Belfast's Big Two

Big Two Derby

Linfield play Glentoran at The Oval in 2014
Locale	Belfast, Northern Ireland
Teams	Glentoran Linfield
First meeting	1 October 1887 Linfield Athletic 3–1 Glentoran King's Field, Ballymacarrett Friendly
Latest meeting	25 February 2017 Glentoran 0–1 Linfield The Oval NIFL Premiership
Next meeting	2017–18 season
Statistics
Meetings total	455 (competitive)
Most wins	Linfield (221)
All-time series	Linfield – 221 Glentoran – 128 Draws – 106
Largest victory	Linfield 8–0 Glentoran Ulsterville Avenue Irish League (21 November 1891)

Belfast's Big Two, also referred to simply as the Big Two, is the name given to the Northern Irish association football derby between Belfast clubs, Linfield and Glentoran. The derby is also sometimes referred to as the Belfast derby. They are the two most successful and most supported clubs in Northern Irish Football. They traditionally face each other on Boxing Day each year which usually attracts the largest Irish Premiership attendance of the season. They regularly play each other in the league and have contested more cup finals together than any other two clubs. They also make up two of the three clubs that have appeared in every season of the Irish League since its inception in 1890 - the other club being Cliftonville.

Although both clubs are successful, Linfield lead Glentoran in terms of league titles won with Linfield's 52 to Glentoran's 23.

The term "Belfast's Big Two" did not always refer to Linfield and Glentoran. Up until 1949, the big two were considered to be Linfield and Belfast Celtic as they had traditionally been the most successful teams in Northern Irish football. Given the traditional political following of both clubs (Linfield, like Glentoran, with a mainly unionist following, and Belfast Celtic with a mainly nationalist following), sectarian violence between supporters of both clubs was common. This culminated with a riot on 26 December 1948 at Windsor Park that saw three Celtic players injured by Linfield supporters, including striker Jimmy Jones who sustained a broken leg. As a result, Belfast Celtic left the Irish League at the end of the season and Glentoran became Linfield's biggest rivals.

Both teams are predominantly Protestant; however, Glentoran has fielded Catholic players and had Catholic fans for much of its history. Linfield fielded relatively few Catholic players prior to the 1980s, which led to an accusation that the club held a policy of not signing Catholic players – similar to Scottish team, Rangers. However, the existence of such a policy has been disputed by some, including well-known local journalist Malcolm Brodie. Support is traditionally split geographically with Linfield based in the south of the city and Glentoran in the east. Although both based in Belfast, they are separated by the River Lagan and are in two different counties. Linfield is based in County Antrim and Glentoran is based in County Down, although Glentoran and other County Down-based sides compete in the County Antrim Shield.