Dinamo National Olympic Stadium ( be, Нацыянальны Алімпійскі стадыён Дынама,''Nacyjanalny Alimpijski stadyjon Dynama'', ) is a multi-purpose stadium in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative stat ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

. It was reopened after a renovation project. Earlier it was used mostly for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

matches and was the home ground of Dinamo Minsk,

FC Minsk FC Minsk ( be, ФК Мінск) is a professional football club based in Minsk, Belarus. They play in the Belarusian Premier League, the highest tier of Belarusian football. Their colours are red and navy blue. History The club was established ...

and the Belarus national football team. Previously the stadium officially held 40,000, but because part of the upper stand had been abandoned in the mid-1990s for safety reasons, the actual capacity before renovations was 34,000. After renovation the capacity is only 22,246.

History

Dinamo Stadium was constructed and opened in 1934 and then expanded in 1939. It was destroyed during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

and rebuilt during the years 1947–1954. It was further renovated during 1978–1980 in preparation for

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

. In October 2012, the stadium was closed for major reconstruction works. It was reopened in December 2017 as a

soccer-specific stadium Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi- ...

, in time for the

2019 European Games , translation: Time for bright victories! , nations participating = 50 , athletes participating = 4,082 , events = 200 in 15 sports , opening ceremony = 21 June , closing ceremony = 30 June , officially opened ...

Domestic use

During the Soviet years the stadium was a home venue for Dinamo Minsk, who continued to use the stadium until 2008. Since 2009, Dinamo Minsk has relocated to a smaller

Dinamo-Yuni Stadium Dinamo-Yuni Stadium is a football stadium in Minsk, Belarus. It is currently used for football matches and is the home stadium of FC Dinamo Minsk FC Dinamo Minsk ( be, ФК Дынама Мінск, ''FK Dynama Minsk''; russian: link=no, Ф ...

, while Dinamo Stadium became the primary home venue for

. It hosted the final match of the Belarusian Cup, that was held there every year between 1992 and 2012, with the exception of 2002 and 2011.

International use

The stadium was one of the venues of the football tournament at the

. It hosted six group phase matches and one quarterfinal. It was one of the venues at the

1984 UEFA European Under-18 Football Championship The UEFA European Under-18 Championship 1984 Final Tournament was held in the Soviet Union. It also served as the European qualification for the 1985 FIFA World Youth Championship. Qualification Group 8 Other Groups 1''The mat ...

and at the 1985 FIFA U20 World Cup, both held in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

.Dinamo Stadium history
Since 1992, the stadium has been a primary home venue for the Belarus national football team.

References

External links

Stadium profile at pressball.byStadium profile at FC Dinamo Minsk websiteStadium profile at FC Minsk website
{{Olympic venues football Sports venues built in the Soviet Union Football venues in the Soviet Union Athletics (track and field) venues in the Soviet Union Football venues in Belarus Athletics (track and field) venues in Belarus Sport in Minsk Buildings and structures in Minsk Sports venues completed in 1934

Multi-purpose stadiums in Belarus Venues of the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic football venues FC Dinamo Minsk 1934 establishments in the Soviet Union