With New York City FC set to host New York Red Bulls next week at Citi Field in the most consequential Hudson River Derby in the history of the rivalry, we decided to look back at the history between the two clubs.
Red Bulls dominated the competition in the early days, when they not only outplayed NYCFC, they had a psychological hold on what was then a young club. But that changed in recent years, with New York City sweeping two of the last three regular-season matchups.
Read on to learn more about this unfolding saga.
Hudson River Blue Staff
1. 30
That's the number of times these two teams will have played after next week's Eastern Conference Semifinal in the 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs.
New York City already have more head-to-head matchups with Red Bulls than any other club. Next on the list is New England Revolution, with 28, followed by Toronto FC, with 27.
Hudson River Derby | H2H
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 | 10 | 4 | 15 | 32 | 47 | -15 |
Not only that, Red Bulls have more wins (15) over New York City, and more goals scored (47) than any other club in the league. They also have the highest goal differential (15). The truth is nobody pwns NYCFC like New York Red Bulls, but...
2. 10 vs 11
Those are the number of wins for New York City and Red Bulls respectively if you only count Major League Soccer matchups: When you remove the four non-league games contested between the teams the head-to-head is almost even, with Red Bulls enjoying a slight advantage.
Hudson River Derby | H2H: MLS Only
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | 10 | 4 | 11 | 32 | 38 | -6 |
To be clear, Red Bulls dominated those four non-league games: Every one of them was a shutout. Red Bulls won the three US Open Cup matches by an aggregate score of 8-0, and the single Leagues Cup match last year by 1-0.
Notably, all four non-league games were all played at Red Bull Arena, because...
3. 3
That's the number of away wins logged by each team in the ten years of this rivalry. Home-field advantage is real: New York City tend to win in New York City, where they have a record of 7W-2D-3L, and Red Bulls tend to win in New Jersey, where they are 12W-2D-3L.
Hudson River Derby | Results by Host
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At New York City | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 19 | 18 | 1 |
| At Red Bulls | 17 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 13 | 29 | -16 |
| Total | 29 | 10 | 4 | 15 | 32 | 47 | -15 |
New York City's first away win was way back on June 24, 2017, when Patrick Vieira was head coach. Jack Harrison and Ben Sweat scored that afternoon, and Sean Johnson kept a clean sheet.
The remaining two games were more recent.
First, there was the 0-1 win at Red Bull Arena on July 27, 2022, when Taty Castellanos scored the only goal of the game. It was an unstoppable shot, and it came one month after Red Bulls defeated New York City 3-0 in the US Open Cup Quarterfinal in Nick Cushing's debut as interim head coach. It was the first time New York City swept Red Bulls in league play.
Taty Castellanos scores against New York Red Bulls, July 17, 2022 | Courtesy newyorkcityfc.com
Then, there was the 1-5 demolition of Red Bulls on September 28, 2024. It stands as New York City's biggest win in the history of the derby, and it's the second time they swept Red Bulls in league play.
The three Red Bulls away wins are more distant. The first was back in the derby's Paleocene Age, on June 28, 2015. The second was the infamous Red Wedding on May 21, 2016, when Red Bulls became Germany and New York City became Brazil as the hosts lost 0-7. The most recent was on September 25, 2021, when the two teams played for the second time in three days.
Hudson River Blue Staff
4. 50%
That's Cushing's winning percentage in the Hudson River Derby.
Put simply, he has the strongest derby record of any New York City head coach. Cushing has overseen the most total wins (4), most away wins (2), most goals scored (10), and best goal differential (+3). His win percentage is 50%, equal to that of Domé Torrent, and he is the only NYCFC head coach to sweep the league games in a single year — he did it twice, in 2022 and 2024.
Hudson River Derby | Results by Head Coach
| Head Coach | Years | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nick Cushing | 2022-present | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 50.0% |
| Ronny Deila | 2020-2022 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 20.0% |
| Domé Torrent | 2018-2019 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 50.0% |
| Patrick Vieira | 2016-2018 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 23 | -14 | 33.3% |
| Jason Kreis | 2015 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 7 | -5 | 0.0% |
| Total | 29 | 10 | 4 | 15 | 32 | 47 | -15 | 34.5% |
More to the point, Cushing was the architect of some of New York City's most gratifying wins in this rivalry.
There was the commanding 2-0 triumph on September 17, 2022, when Cushing out-coached a Gerhard Stuber who famously guaranteed a win at Yankee Stadium. "It is crystal clear that we will win this game," Stuber said in his pregame press conference. Seemingly, Struber was unfamiliar with the concept of hubris, or hybris, as they say in Austria.
Earlier this year, there was the electric 2-1 win in front of 30,731 fans at Citi Field on May 18. The winning goal was scored by Mounsef Bakrar, who was banished to the bench but came on as a second-half substitute, and who sprinted straight from the goal to Cushing to give the head coach a heartfelt hug.
Mounsef Bakrar scores against New York Red Bulls, May 18, 2024 | Courtesy newyorkcityfc.com
Then there was the away win in October, when New York City lifted the newly-minted Hudson River Trophy at Red Bull Arena.
Matthew Mangam
5. 10
That's the age of this derby, which started with a Red Bulls win in New Jersey on May 10, 2015. Bradly Wright-Phillips scored twice in that game, while Matt Miasma earned a red card in the 35th minute. Sounds right.
Hudson River Derby | By Year
| Year | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 5 |
| 2023 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | -2 |
| 2022 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| 2021 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | -2 |
| 2020 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| 2019 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| 2018 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 9 | -7 |
| 2017 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| 2016 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 11 | -8 |
| 2015 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 7 | -5 |
| Total | 29 | 10 | 4 | 15 | 32 | 47 | -15 |
Red Bulls won five of the six games played in the first two years of the Hudson River Derby, outscoring New York City by a combined 18-6. In many ways, those games set the tone for the early dominance of Red Bulls. New York City put together a not-great record of 5W-2D-9L from 2015 to 2019, with 16 goals scored and 34 goals allowed. But then the tide started to shift, and New York City put up a a stronger record of 5W-2D-6L since 2020, with 16 goals scored and 13 goals allowed.
A new result will be added to these tables next week. When that happens, it will be the latest chapter in an epic rivalry that is sure to stretch far into the future.
