Hell Is Real Derby

On June 15, 1994, MLS announced that Columbus, Ohio would be home to one of the ten founding members of the new top-flight North American professional soccer league. Twenty-four years later, on May 29, 2018, MLS announced that Cincinnati would join the league in 2019 as an expansion team under the same name as their United Soccer League club, which had started play in 2016, thus creating the first local soccer derby in Ohio in top-flight league play.[1] Two weeks after the expansion announcement, the teams met for the first time with lower-league Cincinnati winning 1–0 in the U.S. Open Cup.[2] However, in October 2017, Columbus Crew owner Anthony Precourt put the prospect of an MLS meeting between the two teams in jeopardy, threatening to move the team to Austin, Texas due to a lack of support in Columbus.[3][4][5] Precourt's proposed relocation sparked outrage in the American soccer community, creating the #SaveTheCrew movement. After a year of support by Columbus fans, rival teams,[6] local businesses, and politicians, the Crew were officially saved in November 2018, when the Haslam family (owners of the NFL's Cleveland Browns, which had been the subject of an even more controversial relocation in the 1990s) purchased the club.[7]

Alex Crognale of Columbus and Baye Djiby Fall of Cincinnati battle for a header in the 2017 U.S. Open Cup.

The two teams met for the first time in the 2017 U.S. Open Cup, while FC Cincinnati was still a member of the United Soccer League. Cincinnati won the match 1–0 with Djiby scoring the first goal of the rivalry; knocking Columbus out of the tournament in the process to advance to the quarter-finals.[8][9] On August 10, 2019, the two sides played against each other in MLS league play for the first time, ending in a 2–2 draw at Mapfre Stadium.[10] Columbus earned their first win of the series in the reverse fixture with the 3–1 victory also marking the first time a road team had won.[11]

The derby's name was inspired by a sign erected along the section of Interstate 71 that connects Columbus and Cincinnati.

The derby's name was created by fans of both teams in 2017, prior to their first competitive meeting in the U.S. Open Cup. It is derived from a religious sign that reads "Hell Is Real" and is located on Interstate 71, which connects Columbus and Cincinnati–a distance of 110 miles (180 km).[12] The sign was installed in 2004 on a local farm in Chenoweth by a Kentucky developer who had installed similar religious signs in other states.[13]

  Columbus Crew win   FC Cincinnati win   Draw

• MLS rivalry cups
• Bengals–Browns rivalry, American football rivalry between the NFL's two Ohio franchises
• Ohio Cup, baseball rivalry between the Cincinnati Reds and the Cleveland Indians of MLB