What are the top 10 individual rivalries in sports history?

Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes will contend again in the postseason when Kansas City Chiefs host the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship Game Sunday. The game will be the fourth in the playoffs between these two teams, which makes it NFLthe biggest quarterback rivalry since the beginning of the decade.

The previous three battles were mostly filled with excitement, as both signal callers played near-perfect games in the 2021 AFC division title. However, Mahomes’ miraculous 13-second drive to force overtime and the game-winning touchdown pass on the first possession of overtime gave him the edge over Alena.

Mahomes next laughed at Allen in the postseason, when the Chiefs beat the Bills in the 2023 playoffs. Entering Sunday, Mahomes is undefeated (3-0) all-time against Allen in the postseason, but Allen has the regular-season edge, with 4 -1 in those games. The most recent of those wins came in November 2024, with Allen helping the Bills beat the Chiefs in their only loss that Mahomes started during the regular season.

The Allen-Mahomes rivalry is certainly exciting, but it’s far from the only individual rivalry that has brought juice to the NFL world over the years.

Still, let’s take a look at the best individual rivalries in sports history.

The NBA the icons became unlikely rivals in the mid-2010s, with Curry leading the way Golden State Warriors to prominence, while James led his teams to the NBA Finals from 2011-18. That set a streak of four consecutive years between James and Curry in the NBA Finals.

Curry got the first shot of that set, helping the Warriors get off the injured plate Cleveland Cavaliers team in 2015. James ended up getting his biggest rivalry hit a year later. After Curry led the Warriors to a record 73-win season and won a unanimous MVP, James did something that had never been done in NBA history. He brought the Cavs back from a 3-1 deficit to win the series, turning in outstanding performances over the final three games en route to winning the Finals MVP.

The individual rivalry may have lost some of its luster when the Warriors signed Kevin Durant in 2016, but the stars still came through, with James turning in some memorable performances in both Finals losses to the Warriors.

James and Curry grew noticeably closer as the rivalry continued, and the duo actually sparked rumors of a possible team-up in the future. They had the opportunity to do it in Summer Olympic Games 2024leading Team USA to a gold medal in one of their last legendary basketball moments.

Taken with the first overall pick in back-to-back drafts (2004-05), Ovechkin and Crosby quickly became faces NHL. And since their teams were in the same division, they were set for some epic battles over the years.

The duo went to the postseason four times during their careers. They each had a hat trick in the same game in their first back-to-back postseason series in 2009. Crosby’s Pittsburgh Penguins dominated Ovechkin’s Washington Capitals to win Game 7 of the 2009 conference semifinals that year.

That victory set the stage for the initial narratives of the rivalry. Ovechkin usually won more individual honors between the two, while Crosby led his team to greater success, winning the 2009 Stanley Cup.

Their subsequent postseason battles also preceded championship years for the team that won the series. The Penguins got the better of the Capitals in the second season in both 2016 and 2017 en route to winning the Stanley Cup.

Finally, in 2018, Ovechkin overcame the problem, making a pair of big plays to help the Penguins bury Game 6 of their second-round matchup that season before winning his first Stanley Cup.

8. Chris Evert vs. Martina Navratilova

Probably the two best tennis players of all time, Evert and Navratilova have met 80 times during their careers. They nearly tied the all-time series, with Navratilova holding a 43–37 advantage. Navratilova has won 14 of the 22 Grand Slam matches between the two.

The elder Evert initially had the upper hand in the rivalry, winning the first three Grand Slam matches between the two, but Navratilova won nine of the next 11 Grand Slam matches, with eight of those victories coming as championships.

Evert went on to win just her third Grand Slam title at the 1985 French Open in a match that is considered one of the greatest women’s tennis matches of all time. Both players rallied from deficits before Evert won the deciding set, 7-5, in one of the last Grand Slam matches between the two.

7. Tom Brady against Peyton Manning

Before there was Allen-Mahomes, there was Brady-Manning. The duo actually began their careers as division rivals, with New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts playing in the AFC East until 2001. As the two had opposite paths to NFL success, Brady won his first career start against Manning in 2001.

Not long after, the two became the best at their respective positions. Manning won co-MVP in 2003, but was unable to throw a clean game in the Colts’ loss to the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. A year later, Brady and the Patriots beat Manning & Co. in the divisional round after his record-breaking season en route to his third Super Bowl victory.

As Brady enjoyed early team success, Manning won all but the Super Bowl during the first seven years of his career. In 2006, Manning was able to change that, leading the Colts back from a 21-3 deficit and knocking off Brady’s Patriots in the conference title game en route to winning their first Super Bowl.

Brady began to match Manning’s individual accomplishments after the game, as the duo had several more epic games in the regular season. The rivalry continued when Manning joined Denver Broncos in 2012, with the star quarterbacks meeting twice in the postseason. Denver won both of those games, including the 2015 AFC Championship Game, to get the last laugh on Brady as he won the Super Bowl in his final NFL game two weeks later.

6. Wayne Gretzky vs. Mario Lemieux

Gretzky and Lemieux never met in the postseason, but they defined the NHL from the late 1980s through much of the 1990s. Gretzky is considered by many to be the best player in NHL history, setting some marks and records that have become unattainable.

However, Lemieux was able to compete with Gretzky in the prime of his career. He led the NHL in goals four times between 1987-93, edging out Gretzky by several points in some of those years. He also led the Penguins to two Stanley Cup titles during that time.

Gretzky still holds most of the career scoring records in NHL history, but Lemieux managed to finish just behind him in points per game (1,921 to 1,883) and consecutive games with a point (51 to 46).

Federer and Nadal have met 40 times in their careers, with Nadal winning 24 matches and 10 of 14 Grand Slam matches.

While Nadal got the best of Federer, that has always been the case in the rivalry. Nadal defeated Federer twice in the French Open final, in 2006 and 2007, while Federer defeated Nadal in the Wimbledon final in those years.

In 2008, Nadal held serve on his dominant surface, defeating Federer on clay to win again in the French Open final. However, he managed to defeat Federer on his dominant surface later that year, defeating him on grass to win the Wimbledon final in what is considered the greatest match in tennis history. Nadal needed extra games in the fifth set and almost five hours to beat Federer and win his first Wimbledon title.

Two football icons have been the faces of this sport since almost the beginning of the century. In fact, either Messi or Ronaldo won the Ballon d’Or every year from 2008 to 2017. Moreover, the two made up the Ballon d’Or winner in all but two years between 2008 and 2023.

Although there was no major international match between the two, Messi and Ronaldo tied when the former was on Barcelona and the latter was on Real Madrid. In their 37 career matches against each other, they have each scored 23 goals, but Messi’s teams have gone 17-11-9 in the span since 2008. Champions League final.

He also helped Messi Argentina conquer World Cup 2022, which gives him an advantage over Ronaldo in international achievements. But Ronaldo’s 919 career goals are more than Messi’s 850, making him the all-time leading goalscorer.

3. Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier

What happens when two of the greatest boxers of all time meet? The three biggest boxing games in history.

Ali and Frazier were undefeated prior to their first meeting in 1971, and each claimed the world heavyweight title before facing off in what was dubbed the “Fight of the Century.” Frazier won that bout in 1971 by unanimous decision, but that only set the stage for two bouts between legendary boxers.

In 1974, Ali got his revenge on Fraser. He won the same way Frazier had beaten him three years earlier, winning by unanimous decision in a 12-round fight. The two met again in 1975 in a match dubbed the “Thrilla in Manilla”, which Ali won due to Frazier’s corner withdrawal in the 14th round.

2. Bill Russell vs. Wilt Chamberlain

Russell and Chamberlain emerged as dominant forces in basketball in the 1960s, with each dominating the MVP voting while one of them dominated the title count. The two accounted for eight of the nine MVPs from 1959 to 1968, making them two of the best players in the game.

But when the postseason arrived, Russell’s teams usually got the best of Chamberlain’s. The Boston Celtics defeated Chamberlain’s squads in the first five times the duo met in the postseason before Philadelphia 76ers knocked off the Celtics in 1967 to end their eight-year title streak.

Russell gave Chamberlain one last laugh. Russell helped the Celtics knock off the Sixers in 1968, coming back from a 3-1 deficit to win the series and reach the NBA Finals. A year later, Russell’s Celtics outlasted Chamberlain’s Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals. In Game 7, Chamberlain left early as Russell was able to lift Boston to the title in what ended up being his final game.

1. Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson

If there was an individual rivalry that transcended sports, it was Bird-Magic. Everyone seemed to pick a side in the battles between the two sides in the 1980s.

Before making their mark in the NBA, the two met in the 1979 National Championship game. Johnson led Michigan State to the title above Bird’s Indiana State squad

It set up a rivalry when the two reached the NBA, forming a rivalry that helped relaunch the league. They each won titles early in their careers, but they never met in the NBA Finals in 1984. Bird’s Celtics won seven games that year, and things got especially heated in the Game 4 victory.

A year later, Johnson got his revenge, leading the Lakers to a six-game winning streak. Johnson also helped the Lakers beat the Celtics in 1987, and his junior ski hock to win Game 4 was a pivotal moment in the rivalry.

The bitter rivals admitted they didn’t like each other for years, but managed to bond when they filmed a commercial between NBA Finals games at Bird’s mother’s house.

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