The Chernihiv-Arena () is a sports stadium mainly used by the club

FC Chernihiv Football Club Chernihiv (; ), also known as FC Chernigov or Football Club Chernigov, is a Ukraine, Ukrainian football (soccer), football club based in Chernihiv that currently plays in the Ukrainian First League. History Founding and establish ...

and sometimes by FC Desna 2. It is located in

Chernihiv Chernihiv (, ; , ) is a city and municipality in northern Ukraine, which serves as the administrative center of Chernihiv Oblast and Chernihiv Raion within the oblast. Chernihiv's population is The city was designated as a Hero City of Ukraine ...

Chernihiv Oblast Chernihiv Oblast (), also referred to as Chernihivshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in northern Ukraine. The capital city, administrative center of the oblast is the city of Chernihiv. There are 1,511 sett ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Description

The stadium consists of a football field with artificial turf, an office building with locker rooms and showers, a room for coaches, a club office, and parking. Infrastructure includes a rainwater collection system, solar panels and a heating system. There is a children's gym, a sports shop and a club museum. There are also two mini-football pitches and one multi-sport field.

History

Origin

In 2012, the club's management made the first attempts to find land for the construction of the stadium. Businessman and owner of

Yuri Sinitsa undertook to build a football field. After the established of FC Chernihiv in 2003, the club played at the stadium of

Desna Chernihiv Football Club Desna Chernihiv () is a Ukrainian football club based in Chernihiv. The original name of the club was "Avanhard" (FC Avanhard Chernihiv) during its first year of existence as part of a republican Avanhard sports society. Between ...

football field, but due to the ground's high rent and limited availability, Sinitsa sought to build a new stadium. At the end of 2014, local authorities gave permission to develop a project for the area. In the summer of 2016, the first construction work started and after 11 months, in May 2017, the football field, the building with changing rooms and showers, all communications, roads, and parking lots were ready to receive visitors.

Accreditation by Ukrainian UAF

In the summer of 2020, Chernihiv Arena received accreditation from the UAF to host

Ukrainian Second League The Ukrainian Second League (, ''Druha Liha'') is a professional football league in Ukraine which is part of the Professional Football League of Ukraine, a collective member of the Ukrainian Association of Football. As the third tier it was establ ...

matches. In the same year the main club of the city,

, rented the arena for their own U-21 and U-19 teams.

Damage

On 31 August 2021, the Chernihiv Arena hosted the first match of the

2021–22 Ukrainian Cup The 2021–22 Ukrainian Cup was the 31st annual season of Ukraine's football knockout competition. The competition started on 4 August 2021 and was expected to be concluded on 11 May 2022 with the final. The Ukrainian Association of Football annou ...

between

and Alians Lypova Dolyna. The

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

began on 24 February 2022. On 9 March, during the

Siege of Chernihiv The siege of Chernihiv was a military engagement in the city of Chernihiv, in Chernihiv Oblast in the north of Ukraine. It began on 24 February 2022, as part of the northern Ukraine offensive, during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. On 4 ...

, the stadium was damaged, as well as part of the administrative building and locker rooms, the box office and the fan shop. In April 2022, the club's press office stated that specialists had carried out a deconstruction of the arena and cleaned up all the non-violent items that they had found. On 20 April 2022, the employees of FC Chernihiv began cleaning the grounds. On 24 April 2022, the first friendly football match since the beginning of hostilities was held. On 26 April 2022, the players of FC Chernihiv held their first training session at the home stadium since the beginning of the war. Before the lesson, the team and staff cleared debris from the pitch. The players who were in the city were joined in the two-sided game by head coach

Valeriy Chornyi Valeriy Anatoliyovych Chornyi (; born 2 July 1982) is a Ukrainian football manager and former player who is the current manager of Ukrainian Second League club FC Chernihiv, Chernihiv. Playing career Valeriy Chornyi, started his career in youth ...

, goalkeeping coach Artem Padun, team administrator Dmytro Avramenko and Chernihiv Arena director Anatoliy Dudchyk. At the end of July 2022, the arena was repaired after further damage from shelling with rockets. In August 2022, FC Chernihiv made an appeal for donations to help repair the stadium fully.

Back in operation

On 19 April 2025,

returns to play at the Arena during the match against Nyva Vinnytsia in

, where they had not played since 2021.

Transport connections

There are many connection to the stadium from

Krasna Square The Krasna Square () is the main public square located in the city of Chernihiv, Ukraine. History From the Kievan Rus' era up until the 20th century, the square served as the city’s main trade center, featuring numerous stalls and small shop ...

that stop just beside the stadium by the Myru Avenue

Use

As well as being FC Chernihiv's home ground, the stadium is leased by FC Desna for its Desna U-21 and Desna U-19 games. It also hosts matches of the DUFLU championship of the Desna and Yunost sports school teams, the Chernihiv city championship, the Chernihiv region championship, the veterans' championship, and the annual USB Cup and Winter Spark tournaments. Matches of the

Ukrainian Women's League The Ukrainian Women's Professional Football League (WFPL; ) is a competition of the Ukrainian football clubs for females. The league exists since 1992 following dissolution of the Soviet Union and Ukraine gaining full independence. The league con ...

and First Leagues, and friendly matches of the Ukrainian Women's National Team are also held at the ground.. The arena has hosted some friendly matches of

, the main team of

References

External links

FC Chernigiv Official WebsiteUkrainian Premier LeagueChernigiv-Arena PicturesChernigiv-Arena Construction Time Lapse 2016-2017 VideoChernigiv-Arena - wikimapia.orgChernigiv-Arena VideoChernigiv-Arena VideoChernigiv-Arena Construction Time Lapse 2016-2017 Video
{{Chernihiv Football venues in Chernihiv Football venues in Chernihiv Oblast Sports venues in Chernihiv FC Desna Chernihiv FC Chernihiv Multi-purpose stadiums in Ukraine Buildings and structures in Chernihiv Football venues in Ukraine Sports venues in Chernihiv Oblast Sports venues completed in 2016 Sports complexes in Ukraine 2016 establishments in Ukraine