VTB Arena

The VTB Arena - Dynamo Central Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Moscow, Russia. It consists of an ice hockey and an association football venue. The football stadium is officially named Dynamo Central Stadium. The ice hockey venue is known as the VTB Arena.[3]

Not to be confused with another stadium in Moscow named VEB Arena or another ice hockey stadium in Moscow named CSKA Arena.
This article is about the current venue. For the demolished stadium at the same site, see Central Dynamo Stadium.
VTB Arena
Former namesDynamo Stadium
LocationMoscow, Russia
Coordinates55°47′29″N 37°33′35″E
Public transit Dinamo
Petrovsky Park
CapacityLarge outdoor stadium (Dynamo Central Stadium):
Football: 26,319[1]
Small indoor arena (VTB Arena): 12,273[2]
Construction
BuiltNovember 2018
OpenedJanuary 2019
Construction costUS$1.5 billion
ArchitectErick van Egeraat, MANICA Architecture
Tenants
FC Dynamo Moscow (2019–present)
HC Dynamo Moscow (2019–present)

History

The old Dynamo Stadium was closed for demolition in 2008, and the new VTB Arena was built in its place. The final design of the new stadium was done by David Manica of MANICA Architecture,[4] and the construction was originally scheduled to be finished in 2016 and then 2017, but continued into 2018. The project is called VTB Arena, even though VTB Bank attempted to sell the naming rights.[4] The football stadium has the capacity of 27,000, that can be adjusted up to 45,000, or down to an undisclosed number, while the indoor arena has a base capacity of 12,273[2] that can be expanded up to 15,000, or down to another undisclosed number. The new complex also includes a shopping and entertainment center, office buildings, apartment buildings, a 5-star hotel, and a 1,600 car parking garage. The total investment is estimated to be US$1.5 billion.

At the end of 2020, a facial recognition system was installed at the stadium to keep unwanted fans out. It is also expected that biometrics will replace tickets in the future.[5]

Design
VTB Arena
Central stadium “Dynamo” named after Lev Yashin
Multifunctional VTB Arena

The VTB Arena's initial concept was drawn by Dutch architect Erick van Egeraat, who does designs mainly for buildings in Russia and Germany. His vision of comprising both a football stadium and an ice hockey arena inside the bowl of the former Dynamo Stadion won the authorities' approval. Other architects who submitted their projects for tender, but lost out on the final bid, included Perkins Eastman, Populous, and Gerkan, Marg and Partners. However, some of the elements from the losing bids were used in the final design.[6]

The final design was prepared by the American firm Manica Architecture. As compared to the project's initial design, the project's final design lost its retractable roof, and some facade features. The audience layout was also subject to changes, ending up with two tiers of seating, instead of three.

2018 FIFA World Cup bid

The VTB Arena's new football stadium was included in the Russian bid for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, to possibly host the opening game, as the Luzhniki Stadium is set to host the final.[7] However, in late September 2012, FIFA announced the list of host cities and venues, which excluded VTB Arena from the host list.[8] This decision came as no surprise, after it turned out that the Otkrytie Arena would be ready ahead of the VTB Arena, being put into operation already in 2014, as opposed to 2016, for the VTB Arena.

2019 EuroLeague Final Four

The VTB Arena's new indoor arena was reported to be chosen to host the basketball EuroLeague's final competition stage, the EuroLeague Final Four, in 2019.[9] However, EuroLeague Basketball has not confirmed this report and the tournament was eventually awarded to Fernando Buesa Arena in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.

Concerts

On 27 December 2017, the first event was officially confirmed for the stadium - a concert by Imagine Dragons on 29 August 2018 as part of their Evolve World Tour.[10] In June 2018, the show was moved to Luzhniki Stadium as VTB Arena was not completed by the expected date.

The stadium has received official permit for use on 27 November 2018 and the first event booked was a figure skating adaptation of the "Swan Lake" by Evgeni Plushenko on 20 December 2018.[11]

Many events were booked for 2019 following the opening: concerts by Twenty One Pilots, Dima Bilan, Manowar, Hollywood Undead, Splean and Disturbed as well as the Walking with Dinosaurs show at the indoor arena and concerts by KISS (End of the Road World Tour), Rammstein (Europe Stadium Tour 2019, later moved to the higher-capacity Luzhniki Stadium after tickets were quickly sold out) and Max Korzh at the outdoor stadium.[12] Other 2019 concerts booked at the arena are The Chemical Brothers, Christina Aguilera (The X Tour), Bi-2, Scorpions (Crazy World Tour), Mumiy Troll, Zveri, LOBODA and Sergey Lazarev at the indoor arena and Jennifer Lopez (It's My Party Tour) at the outdoor stadium. The concerts booked for 2020 include Chaif, The World of Hans Zimmer symphonic show, Diana Arbenina and Novoye Radio awards show feat. Basta, Ruki Vverh! and Little Big (all indoors).

Football stadium opening

On 27 November 2018, the arena confirmed that the first football game after reopening was to be played between FC Dynamo Moscow and FC Spartak Moscow (see Oldest Russian derby), it was scheduled for 10 March 2019.[13] On 28 February 2019, Russian Premier League announced that its inspectors did not find the state of the pitch acceptable for play and the derby was moved to a backup stadium.[14] The pitch was reinstalled from scratch. On 16 May 2019, the league approved the new pitch for use and announced that the first game at the stadium played by Dynamo was to be the closing game of the 2018–19 Russian Premier League season against FC Arsenal Tula on 26 May,[15] which ended with a 3–3 draw, in front of a crowd of 23,340.[16]

Hockey arena opening

Ice hockey club HC Dynamo Moscow played their first game at the arena (which is named "Arkady Chernyshev Arena" for hockey games) on 4 January 2019 against Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg, winning with the score of 2–0 and attendance of 10,797.[17] On 17 February 2019, the arena hosted the VTB United League allstar game.[18]

See also

References
  1. http://en.vtb-arena.com/about/objects/sport-complex
  2. "Configuration". VTB-arena.com (in Russian). Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  3. https://vtb-arena.com/about/
  4. AEG involved in massive Moscow sports complex.
  5. "На стадионе «Динамо» будет система распознавания лиц. Она работает, даже если человек в маске". Sports.ru. 2021-01-27.
  6. ВТБ ждет подходящего момента для выгодной продажи «Динамо» (in Russian).
  7. "Russia's VTB Arena to be the main venue for 2018 FIFA World Cup". Archived from the original on 2011-07-07. Retrieved 2011-06-09.
  8. Russia: FIFA drops two cities ahead of 2018 World Cup.
  9. Moscow to host EuroLeague Final Four of 2019.
  10. Imagine Dragons – первый официально объявленный концерт на стадионе «Динамо». Championat. 27 December 2017.
  11. Плющенко: на новом стадионе "Динамо" лед мирового уровня [Plushenko: New Dynamo stadium has world-class ice surface] (in Russian). RIA Novosti. 5 December 2018.
  12. "Афиша" [Arena Schedule]. VTB Arena. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  13. Первый матч на реконструированном стадионе ФК "Динамо" проведет в марте против "Спартака" [First game at reconstructed Dynamo Stadium will be played in March between FC Dynamo and Spartak] (in Russian). TASS. 27 November 2018.
  14. Комиссия РФПЛ не приняла газон стадиона «Динамо» [Russian Premier League commission did not accept the pitch at Dynamo Stadium] (in Russian). Russian Premier League. 28 February 2019.
  15. Комиссия РФС и РПЛ приняла стадион «Динамо» [RFU and RPL commission accepted Dynamo stadium] (in Russian). Russian Premier League. 16 May 2019.
  16. Российская Премьер-Лига 2018/2019, 30-й тур, № 236 [Russian Premier League 2018/2019, Game Day 30, Match n. 236] (in Russian). Russian Premier League. 25 May 2019.
  17. "Dynamo Moscow v Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg" (in Russian). Kontinental Hockey League. 4 January 2019.
  18. "VTB United League All-Star Game 2019". allstar.vtb-league.com. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
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