In 1936 new league and cup competitions were introduced in Russia. In the first year Dynamo won the league and Spartak the cup. In 1937 the positions were reversed but Spartak won both league and cup in 1938 and 1939, much to the annoyance of Lavrenty Beria, the head of the secret police, who was also the president of Dynamo. A keen footballer in his youth, Beria had played against Starostin in the 1920s, suffering humiliating defeat. The Dynamo-Spartak rivalry became the bitterest in Soviet sport.