The Oldest Russian derby is a football rivalry played between Moscow rivals

FC Spartak Moscow FC Spartak Moscow (russian: Футбольный клуб «Спартак» Москва, Futbolʹnyy klub «Spartak» Moskva, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow. Having won 12 Soviet championships (second only to Dyna ...

and

FC Dynamo Moscow FC Dynamo Moscow (''FC Dynamo Moskva'', russian: Дина́мо Москва́ ) is a Russian football club based in Moscow. Dynamo returned to the Russian Premier League for the 2017–18 season after one season in the second-tier Russian Footb ...

. 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 The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

. Spartak missed the

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

season of the Soviet League due to relegation, while Dynamo missed the 2016–17 season of the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

History

Game of political importance

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 The Soviet Top League, known after 1970 as the Higher League (russian: Чемпионат СССР по футболу: Высшая лига), served as the top division of Soviet Union football from 1936 until 1991. The professional top level ...

. In 1942, the founder and footballer of Spartak,

Nikolai Starostin Nikolai Petrovich Starostin (Cyrillic: Никола́й Петро́вич Ста́ростин; 26 February 1902 – 17 February 1996) was a Soviet footballer and ice hockey player, and founder of Spartak Moscow. Early life and Spartak Mosco ...

, was arrested, along with his three brothers among other teammates, facing accusations of involvement in a plot to kill

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

. 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 Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

. Throughout all those years, Nikolai Starostin had always believed that

Lavrentiy Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (; rus, Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия, Lavréntiy Pávlovich Bériya, p=ˈbʲerʲiə; ka, ლავრენტი ბერია, tr, ; – 23 December 1953) was a Georgian Bolshevik ...

, 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.

Decline

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 Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society, the club as a separate business entity was officia ...

became the main rival of the red-and-whites.

Honours

Crossing the divide

Players who have played for both clubs

*'' Sort by date of birth'' *'' A partial list of players''

Managers worked in both clubs

Statistics

Head-to-head record

Head-to-head record in Russian Football National League

Record wins

Spartak biggest wins

1991 — Soviet Top League — Spartak — Dynamo 7:1
1985 —Soviet Top League — Spartak — Dynamo 5:1
2005 — Russian Premier League — Spartak — Dynamo 5:1
2012 — Russian Premier League — Dynamo — Spartak 0:4

Dynamo biggest wins

1946 — Soviet Top League — Dynamo — Spartak 5:0
1940 — Soviet Top League — Spartak — Dynamo 1:5
1945 — Soviet Top League — Dynamo — Spartak 4:0
1948 — Soviet Top League — Dynamo — Spartak 5:1
1966 — Soviet Top League — Dynamo — Dynamo 4:0
2012 — Russian Premier League — Spartak — Dynamo 1:5

Matches list

Soviet Top League 1936 - 1992

Russian League 1992 -

Soviet Cup 1936 - 1992

Russian Cup 1992 -

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spartak Moscow-Dynamo Moscow rivalry FC Spartak Moscow Спартак Football derbies in Russia