List of Senya national football team rivalries

The Senya national football team is commonly regarded as one of the strongest national football teams on Micras. Since joining the FMF in 2012, they have become renowned for their passionate fans, and are noted as popularising the Micrasian Ultras scene. This intense passionate fanbase, along with the relative strength of the national team, has seen the Senyan national team develop and engage in rivalries with many teams across Micras. Senyans typically view Gerenia as their biggest historical rivalry, though several other national teams have similarly heated encounters.

Rivalries have developed for a number of differing reasons, such as geographic proximity, competitiveness and political history.

List of rivalries

Gerenia

A Gerenian banner which reads "Neé d.a.f. Sänya!" ("Neé dirnism attar fuĵ Sänya!"; You fuck off Senya!).

Senya's biggest rivalry was with Gerenia, which was hotly contested between 2012 and 2018. Dubbed the Apollonian Classico, it was arguably one of Micras' most heated footballing rivalries, with games between the two typically having very intense atmospheres and being competitively close. With both nations located in Northwestern Apollonia, the derby took off in 2014 after Gerenia eliminated Senya on penalties in the semi-final of the 2014 Copa Apollonia. Both sides had fostered ultras groups that supported their respective national teams, with the Marauders (Gerenia) and Naldas (Senya) seeing each other as their sworn enemies. The Naldas were typical of the Ultras style of support, known for their use of flares, vocal support in large groups and the displaying of banners and tifos at games, all of which are designed to create an atmosphere which encourages their own team and intimidates the opposing players and their supporters, where as the Marauders were a typical barra brava, and were noted for their constant, loud chanting, and their huge banners, which often had the names of the cities they come from.

The rivalry picked up as Senya and Gerenia become the dominating forces of AEFA football between 2014 and 2018, with the sides regularly meeting at the Copa Apollonia, with the two sides winning all three editions of that competition in that time frame (Gerenia in 2014 and Senya in both 2016 and 2018). During this time, games between the two were often noted for the large displays of the fans, with both sides typically setting off excessive amounts of pyrotechnics as well as larger displays. The most iconic of these included the Gerenian slaughterhouse tifo unfurled by the Naldas in the 2016 Copa Apollonia semi-final, which depicted a Senyan hooligan holding a knife, whilst the Gerenians, having inflicted Senya's largest ever defeat (4–0) in 2015, unfurled a massive banner during the 2016 clash that read "Er 4–0 'ster eosed ŷ[éer] nohag" (The 4–0 will never be forgotten), which subsequently became a mainstay feature of the Marauders displays, even when they were not playing Senya.

In the latter years of the rivalry, the derby often became violent, with the Marauders and Naldas often clashing both inside and outside the stadium. The most noteworthy of these incidents came following the Senya's 2–0 defeat of Gerenia at the 2018 Copa Apollonia, a result which eliminated Gerenia from the competition. The ensuing riot, sometimes referred to as the Battle of Glasbridž, also included fighters from The Red Army (Floria) and Zeleni (Kingdom of Coria), which aligned with the Marauders and Naldas respectively. The riot came after the Naldas voted to abandon their anti-hooligan policy following tip-offs that the Marauders and Red Army were planning to attack them during the game, and a massive fight broke out first in the stadium, before spilling out into the streets that evening, which saw dozens of people injured in clashes both between the groups and with Krasnocorian police.

In late 2018, the Gerenian state fell, consigning the derby to history.

Jingdao

After playing each other once in 2013, in a low key affair which saw Senya run out 1–0 victors in Zijincheng, Senyan-Jingdao relations sowered following the River Warrior War of 2014, which saw the Apollonian Republic invade Senya and annex the River Warriors. Despite not playing a fixture until 2018, relations between the two countries hit a low and public opinion of Jingdao and the Jing people plummeted in Senya. In 2017, several Jingdao football fans were attacked by hooligans in Moroni during the 2017 World Cup. Despite a warming of diplomatic relations in 2018, the first post-war fixture between the two as part of the 2018 Copa Apollonia, was marred by violence between fans, as Jingdao ran out surprise 2–0 winners. However, tempers have largely cooled since then, and whilst occasional mistrust that led to anti-Jing sentiment has come across in subsequent fixtures, the games are no longer violent.

Lamantia

Whilst Lamantia are somewhat natural rivals for Senya as an autonomous region, and games between the two attract spectacular displays by both sets of supporters, the level of quality between the teams has dampened this rivalry, despite the Lamantians viewing Senya as their biggest rivals. Senya have won all ten fixtures between the two, although 8 of these have occurred either in friendlies or friendly competitions. Despite the animosity sometimes shown during games, Senya view Lamantia as brothers and Lamantian groups sometimes join the Naldas in fights with other nations.

Tellia

Senya and Tellia's rivalry has mainly came in the form of World Cup encounters that the two have shared over the years. On their World Cup debut, Senya eliminated the Tellians on penalties in 2014, before coming back from 3–1 down to win 4–3 on home soil in 2017, only to lose the final of that competition at the hands of the Benacian side 2–1 that year. Although there is no explicit hatred between the two, Tellia's role as the genesis of the ultras scene in Micras often means that the Naldas try to be even crazier than usual to try and show their "superior" ultras scene in games between the two. Both nation's ultras groups are both well known across Micras for their behaviour and fixtures between the two can be both colourful and intimidating. However, Senyans hold the Tellian ultras in high regard and show a lot of respect for their opponents.

Zeeburg

Senya briefly had a competitive rivalry with the Benacian island of Zeeburg, during 2012. The sides met each other three times, during the Zeeburg and Senyan School International tournaments of 2012, and the 2013 Four Nations Internationals. Along with Gerenia, Senya and Zeeburg were viewed as potential future footballing powerhouses in these days, however Zeeburg failed to develop in the same way as Senya did, and the rivalry quickly fell off, with the teams having not played each other since 2013.