Mordovia Arena

Mordovia Arena (also known as Saransk Stadium) is a football stadium in Saransk, Mordovia, Russia. The stadium is located in the central part of Saransk, on the eastern bank of the Insar River. It hosts FC Mordovia Saransk of the Russian Professional Football League and has a capacity of 44,442 spectators.

Mordovia Arena has replaced the Start Stadium as the home ground of FC Mordovia Saransk. The stadium has been named as one of the venues for the upcoming 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Construction

The stadium was first proposed in early 2010, and after various redesigns the first building work began in 2011. The project stalled due to lack of funding in the year 2012. Construction work picked up the pace in 2014 and the construction of the final fifth floor of the stadium began in December 2015. The construction of the stadium was completed in April 2018 with an estimated cost of about $300 million.

Design

In a bid to host FIFA World Cup 2018, Saransk new stadium was shown with a temporary design by German architect Tim Hupe. For the final look of the stadium, a local company “Saransk Grazhdan Proekt” was chosen.

The simple bowl-shaped stadium has acid orange coloured seats and a capacity for 44,442 people during the World Cup. After the mega event, the upper stands are to be dismantled which will decrease the capacity to 28,000. The stadium has a two-story basement and five-floors. The stadium’s turf is imported from Canada.

Upcoming Matches

The Mordovia Arena will host four group stage matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Group B match between Iran and Portugal will be a highly anticipated match at this venue and it would attract spectators as they will be able to watch their star Cristiano Ronaldo play in front of them.