The first football match took place at Nizhny Novgorod Stadium

Photo gallery of the event

The first football match took place on April 15 at Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, which was built by STG for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Teams of the Russian National Football League, i.e. FC Olympiets (Nizhny Novgorod) and FC Zenit-2 (St. Petersburg) met on the football field of the arena.

The locals were waiting for the new arena with impatience, therefore all 15 thousand seats available for sale were occupied. Stadium attendance numbers will be improved gradually until the 2018 FIFA World Cup: during the second and third test matches the arena will host from 25 to 45 thousand people respectively.

The first game at the stadium was held in the atmosphere of holiday. Fans came to watch the match two hours before the start to personally assess the results of large-scale construction in the historic centre of the city. The fans were charged with a positive energy before the match by the ambassadors of Nizhny Novgorod Region to the 2018 FIFA World Cup - members of the pop group Uma2rman. Football veterans from Nizhny Novgorod, Arkady Afanasyev and Vladimir Afanasyev, came onto the field a few minutes before the start of the game and kicked the ball for the first time at the new stadium. The match between the football teams ended with victory of Zenith-2 with the score of 1:0.

The Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Vitaly Mutko verified the readiness of the stadium. "It is the first time we have played at this wonderful stadium. I believe that the stadium made the neighbourhood look better. It creates completely new opportunities for recreation. I hope that everyone liked the stadium,” made a positive remark about the arena the Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation.

According to the acting Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Region Gleb Nikitin, the test match solved many important tasks. “Today, we tested not only all stadium systems, but also the interaction of different services: law enforcement agencies, organization of volunteer support for activities. We will make all the relevant conclusions, but so far, in accordance with the reports from Operational Headquarters, everything went off without a hitch.”