T hirty-two nations around the world are counting down to the spectacular opening of this year’s FIFA World Cup, which is to be held in Russia and where the main host venue will be Rus- sia’s largest stadium, Moscow’s Luzhniki. The World Cup’s open- ing match will be played at this stadium on 14th June, but also the fi- nal match, which will reveal who plays the best football in the world. The former Central Lenin Stadium, today known as Luzhniki, has al- ways been grandiose whatever its name. And it was erected as a result of the desire of the Soviet authorities to upgrade the country’s sporting fa-
cilities, inspired by the first victories of the Soviet Union at the 1952 Helsinki Olym- pics. Work began in 1954 and was com- pleted in a record of 450 days, opening on 31st July 1956. Luzhniki, then as the central stadium of the Olympic Games, welcomed the world’s best athletes in 1980. During those games it hosted the opening and closing ceremonies, track & field athletics contests, the football tour- nament final etc. The open stadium could receive an incredible 100,000 spectators, until 1996, when a general renovated was carried out, which included installing roofing above the stands and resulted in capacity be- ing reduced. Major footballing specta- cles have already been held in this sta- dium – it hosted the 1999 UEFA Cup final between Parma and Marseille (3-0) and the 2008 EUFA Champions League final between Manchester United and Chel-
HOW DO YOU GET THERE? Luzhniki Stadium is lo- cated within the ho- monymous riverside sporting complex, about six kilometres southwest of central Moscow. You can reach the complex from the city centre via the red metro line to Spor- tivnaya station, with the short journey lasting around ten minutes.
LUZHNIKI AWAITS FOOTBALL’S MAESTROS LUŽNJIKI OČEKUJE MAJSTORE FUDBALA
sea (1-1, 6-5 after penalties). This beautiful stadium was used by Mos- cow Spartak until the last year, when they moved to the newly-opened Otkritie Arena, which will also host World Cup matches this summer. When Luzhniki was selected to host the final of the World Cup, Rus- sia launched a new reconstruction project. The stadium was closed in August 2013, and in the meantime the stands have been completely renovated, the athletics track removed, and the roofing structure ex- tended. The stadium’s characteristic exterior has remained intact. All works were finished in 2017, and the first match to be played there was a friendly encounter between Russia and Argentina (0-1). Luzhniki now awaits the world’s best footballers, but also all fans of the most impor- tant unimportant thing in the world.
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