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 FC Lokomotiv Moscow (''FC Lokomotiv Moskva'', russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб "Локомотив" Москва, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow. Lokomotiv have won the Russian Premier League on three oc ...

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 matches, 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

and

Dynamo Kiev Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society, the club as a separate business entity was officia ...

. 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 FC Spartak Moscow (russian: Футбольный клуб «Спартак» Москва, Futbolʹnyy klub «Spartak» Moskva, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow. Having won 12 Soviet championships (second only to Dyn ...

and Swiss club

FC Sion Football Club de Sion, commonly known as simply FC Sion or Sion, is a Swiss football team from the city of Sion. The club was founded in 1909, and play their home matches at the Stade Tourbillon. They have won the Swiss Super League twice, and ...

. The match finished 2-2; however, the Swiss club then had 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

The

board felt that a new stadium would be the best option. The construction was backed by the Russian Transport Ministry. The new stadium held its first match on July 5, 2002. On 5 August 2017, Lokomotiv announced that the stadium has been renamed to RZD Arena following a deal with

Russian Railways Russian Railways (russian: link=no, ОАО «Российские железные дороги» (ОАО «РЖД»), OAO Rossiyskie zheleznye dorogi (OAO RZhD)) is a Russian fully state-owned vertically integrated railway company, both manag ...

Description

Lokomotiv was designed solely for football matches and thus has no running tracks. In all the stadium holds 30,000 people. Moreover, beside the stadium one can find the Minor Sports Arena Lokomotiv.

Concerts

Depeche Mode performed at the stadium on 22 June 2013 during their Delta Machine Tour.

References

External links

RZD Arena

Article about the stadium
{{Authority control FC Lokomotiv Moscow Football venues in Russia Rugby league stadiums in Russia Sports venues in Moscow Sports venues completed in 2002 2002 establishments in Russia