Kaliningrad Stadium (), known for sponsorship reasons as the

Rostec Rostec, formally trading as State Corporation "Rostec", fully the State Corporation for the Promotion of the Development, Manufacture, and Export of High Tech Products "Rostec" and formerly Rostekhnologii, is a Russian State corporation (Russia), ...

Arena () since August 2023, is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

stadium on

Oktyabrsky Island Oktyabrsky Island (, meaning " October evolutionIsland") is an island in the Pregolya River in Kaliningrad, the capital of Kaliningrad Oblast, an exclave of Russia. The island, covering about , is immediately east (upriver) of the ...

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad,. known as Königsberg; ; . until 1946, is the largest city and administrative centre of Kaliningrad Oblast, an Enclave and exclave, exclave of Russia between Lithuania and Poland ( west of the bulk of Russia), located on the Prego ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, which hosted four games of the

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 ...

. It hosts

FC Baltika Kaliningrad FC Baltika () is a professional association football club based in Kaliningrad, Russia. The club will return to the Russian Premier League in the 2025–26 season. History The club was founded on 22 December 1954 as ''Pishchevik Kaliningrad''. In ...

of the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

, replacing

Baltika Stadium Baltika Stadium (, ) is a multi-purpose stadium in Kaliningrad, Russia, that was home to FC Baltika Kaliningrad. The capacity of the stadium used to be 14,660 before the 2018 renovation, but is now reduced to 4,500. History Entrance of the stadi ...

. Its project is based on the concept of the

Allianz Arena Allianz Arena (; known as Munich Football Arena for UEFA competitions) is a Association football, football stadium in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, with a 70,000 seating capacity for international matches and 75,000 for domestic matches. Widely kno ...

, which hosted matches of the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams represe ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The first match was played on 11 April 2018, a football match between FC Baltika and

PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara () is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Samara, Russia, Samara that plays in the Russian Premier League. In 2004, they finished third in the Russian Premier League. History Krylia Sove ...

History

The stadium was the westernmost location of the

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

. In April 2012, the regional government chose the French architectural bureau Wilmotte & Associes, SA stadium construction project. NPO Mostovik & Mersfor Rus OOO were project partners and the Kaliningrad Region and

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

were the project managers. The project itself is worth $280 million. In June 2014 the Omsk Arbitration Court declared "Mostovik" bankrupt and, in March 2015, termination of the contract with the company began. On 1 April 2014 a government order published by the government declared the appointment of ZAO "Crocus International" as the sole executor of the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation for the works on the construction. The state contract was signed between the Government of the Kaliningrad Oblast and Crocus International "to develop the project and working documentation on the design of the stadium". On 10 June 2015 it was reported that the stadium project was sent to the state examination. On 20 July, the layout of the stadium was presented. At first, regional authorities considered the option with the construction of new sports facilities in the city center, on the place of the current Baltika Stadium. Finally, in December 2014 it was announced that

will be the location of the new stadium, even though it is often under threat of flooding. and work on it requires additional financial investments. On 10 August 2015, it became known that the stadium would be named "Stadium Kaliningrad" or in the English version, Kaliningrad Stadium.

Construction

The project was based on the concept of the Allianz Arena Munich, which hosted matches of the

. The project cost was anticipated as 11 billion rubles but was exceeded by far. Soil compaction work was completed in December 2014. Preparation work for construction of the infrastructure started in January 2015. In addition, a new bridge was built over the river to provide better connections to the surrounding area. Testing for the stadium piles and foundation began in July 2014. As a multiple-purpose arena,

Stadium can be used for football matches and other sporting events, conferences and concerts.

Safety and security

This is a two-tier stadium with a VIP section, equipped with ultramodern security systems and

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...

. The stadium is equipped with more than 700

security cameras Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal ...

Work on consolidation and drainage of Oktyabrsky Island

During excavation, some pre-war buildings' infrastructure was found which was not marked on the topographic survey. These issues have been dealt with. The project includes construction of the overpass East from Oktyabrsky island and from the street.

Tournament results

2018 FIFA World Cup

Kaliningrad Stadium hosted four games for the

2019 European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship

2020 Rugby Europe Championship

2021 Rugby Europe Championship

After the World Cup

The seating capacity of 35,000 seats was to be reduced to 25,000 before the stadium was handed over to the football club Baltika, which had 4,000 spectators to matches in 2017. In March 2019 the

federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

allocated 40 million rubles to renovate the stadium.

References

External links

* {{2018 FIFA World Cup stadiums Football venues in Russia Sports venues completed in 2018 Buildings and structures in Kaliningrad 2018 establishments in Russia Sport in Kaliningrad Rugby union stadiums in Russia