Kaliningrad Stadium

Kaliningrad Stadium (Russian: Стадион Калининград, Stadion Kaliningrad), also called Arena Baltika, is a football stadium on Oktyabrsky Island, Kaliningrad, Russia, which hosted four games of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. It will also host FC Baltika Kaliningrad of the Russian Football National League, replacing Baltika Stadium.

Its project is based on the concept of the Allianz Arena, which hosted matches of the 2006 World Cup in Germany. The first match was played on 11 April 2018, a football match between FC Baltika and PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara.

Throughout the 2018 World Cup the stadium had a capacity of 33,973.

History

The stadium was the westernmost location of the World Cup. In April 2012, the regional government chose the French architectural bureau Wilmotte & Associes, SA stadium construction project. NPO Mostovik & Mersfor Rus OOO were project partners and the Kaliningrad Region and Russian Federation were the project managers. The project itself is worth $280 million. 50% of the sum will be allocated from the federal budget, and the other half from the regional budget. Construction began soon after. It is worth noting that the stadium after the 2018 World Cup will become a 25,000-seat venue. To accommodate this downsizing, a part of the roof was removed.

At the end of October 2012 the regional authorities announced an open competition to develop the project and working documents for the World Cup stadium. The winner was Mostovik. At the beginning of March 2013, Mostovik published a stadium sketch, which received the working title of Arena Baltika.

In June 2014 the Omsk Arbitration Court declared "Mostovik" bankrupt and, in March 2015, termination of the contract with the company began. On 1 April 2014 a government order published by the government declared the appointment of ZAO "Crocus International" as the sole executor of the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation for the works on the construction. The state contract was signed between the G

This page also has a version in other languages :  Калининград Стадион (russian)