South Coast derby

The South Coast derby is a term used to describe football matches played between Southampton Football Club and Portsmouth Football Club. The term is popular in broadcast media and newspapers.

Southampton play their home games at St. Mary's Stadium, while Portsmouth play theirs at Fratton Park. Southampton and Portsmouth are historically the most successful clubs on the southern coast of England and lie only 19 miles (31 km) apart in Hampshire. However, because the two clubs have often been in different divisions, the derby game has only been played 73 times in "First Class" competition since the first meeting in 1899, with most of these coming in the pre-Football League era between 1899 and 1920.

In "First Class" matches between the two teams, Southampton have the most wins, with 35. Portsmouth had enjoyed a 32 consecutive seasons run in the top flight until 1959, during this time they became champions of England on two occasions and an FA Cup, while Southampton were in the lower levels of the football pyramid. Southampton gained promotion to the top flight for the first time in their history in 1966 and have been in a higher league than Portsmouth on 49 out of the 59 seasons that followed, including a consecutive run of 27 seasons in the top flight. Portsmouth have won the most major titles of the pair being champions of England twice (1948–49 and 1949–50) and twice FA Cup winners (1939 and 2008), while Southampton have won the FA Cup once (1976). Portsmouth also hold a total of 12 trophies to Southampton's 4, and are one of only five clubs to have won every division in the Football League.

With Southampton being relegated from the Premier League and Portsmouth successfully competing in the Championship, the South Coast derby made a return during the 2025–26 season, marking the first time the clubs have shared a division since the two draws in the 2011–12.