However, the nature of the rivalry has been called into question, with many disputing the fixture being a "classic" due to there being little historic rivalry between the teams, in contrast to the long history of many other prominent football derbies in Germany,[5][6] including Dortmund's Revierderby with FC Schalke 04, the various Bavarian football derbies involving Bayern Munich and 1.

At the end of that season, Dortmund won the 1997 UEFA Champions League final which happened to be played at the Olympiastadion, Bayern's home ground.

[9] The teams met in the quarter-finals of the next edition of the Champions League, and Dortmund prevailed over two legs thanks to a single goal from Stéphane Chapuisat.

An angry 2001 league meeting between the pair was notable for ten yellow cards and three red being shown (a Bundesliga record for indiscipline).

[16] Dortmund then claimed the first double of their history by beating Bayern 5–2 in the 2012 DFB-Pokal final with a Lewandowski hat-trick, which was also their fifth consecutive win over the opponents.

The game was also notable for the fact that Dortmund's Mario Götze had already agreed to join Bayern in the coming weeks,[22] although he did not play in the final due to injury.

[28][29] They clashed again in the 2016 DFL-Supercup after Bayern secured a double, Dortmund being runners-up in the league as well as beaten cup finalists; the Bavarians won that match 2–0.

[31] In March 2018, Bayern secured a 6–0 home win over Dortmund in the league, the largest margin of victory for either side since the 11–1 result 47 years earlier.