The fixture between Leicester City and Derby County is a football rivalry in the East Midlands. The fixture is often called an East Midlands derby. Although both clubs have a strong mutual dislike of each other, they both consider Nottingham Forest their main rivals.[1]
Historically, Derby has a better record against Leicester beating them 46 times in 108 meetings. Leicester has won 34 meetings with 28 ending in draws. However, in recent years Leicester have dominated the fixture, having won 8 of the last 9 meetings. In fact, a Derby player didn't score against Leicester from 2007 until Theo Robinson scored against them in the Championship game on 1 December 2012.[citation needed]
The 2 sides will be meeting each other in the 2025–26 season, on 6 and 29 December 2025, following Leicester's relegation from the 2024–25 Premier League and Derby's confirming their survival in the Championship on the final day of the 2024–25 EFL Championship. This will be their first meeting in 8 years, the last one being on 8 February 2017 in an FA Cup 3rd round replay, a game which Leicester won 3–1, following a 2–2 draw at Pride Park on 27 January 2017.[2][3]
Games between the two teams, like the majority of local derbies in English football, have resulted in a number of football hooliganism incidents.
After a EFL Cup game between the two sides in 1985 which saw Leicester eliminated at the hands of Derby, there was a widespread "riot".[21]
In October 2009, James Underwood, a Derby supporter aligned with the firm Derby Lunatic Fringe was involved in an incident with Leicester supporters. In May 2010, Underwood was then banned from attending football matches for three years for his role in that incident, among other separate clashes involving supporters of Everton, Nottingham Forest and Sheffield Wednesday.[22]
Trivia
The Highest scoring game between the two sides ended 5–2 to Derby County in the 1928/29 English football season, which year Leicester achieved what was until their Premier League title win in 2015–16 their highest ever league finish, 2nd in Division One (now the Premier League)[23]
Leicester have a 100% record on neutral ground beating Derby 2–1 in the 1993/94 Play-off finals for promotion to the Premier League.[23]
The last time Derby beat Leicester away from home was 3–0 in 2002. The year both clubs were relegated from the Premier League. Leicester won the reverse fixture 3–2.[23]
According to the Football fan census, Leicester and Derby are 'traditional' rivals.
Leicester as well as Forest refer to Derby as 'the sheep', a reference to their nickname being the Rams.[23]
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