Both clubs are, by far, the oldest in the capital of the Balearic Islands (the rest were founded from the mid-1960s) and have known an intense rivalry since the 1920s, due to the social, economical, and political differences between their respective founders.

While RCD Mallorca (then called Real Sociedad Alfonso XIII FC after King Alfonso XIII) was led by the local upper class, who favoured the Spanish state, CD Atlético Baleares (then called Baleares FC) was known as the club of the local working class and was formed by Republicans.

Their rivalry has remained very alive at street level, despite being clubs at very different sporting levels from the 1960s onwards - and especially since the 1980s, when Mallorca made a significant improvement and became a regular in the Primera and Segunda Division, while Atlético Baleares remained in the lower Segunda Division B and Tercera División.

[1] At insular level, for a time two clubs shared rivalry with a third team: CE Constància from the neighboring town of Inca, especially until the 1960s.

The aforementioned rise in sporting achievement that RCD Mallorca lived from the 1960s reduced all these rivalries to a minimum, except the one with Atlético Baleares.