Gazprom Arena

Krestovsky Stadium, known as Gazprom Arena for sponsorship reasons, (Russian: «Газпром Арена») is a retractable roof stadium with a retractable pitch in the western portion of Krestovsky Island in Saint Petersburg, Russia, which serves as home for FC Zenit Saint Petersburg. The stadium was opened in 2017 for the FIFA Confederations Cup. It is called Saint Petersburg Stadium during major international tournaments, including the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup,2018 FIFA World Cup, and UEFA Euro 2020.

History

The stadium was built as one of the venues for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The competition between architectural projects was won by Kisho Kurokawa's "The Spaceship". The design of the stadium is a modified and enlarged version of Toyota Stadium in Toyota City, Japan, which was also designed by Kurokawa. The stadium was built on the location where the former Kirov Stadium used to stand before it was demolished. The capacity of 56,196 seats was increased to 68,000 seats for the World Cup. It also has 104 luxuriously designed skyboxes.

In 2005 the planning of the stadium began. Initial construction work began in 2008.

In January 2009 The St. Petersburg Times reported that the project was now to be funded by the city government of St Petersburg, with Gazprom switching to build a separate skyscraper project. The City Hall had to step in after Gazprom declined to invest any further money into the stadium's construction. Before the stadium was named Sankt Petersburg in October 2015, it was known under the names Zenit Arena, Gazprom Arena and Piter Arena.

On 25 July 2016 the general contractor, Inzhtransstroy-Spb, issued a statement that the city authorities have failed to pay 1 billion rubles ($15.8 million at the current exchange rate) worth of construction work and stopped the work. The next day the contract was terminated. On 1 August there were reports of wind damage to parts of the metal sheathing, and a flood.

In the end of August 2016, the new general contractor

This page also has a version in other languages :  Газпром Арена/Санкт-Петербург (russian)