Buffalo

Detroit City FC has had the better of this rivalry for most of its life. The Rust Belt Derby dates from 2012 and originally took in AFC Cleveland, a side that no longer exists.

It was named by its fans. In 2010, the first season of competitive play in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), they settled on "Blitzers", after Wolf Blitzer, the CNN anchor born in Buffalo. The supporters' group took its name from his programme and calls itself The Situation Room.

The results came in the lower divisions before the bigger names did. FC Buffalo won the Lord Bedlington Cup in 2011, then the NPSL Great Lakes Conference in 2013 and again in 2019. In 2019 they also took the NPSL Members Cup. In 2023 the club moved up to USL League Two.

The club has moved around the city. It played at All-High Stadium in 2010–2013, again from 2015 to 2021 and once more in 2024, spending 2022 at Dobson Field. The current home, Coyer Field at Buffalo State University, holds about 3,000.

It won the Eastern Conference or Iron Division title every year from 2021 to 2024 and reached the national championship semi-finals in 2022 and 2024.

The club itself was founded in 2009, and the fans named it a year later.