The Spartak Football Club (Moscow) is one of the oldest and most titled in Russia. In its history, he repeatedly became the champion of the USSR and the Russian Federation, as well as the holder of the Commonwealth Cup and entered the semifinals of prestigious European tournaments. In 2006, the construction of the home arenas for this club, which is often called the most popular, and after 8 years, the new Spartak stadium (Moscow) received the first spectators who came to the match with the Belgrade team Crvena Zvezda. The very first photos taken at the Otkrytie Arena stadium allow yayut imagine what great work has been done for those 7 years, until the construction of the complex continued.
Background
Despite all its many regalia, the Spartak club never had its own arena, and its home matches took place at various metropolitan stadiums such as Lokomotiv, Luzhniki, Dynamo, Olimpiysky, etc. The first attempt to build The club’s own stadium was undertaken by the club’s management only in 1994, but since the site allocated by the mayor’s capital for its construction was taken under the protection of the “greens,” the work was never started. For unclear reasons, another project was not crowned with success, according to which the Spartak stadium (Moscow) should have been built near the intersection of Lobachevsky Street and Michurinsky Prospekt.
Where is it and how to get there?
The new Spartak stadium - Otkritie Arena - is located on Volokolamsk Highway. Those who want to get there by car can park in one of three parking lots for more than 2000 cars. Moreover, it is expected that after the commissioning of all planned technical structures of the architectural complex, the number of parking spaces will exceed 3,000.
The second and probably the easiest way to get to the new Spartak stadium (Moscow) is by metro, especially since the station of the same name was recently opened, which has been in a mothballed state since the early 70s of the last century. However, fans should know that by decision of the Moscow authorities during the mass events at the Otkrytie Arena, upon their completion, the entrance to this metro station will be closed in order to avoid crowding. So after the matches, spectators will have to get home by land transport or through the Tushinskaya station, located 700 meters from Spartak. Moreover, they will not have to go directly to the metro, but first get to the underground passages, which are the only option for crossing the extremely busy Volokolamsk highway.
Spartak Stadium (Moscow): construction
The solemn ceremony of laying the new sports arena was held in June 2007. Its construction was entrusted to LLC PozhEvroStroy, IC BusinessTechProject and APC Engineering Co. Ltd. In February 2013, an unprecedented deal in the history of Russia took place worth 1.208 billion rubles, under which the stadium was called "Otkritie Arena". It cannot be changed for six years. Around the same time, the owner of the club - L. Fedun - announced the 80 percent readiness of this sports facility. The construction of the Otkritie Arena stadium lasted seven years, and as a result, their total cost was about $ 500 million.
The first match at the new stadium of FC Spartak
The joyful event of finding their own “football home”, which the loyal fans of the “red-white team” had been waiting for more than 90 years, took place on September 5, 2014. However, a week earlier at the Otkrytiye Arena stadium a Spartak veteran match was held between the Red team under the leadership of coaches O. Romantsev and G. Yartsev and the Whites, whose mentors were ageless N. Simonyan and V. Egorovich. As a result, the victory went to the “red” Spartak team, and the audience enjoyed the game of their idols from previous years, especially since most of them had only seen the new Spartak Stadium (Moscow) in the photo before. The authors of the seven goals scored were the unfading stars of the past years V. Shmarov, V. Kechinov, E. Titov, E. More and D. Popov. Moreover, the first two players scored doubles.
Opening of the stadium "Spartak" (Moscow)
As for the opening ceremony of the stadium "Opening of the Arena", the organizers did everything to turn it into a colorful event that would be remembered for a long time by those present. For example, long before the start of a friendly match with “Red Star”, shots from triumphant matches involving “Spartak” of different years began to flicker on the scoreboard, and DJ Fisun, to which Ruslan Nigmatullin joined, played on the scoreboard . Then a small concert began with the participation of rapper ST, Oksana Pochep and Nikolai Timofeev, who had previously soloed in the Disco Crash group. The idea of using kiss-cameras, which came to us from overseas, turned out to be very successful. Moreover, even some Spartak football players took a joke.
Of course, not without official speeches. In particular, the club’s owner Leonid Fedun and Minister of Sports V. Mutko spoke.
Match opening: “Spartak” - “Cervena Star”
The match, which was seen by the fans who came to the Spartak stadium (Moscow) on September 5, ended in a military draw - 1: 1. Of course, the tribune of the hosts would have been more pleased with the victory, but this football battle was so spectacular that there were almost no dissatisfied. So we can say that the opening of the Spartak stadium (Moscow) was a success, and this club, most popular in Russia, has its own football house, photos of which are already adorned with sites dedicated to the most beautiful sports arenas in the world.
Description of the stadium "Opening Arena"
Spartak Stadium (Moscow), whose photo, unfortunately, cannot give a complete picture of the scale of this building, has already passed the certification of the Russian Football Union and has been recognized as meeting all the requirements and standards of UEFA and FIFA. Its area is more than 52,000 square meters. m, and a height of almost 52 m. The stadium has a capacity of 42,000 seats, all of which are under the roof. In shape, this structure resembles a rhombus and corresponds to the symbols of FC Spartak. The new arena is purely football, so the stands on it are located as close to the playing field as possible. The pride of the new stadium is rightfully considered to be 2 giant displays, which, in fact, are fantastic high-definition HD plasma, thanks to which not a single detail of the match will escape from the fans.
Infrastructure and Future Plans
The creators of the new sports arena took care of the convenience of the fans. In particular, a goods store with Spartak symbols and food courts will operate on the territory of the stadium during match days. In addition, at the address: Moscow, Tushino, the Spartak Stadium, there is now a museum of this football club, where exhibits are presented that tell about the glorious pages of the history of the famous team.
Despite the fact that the opening ceremony has already taken place, and her photographs have been circulated in the Russian press, the project is not considered completed. The fact is that it is also planned to build next to the Otkritie Arena stadium a covered multi-purpose venue for 12,000 spectators, a Spartak base with 6 football fields, a children's theme park (from the Volokolamsk Highway) and 2 hotels (probably owned by the network Hilton). At the moment, almost around the entire circumference of the stadium there is a metal fence that closes the construction of these objects, which are supposed to be commissioned in 2017.
Monuments of the Otkrytie Arena complex
The main decorations of the new Spartak stadium are the monuments installed on its territory. As you know, one of the symbols of FC Spartak (Moscow), whose stadium was opened recently, is the legendary gladiator. Therefore, no one was surprised when information appeared that a bronze figure in Roman armor was supposed to be installed in front of the new arena. The monument with a height of more than 20 meters began to be mounted on August 21, 2014. In the photo that was published in all the leading editions of our country, you can see that the bronze figure stands on a pedestal, which is a huge soccer ball and decorated with the emblem of the club. The author of the sculptural composition is A. Rukavishnikov. Fillip Rukavishnikov’s fans will now see another monument of work inside the Otkritie Arena complex. It was staged in honor of Nicholas, Andrei, Alexander and Peter Starostin, who made a huge contribution to the development of the Spartak football club. In addition, the club management told reporters that in the near future it is planned to install two monuments at the Otkrytie Arena stadium - I. Netto and N. Simonyan.