Astana Arena

The Astana Arena (Kazakh: Астана Арена) is a football stadium in Nur-Sultan (formerly Astana), Kazakhstan. The stadium holds 30,000 and has a retractable roof. It serves as the national stadium for the Kazakhstan national football team. Astana Arena is the largest stadium in the country and it was built from 2006 to 2009 at a cost of $185 million, and was officially opened on 3 July 2009. It is also a home ground for FC Astana of the Kazakhstan Premier League and FC Bayterek of the Kazakhstan First Division. The stadium hosted the opening ceremony of the 7th Asian Winter Games on 31 January 2011. Astana Arena was one of the venues to bid to host UEFA Euro 2020 matches.

History

Construction of the Astana Arena began in 2006 which, on the official opening day, was named Kazhymukan Stadium in honor of the famous wrestler Kazhymukan Munaitpasov. Later, the stadium received its current name Astana Arena. The stadium was designed by leading sports architects Populous in association with Tabanlioglu Architects. The general contractor was Sembol Construction. It was opened with the Lokomotiv Astana match against the Kazakhstan national under-21 football team on July 3, 2009. Match judged famous Italian referee Pierluigi Collina, the symbolic first blow at the ball under his whistle struck the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev. As part of each team, in addition to their regular players, were invited on two "stars": in the youth national team of Kazakhstan – the Georgian defender Kakha Kaladze and Ukrainian striker Andriy Shevchenko, and in the Lokomotiv Astana – Turkish players Hasan Sas and Hakan Sukur.

On October 14, 2009, the stadium hosted its first official international match: the national team of Kazakhstan met the national team of Croatia as part of the qualifying tournament for the 2010 World Cup. The match was won 2-1 by the guests, the decisive goal was scored only in injury time.

On January 31, 2011, Astana Arena hosted the opening ceremony of the 7th Asian Winter Games an

This page also has a version in other languages :  Астана Арена (russian)