Hearts vs Hibernian: The Explosive Scottish Football Rivalry Overlooked in the Old Firm’s Shadow

The Edinburgh derby is part of 90min’s 50 Biggest Derbies in the World Series.

Cup final thrashings, double relegations, last-minute winners, 4-4 draws, coins launched, punches thrown, and a team being asked by the police to stop scoring goals at half-time. 

That’s just a slice of the action we’ve been graced with in Scottish football’s capital derby over the years. 

Hearts vs Hibs; whether it’s Jim Jefferies vs Alex McLeish, Craig Levein vs Neil Lennon or Daniel Stendel going toe to toe with Jack Ross; has very rarely failed to deliver.

Many would suggest that Celtic vs Rangers is the game which best condenses the chaotic, unconventional, beautifully ugly spirit of the Scottish game into 90 minutes plus stoppage time. But while the Edinburgh derby doesn’t grab as many headlines, in terms of drama, fervour and intensity, it can give any rivalry in world football a run for its money. 

Not only is it Scottish football’s longest-running rivalry, it’s one of the oldest in European football. For almost 150 years, dating back to the mid-1870s – more than a decade before the presently dominant Celtic were even conceived – the two sides have been at each other’s throats and in each other’s grills. 


Given that Hibernian’s name derives from the Roman word for Ireland, it will come as no surprise that this is a rivalry with its roots in religion and politics. Hibs were established from Edinburgh’s Irish Catholic community in 1875, while Hearts  – formed a year earlier – have taken on Unionist connotations.

There might no escaping the sectarian overtones that exist at every meeting between Edinburgh’s big two, but their feud is not one of faith or political differences. It is a football rivalry in the purest sense.  

Fitting the extraordinary narrative into just a few hundred words is no small feat. Ever since Hearts won the 1896 Scottish Cup final – the first of many famous cup meetings between the sides – that competition has taken on a central role.  

Hibs’ famous run from 1902 to 2016 without winning the ‘big cup’ was something Hearts – who won it fives times in those 114 years – reminded them of at every possible turn. The pinnacle from a Jambos perspective was in 2012, when the two met in a cup final for the first time in more than a century.

It was expected to be close, but Hearts’ rampant 5-1 victory at a heaving, sun-soaked Hampden is perhaps the most famous in their history. 

It added to their sense of derby superiority that had existed since ending Hibs’ ’70s domination. John Robertson famously claim in 1990 that, with Hearts winning 3-0 at half-time at Easter Road, police had requested that they ‘take it easy’ to avoid further inflaming what was already an explosive occasion, while former Hearts boss Levein said in 2018 that the ‘natural order’ had been restored following the Jambos’ 1-0 league win.  

That went down about as well as you’d expect; in a derby later that year, footage showed Hearts keeper Bobby Zlamal being punched by a Hibs supporter, while home manager Neil Lennon was struck by a coin. 


Though it’s Scotland’s second most famous derby by a pretty considerable distance, as recently as 2015, Hearts vs Hibs was a Championship clash, after the Jambos’ financial misconduct under the infamous Vladimir Romanov led to a 12-point deduction, and ultimately relegation. 

That was celebrated by Hibs as if they’d won the league themselves, hosting a ‘relegation party’ at Tynecastle to celebrate their rivals’ demise. The party didn’t last long, though; Hearts won that game 2-0, Hibs finished second bottom, and ultimately went down alongside them after losing the playoffs.

Hearts won the 2014/15 Championship on 91 points; Hibs were second on 70. 

The Hibees, granted, would probably have taken all of that with a smile, had they known they would go on to beat Rangers in the Scottish Cup final in 2016, while still a second-tier side. That last minute David Gray header and subsequent pitch invasion is one of the iconic moments in recent Scottish football history. 

Since then, it’s the men in green who have marginally had the better of it. Hearts are staring relegation in the face as they sit rooted to the bottom of the Premiership table, while Hibs – who beat them in the race for Jack Ross after both sides parted company with their managers last year – sit 14 clear of danger, and on track for a top half finish. 

You can never really call it, however. Despite their lowly league position, Hearts – now under the tutelage of highly-rated ex-Barnsley boss Stendel – travelled to the north of Edinburgh last month for the latest meeting between the two, and pulled a swashbuckling attacking performance out of nowhere to secure a resounding 3-1 victory. 

They are due to face in the Scottish Cup semi-finals at Hampden Park, and if that match does go ahead, it promises to be another stormer. 

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