History Main / InternationalShowdownByProxy

* The British media treats all competitions between England and either Germany or Argentina as this. They still won't let Germany forget that they beat them in the World Cup final in 1966. As for Argentina, it boils down basically to UsefulNotes/TheFalklandsWar and Creator/DiegoMaradona's goals in the 1986 edition of the FIFA World Cup, one of which was (allegedly) done with the hand. For the most part, [[UnknownRival Germans and Argentines tend to ignore it]].

* In pro wrestling, the ForeignWrestlingHeel is a stock type of {{heel}}.
* Canada-USA-Mexico hostilities are a calling card of Monterrey based LLF. It started because many luchadoras were discouraged or blocked from working for LLF when it began due to more established area promoters being hostile to it, so LLF ended up contacting groups north of the border such as Special Events and Glory to [[SerendipityWritesThePlot fill its locker room.]]

* Irish Whip Wrestling amusingly had a match in 2006 featuring the Scottish [[Wrestling/DrewMcIntyre Drew Galloway]] fighting the Irish Wrestling/{{Sheamus}} O'Shaunessy inside the Verona Football Club wearing blue while Sheamus was wearing green. Yes, it was mostly coincidental, but sometimes you can't stop a trope from coming into play.

* In general, whenever an international sports game occurs you'll see plenty of [[PatrioticFervour nationalistic language and references to military conflicts]] in the trash talk on social media.
** For example, when Morocco beat Spain and Portugal in the 2022 [[UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup FIFA World Cup]], fans celebrated by calling it a repeat of [[UsefulNotes/MoorishSpain Al-Andalus]]. When Morocco lost to France in the semi-finals, French fans had the last laugh by referencing [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tours the Battle of Tours]].
* Football is notorious for [[FootballHooligans rioting and fights]] breaking out at games. Disputed matches between countries where both the sport is extremely popular and national feelings run high have led to ''hundreds of deaths,'' especially in Latin America.
** Actually, in 1969 [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_War the start of a real WAR]] occurred during riots following a heated game of football.
** Though not quite at the level of the above, the [[UsefulNotes/ScottishPremierLeague Old Firm]] rivalry between UsefulNotes/{{Glasgow}}'s two biggest clubs, Celtic and Rangers, sadly operates much this way with respect to [[UsefulNotes/TheTroubles Northern Ireland]], seeing that the two parties are, respectively, traditionally supported by Catholics and Protestants. In fact, Old Firm match-days are nearly as volatile in Northern Ireland as in Glasgow itself, with arrests spiking several-fold during those days.
* The buildup and aftermath of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nika_riots Nika riots]] of Constantinople make this OlderThanPrint, though in this particular case it was more akin to a showdown of political parties.

* The so-called "Miracle on Ice", both in RealLife and [[Film/{{Miracle}} the movie]] they made about it.
** Less known but no less awesome is the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summit_Series Summit Series]] between Canada and the Soviet Union, an invitational tournament consisting of eight exhibition games. Canadian Paul Henderson [[DownToTheLastPlay scored the winning goal of the last game (until then, the tournament had been a tie) with under a minute left to play.]]
* The UsefulNotes/EuropeanChampionship in 1964, when the final match was Soviet Union vs. Spain.
* The UsefulNotes/OlympicGames. Especially in 1936 by Nazi Germany, but the overtones of [[UsefulNotes/MisplacedNationalism national dick-measuring]] never really went away afterwards.
** Most games between 1948 and 1992 were basically the UsefulNotes/ColdWar being really fought - to the point both Moscow '80 and Los Angeles '84 had the opposing parties boycotting the games.
*** On top of that, there were other diplomatic incidents at the Olympics not directly linked to the Cold War - most notably the Munich Massacre in the 1972 Games, and the African boycott of 1976.
* The infamous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_in_the_Water_match "Blood in the Water"]] match between Hungary and the USSR in [[UsefulNotes/WaterPolo water polo]]. Right on the heels of a Soviet invasion to put down a rebellion, the game degenerated into one of the most violent and emotional sporting events of the time.
* Any major gaming tournament, such as Evolution 2K. It's most obvious in 2D {{FightingGame}}s, where the mindset can usually be broken down to "Daigo Umehara (Japan) vs Justin Wong (USA)".
* Bobby Fischer vs. Boris Spassky in Iceland for the world TabletopGame/{{chess}} championship in 1972. Pity Bobby was insane and Spassky was not a serious Communist Party member.
* The second boxing match between American Joe Louis and German Max Schmeling was very much one of these. The bout happened just a little over a year before the start of WWII, and years earlier Schmeling had been a huge propaganda hero in Germany both for briefly holding the world heavyweight title and defeating Louis in a major upset during their first bout. With the coming conflict seemingly inevitable, the eyes of the world were on the bout, which was viewed as a showdown between America and Nazi Germany. (Despite the fact that Schmeling himself was very much ''not'' a Nazi, as he never joined the Nazi party, and lost favor with Hitler for shielding Jewish children from the Nazi regime and refusing to end his business partnership with his Jewish manager.) The result was a brutal CurbStompBattle where Louis crushed Schmeling in a single round. The bout was seen as a vindication for America and a major blow to Hitler's "master race", as Louis was black.
* UsefulNotes/TheSpaceRace - relatively non-violent, and used repurposed military technology. Accusations of cheating were surprisingly few. Culminated in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo-Soyuz_Test_Project Apollo-Soyuz joint flight.]]
** That's not to say cheating didn't happen. The original first few Soviet space flights are technically invalidated because the pilot parachuted out of his craft once in atmosphere (aviation records must require the pilot to be in the craft in order to qualify) and the first life form in space never made it back (not because of design flaw... it was never intended to make a return trip).

* The British media treats all competitions between England and either Germany or Argentina as this. They still won't let Germany forget that they beat them in the World Cup final in 1966. For the most part, Germans and Argentines tend to ignore it.
* OlderThanFeudalism: The Horatii (Rome) vs. the Curatii (Alba Longa). Since this particular bit of history was written down by a Roman (Livius), you can guess who wins.

See also CombatByChampion.