Oldest Russian derby

Oldest Russian derby

Spartak and Dynamo supporters.
Locale	Moscow, Russia
Teams	Spartak Moscow & Dynamo Moscow
Latest meeting	Spartak - Dynamo 3-0 (08.05.2016)
Next meeting	TBD
Statistics
Most wins	Spartak (57)
Largest victory	Spartak 7–1 Dynamo (1991)

The Oldest Russian derby is a football rivalry played between Moscow rivals FC Spartak Moscow and FC Dynamo Moscow. It is the oldest still-existing Moscow derby that originated back in early 20th century when both teams were competing for the Moscow Championship. During the early years of the Soviet Top League the derby had status of a national title rivalry. The derby became less intense as Dynamo Moscow has not won a title since 1976 and only once succeeded in domestic competitions since the fall of the Soviet Union.

This Moscow derby has also a political dimension. The teams fought each other for the championship of Moscow, and then for the Soviet Top League. In 1942, the founder and footballer of Spartak, Nikolai Starostin, was arrested, along with his three brothers among other teammates, facing accusations of involvement in a plot to kill Joseph Stalin. After two years of interrogations, the charges were dropped but the Starostin brothers were tried and sentenced to spend 10 years in the camps of Siberia. Throughout all those years, Nikolai Starostin had always believed that Lavrentiy Beria, Dynamo Moscow's chief patron, was the one behind all this. Returning from prison, Nikolai Starostin became chairman of Spartak again and always demanded from his players at all costs to beat Dynamo.

Around the end of the 1970s, the Spartak-Dynamo rivalry had lost its status in Soviet football; the blue-and-whites were slowly declining and Dynamo Kiev became the main rival of the red-and-whites. After the collapse of the USSR and the formation of the Russian Premier League, the confrontation between Spartak and Dynamo slightly increased.