Football fans speaking of the Volgograd Arena: “Our stadium has a soul”

Photo gallery of the event

The Volgograd football fans for the first time visited the construction site of the Volgograd Arena Stadium which is to host 4 matches of the group stage of 2018 FIFA World Cup. A good fortune to visit the city’s main arena befall the most active fans of Rotor-Volgograd Football Club. Especially for them STG jointly with the Regional Committee for 2018 FIFA World Cup organized the tour of the stadium.

“I am sure our stadium has a soul. And of course, I am looking forward to feel the atmosphere of the play at the stadium”, shared his impressions of visiting the site the FC Rotor-Volgograd fan Evgeny Merkushin. “I am glad to be among those who was the first to see the process of the sports facility creation.”

Within the tour the club fans could stroll about the football field, the stadium premises and even hold a rehearsal of future matches chanting pat football chants under the flying club flags. The Volgograd Arena builders answered lots of questions asked by the fans: the visitors were interested in arrangement of the stadium key zones and facilities, specifics of the construction progress, for example, the lifting of the cable roof, which is the largest one in Russia. After the tour the football fans had an opportunity to take souvenir photos, and got posters of the city hosting 2018 FIFA World Cup as tokens.

Earlier, in September 2016, the constructed Volgograd Arena Stadium was visited by the full team of the FC Rotor-Volgograd — players, coaches and the club management. As the FC Rotor-Volgograd skipper Aleksey Zhdanov noted, “it is an honor for any footballer to play a match at this stadium”. After the World Championship the facility incorporating 45,000 seats will become a base of the local Volgograd club Rotor-Volgograd.

Presently, the Volgograd Arena is under assembly of temporary structures of the cable system: installation of cable metal piers, and wooden troughs designed to protect the stands from mechanical damage when lifting the roof. At the same time they continue installation of the facade, construction of auxiliary buildings and facilities (ticket offices and pavilions, entrance lobbies). There are also the bypass pedestrian bridge stairways under construction, and finishing works in progress.