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Football’s oldest cup competition in the world – The FA Cup - sees more than 700 teams battle it out each season for the chance to lift the trophy at Wembley.

Even more clubs aim for domestic glory in the Coupe de France. Over 8,000 sides from home and France’s overseas territories and departments go head-to-head.

But while these competitions are all about overcoming multiple opponents, there are some teams that only ever seem to play each other. ����ý Bitesize explores the exclusively two-team match-ups around the world.

The Boat Race

For almost 200 years, a race has been held on the River Thames between just two teams.

Rowing crews from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge have gone head-to-head over the 4.2 mile (6.8km) course since 1829, in an event now known as the Boat Race. It all began as a private challenge from Cambridge student Charles Merivale to his friend at Oxford, Charles Wordsworth.

Oxford won the inaugural race, but the two crews didn’t meet again for seven years. It wasn’t until 1856 that the race was held annually. The women’s Boat Race was first held in 1927, albeit separately from the men’s race. Since 2015, both races have taken place on the same day over the same course.

The Boat Race often invites questioning from people about why it is held only between crews from Oxford and Cambridge – and why other universities do not take part. The simple answer is, that the Boat Race is a private challenge between the two universities, rather than an open competition. Similar races take place between other university rivals elsewhere across the UK – a Scottish Boat Race sees crews from the universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh take each other on, while Cardiff and Swansea teams do battle in the Welsh Boat Race. There is also an annual universities-wide rowing competition where crews from across the country compete for the national title.

The Isles of Scilly League

Several top European football leagues have, at times, been jokingly referred to as two-team competitions – based upon the dominance of a couple of teams.

Scotland’s top flight faces these mock accusations after the dominance of Rangers and Celtic – with no other team winning their league since 1985 – while to date, Barcelona and Real Madrid have won all bar four La Liga titles in Spain this century.

But while being called a two-team league is a form of mockery in those cases, it’s an entirely accurate name for the Isles of Scilly League.

The Isles of Scilly form an archipelago – a group of islands – off the southwestern coast of Cornwall. Just five of the 145 islands are populated – St. Mary’s, Tresco, St. Martins, Bryher and St. Agnes.

Teams previously used to represent each of the islands, but by the 1950s, just two squads remained. Many people left the isles for the mainland due to a lack of further and higher education options, and never returned.

Those two teams – now known as the Garrison Gunners and the Woolpack Wanderers – are both based on St. Mary’s and are technically part of the same team, St. Mary’s Football Club. All the players are within the same squad and are then selected by the captains at a social event at the start of the season – bringing a hint of school playground lunchtime jeopardy over who might be the last pick.

The teams play each other between 14 and 20 times a season. As of the end of the 2022-23 season, the Gunners held a record 20 championships, with the Wanderers catching up on 15 after three titles in a row.

Harlem Globetrotters

For storied rivalries, two-team clashes such as the Ashes and golf’s Ryder and Solheim Cups come to mind.

But what about the intense competition of two basketball teams who have played each other thousands of times over more than 70 years?

The Harlem Globetrotters face the Washington Generals around 400 times a year in exhibition matches all across the USA and the rest of the world.

The matches are presented as a typical game of basketball – albeit the showstopping Globetrotters bring in a series of showboating tricks and theatrics that may make the game seem like more of a performance than a legitimate sporting event.

While most of the games have a close finish, the Globetrotters significantly edge the rivalry. There isn’t a comprehensive set of match records available, but the Generals – who have played under various different names throughout their history, including the New Jersey Reds and New York Nationals - are believed to have only won between one and six times, with the only fully verifiable victory taking place in 1971.

It’s thought that win – a 100-99 late victory – was likely entirely accidental, due to the Globetrotters losing track of both the score and the time remaining after some elaborate showboating.

It’s been nothing but defeat since for the Generals – who have lost more than 17,000 times to their illustrious opponents.

This article was published in April 2024.