ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Italy–Spain football rivalry

Okey-dokey, kiddo. Have you played soccer before? You know how fun it is to play with your friends and score goals, right? Well, imagine if instead of playing with your friends, you are playing against another team. And not just any team, but a team from another country, like Italy or Spain.

Now, let's imagine that you and your team have had some really intense games against the Italian team. You want to win so badly because you know that they are really good and it would be a big accomplishment to beat them. But they also want to win really badly and they are super good too, so it's always a bit of a struggle.

The thing is, this has been going on for a long, long time. Like, even before you were born, your parents were probably watching soccer games between Italy and Spain. And because they've played against each other so many times, they've developed this really intense rivalry. That means they really, really want to beat each other every time they play.

So, every time Italy and Spain play against each other, it's a really big deal. People get really excited and there's lots of cheering and shouting. And if one team wins, it's like they've won a huge trophy or something.

That's what the Italy-Spain football rivalry is all about. It's just two really good soccer teams who have played against each other a lot and want to beat each other really badly. And because it's been going on for so long, it's become this really big deal in the soccer world.