Ak Bars Arena ( rus, «Ак Барс Арена»}; tt-Cyrl, Ак Барс Арена, translit=Aq Bars Arena, formerly known as Kazan Arena ( rus, «Казань Арена»}; tt-Cyrl, Казан Арена)) is a

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzan is the capital city, capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and t ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

. It was completed in July 2013, and hosts football matches, especially FC Rubin Kazan's home games in the Russian Premier League. The stadium has the largest outside screen in the world. Its capacity is around 45,379.

History

The stadium was constructed for the 2013 Summer Universiade. On May 5, 2010, president Putin held the groundbreaking ceremony. The construction of the stadium was completed in 2013. The total cost was 15.5 billion

rubles The ruble (American English) or rouble (Commonwealth English) (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is the currency unit of Belarus and Russia. Historically, it was the currency of the Russian Empire and of the Soviet Union. , currencies named ''rub ...

. The stadium hosted the 2013 Summer Universiade opening and closing ceremonies, and 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup. On August 17, 2014 the first football match of the Russian Championship was hosted in the Ak Bars Arena. The 16th FINA World Championships were held in Kazan, with some events held at the Arena. It saw twelve swimming records. In the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

, the stadium hosted six matches, including the ones where three past champions (

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

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, and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

) were eliminated from the tournament. UEFA announced in March 2020 that the stadium would host the 2023 UEFA Super Cup, however, considering UEFA's reactions to the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. A ...

, this is likely to be retracted.

Design

The architectural concept has been designed by Populous; according to lead designer Damon Lavelle, the stadium is a unique response to the local culture and place. As a multiple-purpose venture, Ak Bars Arena can be used as football matches and other sporting events, cultural events concerts. With a capacity of 45,379 seats and 28 ha stadium territory, Ak Bars Arena is one of the UEFA´s highest category stadium. The stadium has also 72 skyboxes and a

fitness center A health club (also known as a fitness club, fitness center, health spa, and commonly referred to as a gym) is a place that houses exercise equipment for the purpose of physical exercise. In recent years, the number of fitness and health ser ...

. The general design stage: "TatInvestGrazhdanProekt", "Intex", "TsNIIpromzdany". It replaced Central Stadium as Kazan's main football stadium.

2017 FIFA Confederations Cup

2018 FIFA World Cup

Gallery

Kazan-arena-stadium.jpg, General view of the stadium Kazan-arena-screen.jpg, Media Facade Kazan-arena-stroitelstvo.jpg, General view during construction Opening of the Summer Universiade in Kazan 6 July 2013 01.jpeg, Stadium at the Universiade 2013 Opening Ceremony Футбольный стадион на 45000 зрителей - panoramio.jpg, during construction Kazan-kazanarena-skyboxes.jpg, Kazan 2015 - Kazan Arena Panorama Sector 306.JPG, Pools at the arena during the World Water Sports Championship Kazan-kazanarena.jpg, Kazan Arena in

Closing of 2013 Summer Universiade 79.jpg, Kazan 2015 - Kazan Arena Panorama.JPG, Panorama view of Kazan Arena during 2015 World Aquatics Championships

References

External links

Official website

Stadium information

Stadium construction progress

{{2018 FIFA World Cup stadiums FC Rubin Kazan Sport in Kazan 2018 FIFA World Cup stadiums Buildings and structures in Kazan Sports venues completed in 2013 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup stadiums 2013 establishments in Russia