Kaliningrad Stadium (Kaliningrad)

Kaliningrad Arena is a Russian football stadium that has become yet another “home” for hosting matches of the 2018 World Cup. The official opening of the sports facility took place on May 12, 2018.

General information

Arena capacity: 35,016 spectators, including 2,634 seats for media, 330 — for people with limited mobility. There is also a VIP sector, which can accommodate 701 spectators at a time, and Super VIP, which includes 2 Presidential Boxes — this sector is designed for 66 seats

Address: Solnechnyy Bul’var, Kaliningrad, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, 236006

GPS coordinates for the navigator: 54.698131° N and 20.533861° E

Years built: 2015-2018

Construction cost: 1 7.75 billion Russian rubles

Field: natural lawn measuring 105×68 m

Official website: no

Scheme of seats, sectors, stands of the Kaliningrad Arena

When choosing a place in the stadium, use the Kaliningrad Arena scheme above. It is clear that it is better to occupy a place in the central sectors, which gives the best view on the field, but even those who got tickets to the highest corner tiers should not despair: from anywhere in the stadium what is happening on the field is clearly visible.

Ticket Office

In total, there are 4 entrances and exits at the Kaliningrad Arena. The main ticket office is located at the main entrance of G1. It is stated that it works from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and on weekends if the match will be held on Saturday or Sunday. First of all, we advise you to purchase tickets online.

How to get there?

The Kaliningrad Arena has comfortably merged into the look of Oktyabrsky Island — it’s practically the central part of the city, so getting to the stadium will not cause any difficulties.

From airport

A memo for those who are moving in the direction of the arena from the main air gate of the city — Khrabrovo Airport: initially you need to take the 244e bus, which takes you to the Yuzhny bus station. The total duration of the trip will be about 40 minutes. Then it is necessary to transfer to buses №25, 30 or 64 and, after 5 minutes to enter the stopping m paragraph “St. Alleya Smelykh.”

From the train station

If you come to Kaliningrad by train, then from the Kaliningrad-Yuzhny station you can get to the arena by buses No. 25, 30 or 64 and, as in the previous case, get off the road at the stop “St. Alleya Smelykh”. The distance between the station and the stadium is small, so you can get to the Kaliningrad Arena on foot — the walk will not take more than 20 minutes, it will also be pleasant, since the area is very green, plus a picturesque promenade nearby.

Stadium Facts

The Kaliningrad Arena is compactly located almost in the city center on Oktyabrsky Island. Before the outbreak of hostilities, this area was considered the best in the city: residential buildings, parks, enterprises, a rapidly growing population, and developing infrastructure. But the bombing destroyed buildings and the island was deserted for almost 70 years. Only in the early 10-ies of XXI century, the local authorities decided to revive it. The choice of Kaliningrad as the host city of the 2018 World Cup provided an excellent opportunity to restore the region to its former prestige. The mayor has repeatedly stated that he wants to move the city center to the place where the Kaliningrad Arena was built.

The construction of a new football arena in Kaliningrad is based on the concept of the legendary Alliance Arena, where full stands are gathered not only by Bavaria, but also by world stars of pop and rock scenes. Yes, the stadium in Munich is very skillfully used and a lot of money is earned on it. The choice for the Kaliningrad Arena of this model of the stadium is not accidental — they also want here to make a profit in the “legacy” mode.

At the design stage, information was announced that the new stadium would accommodate about 45,000 spectators, but later it was decided that 35,000 would be enough (the minimum acceptable FIFA threshold for holding group matches of the World Cup and European Championship).

After the World Cup, it was planned to reduce the spectator capacity in general to 25,000 by analyzing part of the roof, however, shortly before the end of construction, it was decided to leave everything as it is. As a result, the Kaliningrad Arena will be the only new stadium built specifically for the mundial, where there will be no temporary structures and the subsequent dismantling of the stands.

The appearance of the arena somewhat remotely resembles a ship that “anchored” not far from the Baltic Gulf; at least this motive was the main one among architects.

Like any other World Cup stadium, the Kaliningrad Arena has noticeably increased in price due to the sharply worsened situation with the Russian ruble against the backdrop of the economic crisis. Not a trace of the initially planned 11 billion rubles was left: as a result, the design and construction cost increased to 17.75 billion rubles. In fact, outwardly not particularly outstanding Kaliningrad Arena has become one of the most expensive stadiums. The whole difference is that, unlike other cities where the 2018 World Cup matches are held, local residents do not criticize the authorities so much for the so-called “cut” of money. Seeing how the central part of the city is ennobled, many, on the contrary, support the idea of ​​holding such a major sports festival in Kaliningrad.

And in itself, the Kaliningrad Arena has become one of the least scandalous objects of sports construction for the 2018 World Cup. There were no emergencies, almost always paid on time with the workers, the construction went on in accordance with the established schedules. The only embarrassing moment arose even before the start of construction work. At the end of October 2012, regional authorities announced an open competition for the development of design and working documentation for the stadium for the World Cup. It was won by the NGO Mostovik, but then, after the working name of the stadium was announced and a partnership agreement was signed with the famous German company GMP Architekten, financial difficulties appeared for the potential builder of the Kaliningrad Arena. As a result, in 2014 Mostovik was declared bankrupt, the agreement between it and the Kaliningrad region was terminated. So the arena was built by another organization — Crocus International.

It still remains a mystery why, if the World Cup was announced in Kaliningrad back in 2010, work began only in 2014. Construction was constantly delayed due to soil problems — its density was insufficient to reliably support the future Kaliningrad Arena. One of the versions of the capacity of the arena of 35,000, and no more, is the option that the builders were afraid to banally not have time to invest in the deadlines and create a more fundamental and roomy arrangement.

At the beginning of the construction, it was planned to create a sliding roof at the Kaliningrad Arena, however, in connection with the onset of the crisis, they decided to abandon this idea in order to reduce the already overheated budget of the stadium.

The terrain in which the stadium is built is very boggy. In built-up areas, the surface is artificially raised by filling in loose soils. Peat deposits up to 5 meters deep are widespread throughout the territory.

The Kaliningrad Arena can rightfully be considered the safest stadium of the World Cup. Over 300 surveillance cameras, as well as 3 Citizen-Police emergency communication terminals, have been installed in the surrounding area.

It was assumed that the German club Schalke would come to visit the Baltic for the opening of the Kaliningrad Arena, but it was not possible to agree on the day of the match with its representatives; FIFA outlined a clear framework into which the first test match was to fit. As a result, they could not meet in Schalke, because in this situation, after 2 days, the club from Gelsinkirchen would have liked to play the Bundesliga match.

The highlight of the arena looks impressive though monotonous: so far only 2 colors are available, which are basic for the Baltic — white and blue. Local residents noted that at night, when the backlight is on, the Kaliningrad Arena somewhat remotely resembles an alien object.

Infrastructure and field

The Kaliningrad Arena is capable of hosting 35,000 football fans at once, who will compactly sit in four sectors — A, B, C and D. There is no fundamental difference where to watch football, as the review is ideal from almost anywhere in the stadium — even from the top tier, located at an altitude of about 30 meters above the field. Obviously, the best places are 2 Presidential boxes, a VIP box and the so-called skyboxes for 12-20 people, evenly distributed around the perimeter of the arena. For important guests there is a separate entrance, a restaurant, two elevators and a dressing room. In general, there are 15 elevators at the Kaliningrad Arena, 4 of them are for people with limited mobility.

The facade of the stadium, all the internal premises, as well as the seats at the Kaliningrad Arena, is made in the blue and white colors of the local Baltic football club. It is interesting that all the seats in the stands are arranged in mosaics — this was done to create the effect of presence: even when the arena is half loaded, it seems that it is jam-packed.

The columns holding the roof stand on special hinges. In the event of an earthquake or storm, they will make the structure moveable and protect against collapse. To the right of the exit from the stadium to the under-stands there is a first-aid post in which football players will be served. Behind it is a doping control zone, a judging room, a room for organizers of competitions and bolboys. By the way, a locker room and showers are equipped for the latter.

No leather chairs were found in the locker rooms of the teams, as in some stadiums of the World Cup, but everything is very compact, stylish and convenient: players have their own comfortable space with sockets, lockers, chargers for mobile devices. Air conditioning and massage services are also available. An artificial turf is rolled in the warm-up zone.

For the parallel broadcasting of replays, refereeing information and entertainment content at the Kaliningrad Arena, there are two video displays measuring 19×10 meters. Cable, terrestrial and satellite television will be deployed in the stands intended for the media, all other guests of the stadium — free Wi-Fi for use. The stadium is equipped with many commentary positions, as well as a conference room and a press center with 150 seats, from which there is a separate exit to the mixed zone, where journalists can take short flash interviews with players or coaches before, during the break or after the match.

Three large parking lots at the stadium will be able to take 2630 cars. For football matches with a full house, this is clearly not enough, so another parking lot for 4000 cars was opened on the Suzdalskaya Street for the World Cup.

The field with a natural lawn is equipped with everything necessary: ​​aeration, heating, irrigation system and additional lighting. For greater strength, the lawn was stitched with synthetic thread, designed to protect the grass cover from wear as much as possible. There can be no doubt about the high quality of the lawn at times holding matches at the World Cup; in summer it will be prepared at the ideal level, but in the cold season, some problems may be observed in this aspect; the fact is that Kaliningrad is known for its harsh climate, so it is not a fact that the lawn will withstand an all-weather load.

“Kaliningrad Arena” in the “heritage” mode

The fact that the stadium favorably influenced the image of the district in which it was built was mentioned above. As for the nearby territory, in addition to creating a promenade and a park for hiking and cycling, it also has a spa, a fitness center, a modern hotel, shops, restaurants, a shopping and entertainment center, etc.