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Volgograd Arena is a football stadium situated in Volgograd, Russia. It has a capacity to hold more than 45,000 spectators and has been selected as a venue for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
After the tournament, the stadium will become the home of FC Rotor Volgograd, a local soccer team there.
Volgograd is surrounded by an openwork network of metal construction that looks beautiful and gives the stadium a monumental feel and large scale. The stadium roof has been made in such a way that it remains extremely airy inside. The rooftop is made with stay cables and has a pattern similar to bicycle wheel spokes.
History
Volgograd Arena is constructed near the Volga river and Mamayev Kurgan memorial complex. The arena was built in place of Central Stadium which was stood there since 1958 and was the home place for FC Rotor.
The Central Stadium was demolished to make a new and modern but compact arena for about 40,000 spectators. The planning was to it make an Olympic standard stadium with two sports complex consisting of 10 gymnasiums. A swimming pool and riding school was also in the plans but was not constructed due to lack of space.
Major Matches
Since the Volgograd is a newly constructed stadium, it is yet to host any major match. However, the old stadium was like a religious place for footballing fans. In 1995, the Central Stadium had hosted a historic game of Manchester United with a victory two-legged tie. Later, it had hosted several extremely competitive matches for the league title against Spartak Moscow.
Recent Matches
Some of the recent matches which took place in Volgograd were during April and May 2018. On 21 April FC Rotor Volgograd played against Luch Energiya from Vladivostok and Krylia Sovetov from Samara.
On May 9th, the stadium was packed for the Russian Cup Final, which resulted in Leningrad Oblast beating Kursk by 2-1.
Volgograd Arena will host a few of the important matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup group stage. The first match of Tunisia Vs England will be on 18 June, followed by Nigeria Vs Iceland on 22 June. The third match of Saudi Arabia Vs Egypt will be held on 25 June and the last group stage match will be between Japan and Poland on 28 June.
