Who wants to be a Nashville rival?
With virtually no history behind them, it’s hard to figure out which teams in the American soccer pyramid will serve as rivals for Nashville SC: a team that didn’t even exist before 2016 — or 2013, depending on how you define exist.
Thankfully, the rapid increase in soccer’s popularity throughout the Southeast gives NSC fans plenty of options to choose for as teams to hate on.
This past week alone the USL announced that, starting in 2019, there would be a team in Memphis, a natural rivalry pitting West Tennessee against Middle Tennessee.
From future MLS opponents like Atlanta, second division teams like Indy Eleven, North Carolina FC or FC Cincinnati, to other Tennessee clubs like Chattanooga FC — there is no shortage of teams that could become part of a true rivalry.
1. Atlanta United: ¡El Traffico!
As the only other MLS team within 250 miles of Nashville, Atlanta would be a natural geographic rival.
The Five Stripes have quickly become the fastest-rising club in the United States: spending record fees for players that even top-flight European clubs have chased, setting records for attendance, building perhaps the most state-of-the-art stadium in the United States (albeit for football primarily), and even managing to hire one of the most respected coaches in the world in Tata Martino.
Throw in the rivalries between the two cities as a result of the SEC rivalries in the NCAA and you could very well find the historic college rivalries seeping their way into MLS.
We will find out this rivalry’s potential in earnest when they face off in a Feb. 10 friendly for Nashville SC’s inaugural game as a USL club.
2. The 2019 Memphis USL team: A Volunteer State Derby
Assuming Nashville are still in USL by 2019, we could very well witness the first-ever Tennessee Derby among teams competing in the second tier of American soccer when Memphis get their own team. And given that Memphis is the second-largest city in Tennessee, the battle for who the top-dog in the Volunteer State is should be exciting.
3. The 2019 Birmingham USL team: Third Saturday in October
Almost any fan of both Nashville SC and the Vols will appreciate there finally being a way to bring the historic football rivalry into the other kind of football.
4. North Carolina FC: 36th Parallel Derby
As the NASL continues to struggle, teams are abandoning ship as fast as they can, with most of them opting to seek refuge in USL. Among that group of teams is North Carolina FC (formerly the Carolina Railhawks), who enter the USL in 2018 and have also been working around the clock to make their MLS dream a reality.
With both teams in the Eastern Conference, Nashville are guaranteed to play North Carolina at least once in the regular season.
5. Chattanooga FC: The Other Tennessee Derby
As the longest-running professional soccer team in Tennessee, Chattanooga fans have tended to be a tad bitter about Nashville’s meteoric rise through the soccer pyramid — so the seeds for a natural in-state rivalry have been planted in fertile soil. Now all that needs to happen is for Chattanooga to move up from NPSL to USL or have the two sides meet in cup play. Chattanooga knocked Nashville FC (as it was then called) out of the NPSL playoffs in 2014
6. Indy Eleven: AFC South Derby
After fleeing the NASL with North Carolina FC, Indy Eleven became the final team to join the USL before the 2018 season. Since the Tennessee Titans play their games in Nashville, it’s only natural to assume that there will be some Indianapolis Colts fans in attendance and on social media to keep the rivalry going.
Indy being only about 290 miles from Nashville also makes them one of the easier teams to travel to.
7. FC Cincinnati: Expansion Derby
Despite packing out Nippert Stadium during an historic US Open Cup run, FC Cincinnati hasn’t been the slam-dunk expansion city some fans had hoped. Even if Cincinnati ends up joining Nashville in this round of expansions, there will be FCC fans mad their team didn’t get the call first. You can be sure that when the two teams face off in USL there will be some irate Cincinnati fans ready to lay into the Blue & Gold.
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Of course, it’s usually the action on the field that creates a true rivalry — a team that becomes the thorn in the other team’s side, or a team that wins silverware before the other.
Regardless, if you’re looking for compelling storylines to bring you to a Nashville SC game, it won’t be long before you find one.
