Fisht Olympic Stadium (, ) is an outdoor

stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

, Russia. Located in

Sochi Olympic Park Sochi Olympic Park () is an Olympic Park in Sochi, Russia. It situated in the urban-type settlement of Sirius (urban-type settlement), Sirius in Imeretinsky Valley, on the coast of the Black Sea. The Olympic Park houses the main Olympic Stadium ...

and named after

Mount Fisht Mount Fisht ( rus, Фишт, p=ˈfʲiʂt; ) is a peak located in the western Caucasus Mountains, in the Republic of Adygea, southwestern Russia. Description Fisht forms together with the peaks of Oshten and Pshekhu-Su the so-called Fisht-Oshte ...

, the 40,000-capacity stadium was constructed for the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

and

Paralympics The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

, where it served as the venue for their opening and closing ceremonies. The stadium was originally built as an enclosed facility; it was re-opened in 2016 as an open-air football stadium, to host matches as part of the

2017 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup was the tenth and final edition of the FIFA Confederations Cup, a quadrennial international men's Association football, football tournament organised by FIFA. It was held in Russia, from 17 June to 2 July 2017, ...

and

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

when it was known simply as Fisht Stadium.

History

Fisht Olympic Stadium was designed by Global Design Practice Populous and British design consultancy BuroHappold Engineering. The stadium's roof was built from approximately of ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (

ETFE Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) is a fluorine-based plastic. It was designed to have high corrosion resistance and strength over a wide temperature range. ETFE is a polymer and its source-based name is poly (ethene-co-tetrafluoroethene). It i ...

) and was designed to give the roof the appearance of snowy peaks. The bowl opens to the north, allowing a direct view of the

Krasnaya Polyana Krasnaya Polyana () meaning "Red Meadow" is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia: Modern localities Amur Oblast As of 2012, one rural locality in Amur Oblast bears this name: * Krasnaya Polyana, Amur Oblast, a '' selo'' in Tomsky R ...

Mountains, and the upper deck is open to the south, allowing a view of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

. The canopy over the Western and Eastern stands is covered with translucent ethylene tetrafluoroethylene. The material offers superior strength and corrosion resistance. Fisht is a UEFA category 4 stadium. * The architectural design was developed by Populous, a company with previous experience in designing similar facilities for Johannesburg. * 2007.

was elected as host of the

by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

. * 2010. Construction of the Fisht Stadium began. The

Architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

of the stadium is Damon Lavelle. A symbolic capsule was planted bearing the message “Believe in yourself, and together we will win” and marking the start of construction. * 2011. The initial design was altered. According to some sources, changes were made at the request of Director of the Olympics Opening Ceremony Konstantin Ernst. * 2013. Construction of the stadium was completed. The stadium was the last Olympics facility to be commissioned. Having opened in 2013, it cost

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

779 million to build the stadium. The stadium complex now serves as a training centre and match venue for the

Russia national football team The Russia national football team () represents Russia in men's international football. It is controlled by the Russian Football Union (, ), the governing body for football in Russia. Russia's home ground is the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow and ...

, and served as a site for matches during the

and the

. The stadium's capacity will be temporarily expanded to 41,220 through temporary seating at the open ends of the stadium. The capacity will be reduced to 40,000 after the World Cup in 2018. * 2014. The opening ceremony of Winter Olympic Games was held in February 2014 followed by the opening and closing ceremonies of the Paralympic Winter Games in March 2014. * 2015. Renovations for the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

started. * 2017. Renovations for the FIFA World Cup were completed. * 2018. The capacity was reduced to 40,000 after the World Cup.

Location and access

Fisht Stadium is located in Sochi, in the Sochi Olympic Park in Adler, south of the Sochi Airport, at 15 Olympic Avenue. The Fisht Stadium can be reached by buses 57, 117, 125, 134, 173. A suburban electric train Sochi–Adler–Olympic Park also provides access to the stadium.

Safety and security

By 15 March 2017, the stadium obtained a building safety certificate, detailing its evacuation routes, fire-fighting systems and emergency response procedures. The certificate was a legal confirmation that Fisht was ready to host matches of the FIFA Confederations Cup and 2018 FIFA World Cup. During the 2018 FIFA World Cup matches, the stadium will be served by 2,000 surveillance cameras and 600 EMERCOM employees will be ensuring the security at Fisht.

Post-Olympics usage

In January 2015, a 3 billion ruble (US$46 million) project began to renovate the stadium in preparation for the

and

; among other changes, the closed roof was removed in order to make the stadium compliant with FIFA regulations. The work was expected to be completed by June 2016, but the completion date was pushed back to November 2016. After the World Cup,

FC Dynamo Saint Petersburg FC Dynamo Saint Petersburg is a Russian football club from Saint Petersburg, in Northwest Russia. Founded in 1922, the club was one of the oldest in the city. It plays in the fourth-tier Russian Second League Division B. They were a regular in ...

of the second division moved from

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

to Sochi to play in the Fisht Stadium. The team became

PFC Sochi Football Club Sochi (), is a Russian professional football club based in Sochi. The club is playing its home matches at the 47,000-capacity Fisht Stadium. History FC Sochi was founded on 4 July 2018 after the relocation of FC Dynamo Saint Pete ...

, the first professional club in the city since the disbanding of FC Zhemchuzhina-Sochi in 2013. 2017 Confederation Cup - MEXNZL - Fisht

Commemoration

In October 2013, the

Central Bank of Russia The Central Bank of the Russian Federation (), commonly known as the Bank of Russia (), also called the Central Bank of Russia (CBR), is the central bank of the Russia, Russian Federation. The bank was established on 13 July 1990. It traces its ...

issued a commemorative 100-

ruble The ruble or rouble (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is a currency unit. Currently, currencies named ''ruble'' in circulation include the Russian ruble (RUB, ₽) in Russia and the Belarusian ruble (BYN, Rbl) in Belarus. These currencies are s ...

note to mark 100 days before the opening ceremonies of the 2014 Winter Olympics. The blue-tinted banknote depicts a flying snowboarder on one side, and on the other the Fisht Olympic Stadium and a firebird.

Tournament results

2017 FIFA Confederations Cup

2018 FIFA World Cup

References

External links

Fisht Stadium

Fisht Olympic stadium construction
{{Portal bar, Olympics, Russia, Association football Venues of the 2014 Winter Olympics Adlersky city district Olympic stadiums Sports venues in Sochi Multi-purpose stadiums in Russia Sports venues completed in 2013 Football venues in Russia 2013 establishments in Russia Rugby union stadiums in Russia