RZD Arena

RZD Arena (Russian: «РЖД Арена») is a football stadium in Moscow, Russia. Formerly known as Lokomotiv Stadium, it is the home stadium of Lokomotiv Moscow and was the home ground of the Russian national team for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification matches. The stadium was reconstructed in 2002 and holds 27,084 people, all seated. The reconstruction of the stadium was funded by the Russian Transportation Ministry at a cost of $150–170 million.

History

Stalinets

In 1935, at the site where the Lokomotiv Stadium resides today, an electric workers union decided to build a stadium which was named "Stalinets" or "Stalinist Stadium". At the time, Stalinets held about 30,000 spectators.

Development of Lokomotiv Stadium

After holding several key matches and establishing itself as a symbol of football in Moscow, Stalinets was demolished to make way for a more modern stadium. Thus, Lokomotiv stadium was built. It was opened on 17 August 1966 with a capacity of 30,000 people. However, in the mid-1990s the capacity of the stadium was reduced by 6,000 to 24,000, as the wooden benches were replaced by plastic seats.

The inaugural match played at Lokomotiv Stadium was between Lokomotiv Moscow and Dynamo Kiev. As years rolled on, Lokomotiv held several important matches such as Russian National team home matches, Lokomotiv matches and others. The stadium also played host to a European Cup Qualifier between FC Spartak Moscow and Swiss club FC Sion. The match finished 2-2; however, the Swiss club then forced UEFA to measure the posts for compliance with international standards. Indeed, the size of the posts were shown to infringe international standards. Eventually, UEFA ordered a replay, which Spartak won 5-1.

Reconstruction

Despite the fact that Lokomotiv Stadium was still of good quality, the Lokomotiv Moscow board felt that a new stadium would be the best option. The construction was backed by the Russian Transport Minist