Samara Arena (Samara)

The Samara Arena stadium was built in the city of the same name, which is located on the banks of the Volga, especially for hosting matches of the World Cup.

General information

Capacity: up to 45,000 people

Address: Ulitsa Dal’nyaya, Samara, Samarskaya oblast’, Russia, 443072

GPS coordinates for the navigator: 53.2780° N, 50.2375° E

Years built: 2014-2018

Cost: estimated 18.2 billion rubles

Field: a natural lawn measuring 105×68 meters with the most modern automatic irrigation and heating systems in winter

Scheme of places, sectors, stands of Samara Arena

Using the scheme below, you can easily choose for yourself the best place at the Samara Arena.

How to get there

“Samara Arena”, unlike many other stadiums that became the venues for World Cup matches, was erected outside the main city line. In order to drive up to the arena, the builders specially created two new streets: Dalnaya, on which the sports facility is officially located, as well as the Arena 2018. An underground passage was built on the second street, allowing fans to cross a wide 4-lane automobile road without any problems.

The nearest public transport stop closest to the Samara Arena is called “16 kilometer” and it is worth taking it as a landmark if you move to the stadium on city bus and route lines.

From the airport

You can get from “Kurumoch” international airport to “Samara Arena” by bus number 78 — from the main air gate of the city you need to get to the stopping point “7 uchastok” (travel time — 75 minutes), and then transfer to bus number 210, take which go to the stop “16 kilometer” (40 minutes). As you can see, the airport and the Samara Arena are separated by two buses, a transfer and almost 2 hours of travel — it is clear that few will want to spend so much time, so more often passengers will get to the stadium by taxi or rented cars.

From the train station

You can get to the “Samara Arena” from the railway station “Samara” by minibus No. 410. Exit at the “16 kilometer” stop, the estimated travel time is 25 minutes, which is also a lot.

Ticket Office

Ticket offices are traditionally located next to the stadium. There you can buy tickets for matches held at the stadium. Also check the availability of ticket purchases online – it is much simpler and faster than going to the ticket office near the stadium.

Stadium Facts

Start to construction of “Samara Arena” was given July 21, 2014 — in the laying of the first “stone” participated personally Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the city of Samara in the framework of the working visit of the Volga region.

The architectural idea of ​​the Samara Arena is based on a dome made of metal structures, which has a direct reference to the space theme. Space is generally the main theme of stadium design, it acts as a tribute to the traditions of the region, where the aerospace industry is most developed in the whole country.

The initially announced construction budget is 13.2 billion rubles. This figure was announced in 2013, but later it repeatedly increased due to the crisis and the ensuing fall of the ruble. As a result, the Samara Arena has become one of the most expensive stadiums in the Russian Mundial, but due to the originality of its appearance, it is not criticized like, for example, the ordinary Rostov Arena.

At the dawn of construction, problems arose with the construction site. Initially, it was the arrowhead of the Samara and Volga rivers, but after much debate, such an idea was pointed aside: in this situation, an alluvial layer of sand would have to be created, and this would have increased a rather big budget. Fearing criticism of the citizens for excessive spending, the regional authorities and the general contractor moved the object to the area of ​​the villages of Sorokina Khutor and Raycentre.

The stadium project was developed by the German company GMR Architekten, known in the field of construction of football sports facilities. Construction project is absolutely unique and has no analogues in the world, based on its concept — a gem “spheroid”: it was the first such working title “Samara Arena”.

The stadium in Samara was the most problematic of all the facilities under the arches of which the World Cup matches will take place. For example, at the final stage of construction at the end of October, when the arena was about to prepare for delivery, the next FIFA delegation found a gross violation at the Samara Arena. Emphasis was placed on one unsafe designed escape route. In other words, in the event of an emergency or a critical situation, the evacuation of spectators from the VIP tribune would be very difficult. They had to rebuild, according to some reports — for almost the tenth time.

A helipad was built within the radio center of the stadium, capable of receiving several units of this type of equipment at once.

According to the general contractor for the construction of the stadium, the dome area of ​​the Samara Arena is 67,000 square meters, which is comparable to the size of 9-10 football fields.

Tribunes, field and infrastructure

The total capacity of the stadium was mentioned above. It is worth noting that the colors of the chairs are made in a pleasant range of 3 colors — blue, white and green. They were not chosen by chance: it is in these colors that Krylia Sovetov appear. Spectators are located in two tiers, and the roof of the arena completely covers them, that is, absolutely all fans will not feel any discomfort from the weather, which can’t be said about the players: the field is not protected from the elements. It’s also comfortable to be in the arena in the cold season, as the stands provide for heating.

As for the lawn, then there is a “greenhouse” on it . To equip the field with a total area of ​​more than 9000 square meters special plants from Germany were brought. In general, the Samara Arena football field is in many ways unique — they really approached the pitch with the maximum degree of responsibility. The viewer’s eye can see nothing but an even green grass base, but in fact the thickness of the base of the field is about 1 meter and includes six layers at once. It all starts with an enriched sand-gravel mixture, then geotextiles, several layers of crushed stone, sand, a fertile layer and only then the lawn itself. A well-designed drainage system will protect the field from long torrential rains, and the most advanced heating system from 25-degree frosts.

On “Samara Arena” a unique system of “firmware” lawn plastic threads is used — so it becomes softer and more susceptible to wear. In a word, it’s a sin for football players not to show their best qualities on such a surface. The developer publicly claims that the sports facility in Samara is in no way inferior in its technological aspects, and in some places even surpasses the country’s main football arena in Luzhniki.

The Samara Arena stadium is equipped with the most modern infrastructure: there is a cafe, a children’s entertainment room, etc. The bowl has all the conditions for the work of the media, sports commentators, there are training facilities, as well as rooms for operational doping control.

Facades of houses, parks and squares, hotels, hundreds of kilometers of roadbed — all this was brought to the highest world level. Samara received new engineering systems and communications. The construction of the Samara Arena, coupled with the integrated development of the nearby territory, contributes to the development of the Samara-Togliatti metropolitan area, which is expected to attract new investments and tourists to these Volga cities.

Test matches

Like all other new 2018 World Cup stadiums, Samara Arena was required to undergo baptism of fire in the form of three test fights. The first of them took place on April 28, 2018 — it was a match within the FNL: Krylia Sovetov in the presence of a little more than 14,000 fans outplayed the Voronezh Torch (2:1) in a tense struggle.

The second test match took place a week later: on May 6, 2018, Krylia defeated the Kuban thanks to the only accurate shot. Over 40,000 spectators watched this action. The organizers announced a one hundred percent loading, but this did not happen.

There was no full house at the final test game — the FNL championship was completed, so representatives of the PFL (third strongest division) were the last entrusted to check the readiness of the Samara Arena for battles at the most serious level — Lada from Tolyatti, located a short distance from Samara, played here against Nosta club.