page_title: Swansea City A.F.C.
section_title: Rivalries
hierarchical_section_title: Swansea City A.F.C. / Rivalries
caption_attribution_description: English: Football referee Mike Dean recieves treatment after being struck by a coin
context_page_description: Swansea City Association Football Club is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1912 as Swansea Town and joined the Football League in 1921. The club changed their name in 1969, when they adopted the name Swansea City to reflect Swansea's new status as a city. Swansea have played their home matches at the Liberty Stadium since 2005, having previously played at the Vetch Field since the club was founded.
  In 1981, the club was promoted to the original Football League First Division. It was during the following season they came close to winning the league title, but a decline then set in near the season's end, before they finished sixth, still a club record. It was from here the club suffered a relegation the season after, returning to the Football League Fourth Division a few seasons later, and then narrowly avoided relegation to the Football Conference in 2003.
context_section_description: Swansea City's main rivals are Cardiff City, with the rivalry described as among the most hostile in British football. Matches between these two clubs are known as the South Wales derbies and are usually one of the highlights of the season for both sets of supporters. It was only from the late 1960s that the rivalry became marked. Before then fans of the two clubs often had a degree of affection for their Welsh neighbouring team.
  Swansea City's other rivals are Newport County and to a lesser extent Bristol City and Bristol Rovers.  However, Swansea very rarely meet Newport as they are currently separated by two divisions, while the two clubs share a mutual rivalry with Cardiff City.
  Swansea have won 36 of the 106 competitive meetings, compared to Cardiff's 43, who also have the biggest result between the two sides with Swansea losing 5–0 in 1965, with a further 27 drawn; to this day, neither team has done the double. Following Swansea City's promotion to the Championship, the clubs were drawn in the League Cup which would be the first meeting between both sides for nine years. Swansea City won the tie with a solitary goal from a deflected free-kick taken by Jordi Gómez. The match saw sets of supporters from both clubs clash with police after the match. The next two league games both finished in 2–2 draws. However, the derby game at Ninian Park was marred with controversy as referee Mike Dean was struck by a coin from a Cardiff City supporter.
  In the 2009–10 season, Swansea beat Cardiff 3–2 at the Liberty Stadium in November, before losing 2–1 in Cardiff in April after a late Michael Chopra strike. With Swansea and Cardiff both pushing for promotion to the Premier League, the first derby at the new Cardiff City Stadium, and the first Cardiff win in nine meetings between the sides, was billed as being the biggest South Wales derby of all time, in respect to the league positions of the teams and how close it came to the end of the season. Despite their promising league positions leading up to the derby, neither side gained promotion at the end of that campaign, and so the South Wales derby was once again played out at Championship level during the 2010–11 season – Swansea beating Cardiff 1–0 away with a late winner from then on-loan Marvin Emnes before losing their home game due to a late strike from Craig Bellamy.
  Following Swansea's promotion to the Premier League at the end of the 2010–11 season, the South Wales derby was again put on hiatus. It would be two seasons before the sides met once more, this time on the worldwide stage of the Premier League. On 3 November 2013, Cardiff took the bragging rights in the first ever Premier League South Wales derby, enjoying a 1–0 win courtesy of ex-Swan Steven Caulker at the Cardiff City Stadium. The return fixture for that season took place on 8 February 2014 at Swansea's Liberty Stadium, a match in which interim player-manager Garry Monk would make his managerial debut following the sacking of Michael Laudrup. The Swans took revenge for the defeat earlier in the season with a convincing 3–0 win.
  The sides met again during the 2019–20 season in the Sky Bet Championship; Swansea won 1–0 in the first fixture at the Liberty Stadium.
caption: Referee Mike Dean receiving treatment after being struck by a projectile in a South Wales derby
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