Hell Is Real derby

Hell Is Real is a rivalry between the two Major League Soccer (MLS) clubs based in Ohio: the Columbus Crew and FC Cincinnati. Under current MLS regular season scheduling, the series occurs twice per season as both teams are members of the Eastern Conference. The teams first met in 2017 in the U.S. Open Cup before Cincinnati joined MLS in 2019.

Hell Is Real

Columbus Crew FC Cincinnati
Location	Ohio
First meeting	June 14, 2017 U.S. Open Cup CIN 1–0 CLB
Latest meeting	July 12, 2025 MLS regular season CIN 2–4 CLB
Stadiums	Lower.com Field, Columbus TQL Stadium, Cincinnati
Statistics
Meetings total	18
Most wins	Columbus Crew (8)
Top scorer	Gyasi Zardes (7 goals)
All-time series	Columbus: 8 Drawn: 6 Cincinnati: 4
Largest victory	CIN 0–4 CLB MLS is Back Tournament (July 11, 2020)
Columbus Crew FC Cincinnati Location of the two teams in Ohio (red), as well as the namesake billboard (blue)

Hell Is Real takes its name from a Christian highway billboard located on Interstate 71 between Columbus and Cincinnati. The two team's MLS Next Pro affiliates, the Columbus Crew 2 and FC Cincinnati 2, parody Hell Is Real for their matches and use the name Heck is Plausible.

Background

FC Cincinnati was founded in 2015 as a United Soccer League club. After three seasons in the second-division league, Cincinnati moved to MLS in 2019 and joined the Columbus Crew, who had been a league member since their inaugural season in 1996.^[1] The Ohio clubs met for the first time with lower-league Cincinnati winning 1–0 in the 2017 U.S. Open Cup fourth round.^[2]

In October 2017, Columbus owner Anthony Precourt threatened to move the team to Austin, Texas, putting the prospect of an MLS rivalry between the two Ohio teams in jeopardy.^[3][4][5] Precourt's proposed relocation sparked outrage in the American soccer community, creating the #SaveTheCrew movement. After a year of support by fans, rival teams,^[6] local businesses, and politicians, the Crew committed to staying in Columbus in November 2018, when the Haslam family (owners of the NFL's Cleveland Browns, which had been the subject of a controversial relocation in the 1990s) purchased the club.^[7]

History

Hell is Real signage at Cincinnati stadium

The two teams met for the first time in the fourth round of the 2017 U.S. Open Cup, while FC Cincinnati was still a member of the United Soccer League. Cincinnati won the match 1–0 on a goal from Djiby, knocking Columbus out of the tournament and advancing to the quarterfinals.^[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 that season's reverse fixture with a 3–1 victory.^[11] The highest-scoring match came in 2021, when the Crew pulled off a late comeback at their new Lower.com Field; holding a 2–1 lead in the 75th minute, FC Cincinnati surrendered two late goals to lose 3–2.^[12]

The first MLS Cup Playoffs match between the two teams took place in the Eastern Conference Final on December 2, 2023. The match was hosted by FC Cincinnati and resulted in a 3–2 victory for the Columbus Crew after FC Cincinnati led 2–0 in the first half but conceded two goals in the second half. The Crew went on to score the winning goal in the 25th minute of extra time, enabling them to win the MLS Cup the following week.^[13]

Name

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

The rivalry's name was created by fans of both teams in 2017, prior to the first competitive meeting in the U.S. Open Cup. It is derived from a religious sign that reads "HELL IS REAL" located on Interstate 71, the highway that connects Columbus and Cincinnati–a distance of 110 miles (180 km).^[14] 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.^[15]

The rivalry has an alternate name, Heck is Plausible, between both club's MLS Next Pro teams, Columbus Crew 2 and FC Cincinnati 2.^[16][17]

Statistics

Match

As of July 12, 2025

Competitions	Matches	CLB wins	CLB goals	Draws	CIN wins	CIN goals
Major League Soccer	16	7	33	6	3	19
U.S. Open Cup	1	0	0	0	1	1
MLS Cup Playoffs	1	1	3	0	0	2
Total	18	8	36	6	4	22

Honors

As of August 27, 2024

Honor	Columbus Crew	FC Cincinnati	Total
MLS Cup	3	0	3
Supporters' Shield	3	1	4
U.S. Open Cup	1	0	1
Campeones Cup	1	0	1
Leagues Cup	1	0	1
Overall	9	1	10

Match results

  Columbus Crew win   FC Cincinnati win   Draw

Season	Date	Competition	Stadium	Home team	Result	Away team	Attendance	Series (W–L–T)	Ref
2017	June 14	U.S. Open Cup	Nippert Stadium	FC Cincinnati	1–0	Columbus Crew SC	30,160	CIN 1–0–0
2019	August 10	MLS	Mapfre Stadium	Columbus Crew SC	2–2	FC Cincinnati	20,865	CIN 1–0–1
	August 25		Nippert Stadium	FC Cincinnati	1–3	Columbus Crew SC	30,611	Tied 1–1–1
2020	July 11	MLS is Back‡	ESPN Sports Complex	FC Cincinnati	0–4	Columbus Crew SC	0†	CLB 2–1–1
	August 29	MLS	Nippert Stadium	FC Cincinnati	0–0	Columbus Crew SC	0†	CLB 2–1–2
	September 6		Mapfre Stadium	Columbus Crew SC	3–0	FC Cincinnati	1,500†	CLB 3–1–2
	October 14		Nippert Stadium	FC Cincinnati	2–1	Columbus Crew SC	0†	CLB 3–2–2
2021	July 9	MLS	TQL Stadium	FC Cincinnati	2–2	Columbus Crew	25,701	CLB 3–2–3
	August 27		Lower.com Field	Columbus Crew	3–2	FC Cincinnati	19,949	CLB 4–2–3
2022	July 17	MLS	Lower.com Field	Columbus Crew	2–0	FC Cincinnati	20,741	CLB 5–2–3
	August 27		TQL Stadium	FC Cincinnati	2–2	Columbus Crew	25,037	CLB 5–2–4
2023	May 20	MLS	TQL Stadium	FC Cincinnati	3–2	Columbus Crew	25,513	CLB 5–3–4
	August 20		Lower.com Field	Columbus Crew	3–0	FC Cincinnati	20,730	CLB 6–3–4
	December 2	MLS Cup Playoffs	TQL Stadium	FC Cincinnati	2–3 (a.e.t.)	Columbus Crew	25,513	CLB 7–3–4
2024	May 11	MLS	Lower.com Field	Columbus Crew	1–2	FC Cincinnati	20,900	CLB 7–4–4
	September 14		TQL Stadium	FC Cincinnati	0–0	Columbus Crew	25,513	CLB 7–4–5
2025	May 17	MLS	Lower.com Field	Columbus Crew	1–1	FC Cincinnati	20,363	CLB 7–4–6
	July 12		TQL Stadium	FC Cincinnati	2–4	Columbus Crew	25,513	CLB 8–4–6

† Matches played behind closed doors or reduced capacity due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

‡ Although the match was part of the MLS is Back Tournament, group stage matches count toward regular season MLS statistics.

Eastern Conference standings finishes

  Columbus Crew   FC Cincinnati

P.	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
1					1
2						2
3		3			3	3
4
5				5
6
7
8				8
9			9
10	10
11
12	12
13
14		14	14
15

• Total: Columbus with 4 higher finishes, FC Cincinnati with 2.

Top goalscorers

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

As of July 12, 2025

Pos.	Name	Team	Goals
1	Gyasi Zardes	Columbus Crew	7
2	Luciano Acosta	FC Cincinnati	5
	Lucas Zelarayán	Columbus Crew
4	Miguel Berry	Columbus Crew	3
	Diego Rossi
	Pedro Santos
6	Maximilian Arfsten	Columbus Crew	2
	Cucho Hernández
	Brandon Vazquez	FC Cincinnati
10	Malte Amundsen	Columbus Crew	1
	Luis Díaz
	Derrick Etienne
	Taha Habroune
	Youness Mokhtar
	Steven Moreira
	Aidan Morris
	Christian Ramirez
	Jacen Russell-Rowe
	Isaac Atanga	FC Cincinnati
	Pavel Bucha
	Edgar Castillo
	Kévin Denkey
	Evander
	Djiby Fall
	Nick Hagglund
	Kevin Kelsy
	Yuya Kubo
	Emmanuel Ledesma
	Kekuta Manneh
	Rónald Matarrita
	Darren Mattocks
	Matt Miazga
	Júnior Moreno

Own goals

• Alvas Powell (December 2, 2023)
• Miles Robinson (July 12, 2025)

Players who played for both clubs

As of December 10, 2023

Player	Columbus career			Cincinnati career
	Span	Apps	Goals	Span	Apps	Goals
Cristian Martínez[a]	2016–2018	31	3	2017	1	0
Kekuta Manneh	2017	19	4	2019–2020	29	4
Derrick Etienne	2020–2022	83	11	2019	5	0
Fanendo Adi[a]	2020	12	0	2018–2019	25	5
Fatai Alashe[a]	2020	9	1	2018–2020	21	2
Saad Abdul-Salaam	2021	19	0	2020	8	0
Gustavo Vallecilla	2023	16	0	2021–2022	25	2

1. Played for FC Cincinnati in the United Soccer League, before they joined MLS.

See also

• 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 Guardians of MLB