New CSKA Arena – the “highest” stadium in the world | The Football Stadiums.com

Moscow - CSKA Arena 10.10.2016: The highest stadium in the world – this is one of the ways to describe the new CSKA Moscow stadium. The unique feature of the stadium is the 142-metre skyscraper, in which you can find a hotel and offices and which stands in the south-west corner of the stadium. Its slightly twisted design is reminiscent of the UEFA Cup – a trophy the CSKA Moscow team won in 2005. This victory inspired the club to think of building a new stadium for 30,000 spectators.

CSKA played their first match at the new CSKA Arena on 10th September 2016. 26,420 spectators came to see them play Terek Groznyj (3-0). Another 3,000 people can watch the match from the skyscraper. If we add those, then the stadium was more or less filled to capacity for the first match.

Construction: Negotiations over the construction of a new CSKA stadium were opened in May 2007 and before long problems started to arise. The first issue concerned the land owned by the Ministry of Defence. In 2009 it seemed that the construction of the new arena would begin any time, yet, it was postponed several times, bringing the costs of construction up even though it had not begun yet. Over those nine years, since the beginning of the negotiations, the estimated cost has gone up by an incredible 350% – from the initial amount of 100 million to the current amount of 350 million USD.

The new CSKA Arena, Capacity: 30 000, Opended: September 2016

Photo: mos.ru (CC BY 3.0)

2018 World Cup

In the course of the 2018 World Cup the new CSKA Arena will only provide a training venue. Matches will be played at different stadiums, either renovated or newly built. Moreover, there already are two stadiums in Moscow, which will provide venue for the World Cup matches – the renovated Luzhniki Stadium and the new Spartak Moscow stadium, built in 2014.