There’s something about a big city football derby. As the game lurches ever closer to business-obsessed disaster it is the thrill of the derby that keeps the spirit alive, the obsession of fans desperate for bragging rights in work, at school, in the pub and elsewhere. This is real football — just ask fans in Manchester, Milan, Belgrade, Glasgow and the rest. 

On March 21, Hertha and Union Berlin will do battle for the second time this season, but there is more to the capital city derby than meets the eye, and as usual it is steeped in the Cold War years. When they were promoted last season, Union became the fifth team from Berlin to make it to the Bundesliga — more than any other city — yet the November match against Hertha was only the fifth Berlin derby in Bundesliga history. What’s more, it was actually the first match to feature teams from West and East Berlin going against each other.

Hertha are far and away Berlin’s most successful football club, appearing in 36 Bundesliga seasons. This becomes even more eye-catching when you take into account that no other Berlin club has managed more than two seasons. Union look well set to survive into a second season though, and will be looking to push on and establish themselves in the top flight, as opposed to fading away into obscurity like Tasmania 1900 Berlin, Blau-Weiß Berlin and Tennis Borussia Berlin before them. Hertha and Union are both clubs that represent Berlin, but history has kept them divided.

The rivalry was once a friendship. Hertha fans would frequently travel to Union home games, where the Stadion An der Alten Försterei became something of an impromptu protest spot, and Union fans would bulk up Hertha’s support when Die Alte Dame played continental games in Eastern Europe. The teams played their first game against each other in 28 years just two months after the fall of the Wall, and subsequently went out for dinner together after the game. The friendliness has since been replaced by bickering and a desire for bragging rights, making the upcoming derby a potentially spicy affair. Union won the first game 1-0, will Hertha pick up revenge at the Olympiastadion? We’ll have to wait and see.