 establishments in Australia

• Use dmy dates from August 2020
• Use Australian English from September 2011
• All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English
• Wikipedia articles in need of updating from September 2020
• All Wikipedia articles in need of updating