New Zenit Stadium

Key facts

Club: FC Zenit | Capacity: 62,000 seats | Scheduled opening: 2013 | Status: under construction

Description

FC Zenit is currently building a new stadium at the site of the former Kirov Stadium.

Planning for the new stadium began late 2005, and first construction works started by the end of 2008. The stadium was initially planned to be completed in 2009, but works have been hampered by a series of delays.

The project was to be funded by Russian gas firm Gazprom, however after they pulled out it was taken over by the Saint-Petersburg city government. The current schedule indicates that the stadium will be completed in late 2013 at the earliest. By the middle of 2012 most of the main body of the stadium had been erected.

The new arena will have a capacity of 62,000 seats. The design is by Japanese architecture firm Kisho Kurokawa and resembles the form of a spaceship, with the roof held up by four masts. It has some similarities with that of the Japanese Toyota Stadium, which was designed by the same firm.

The former Kirov stadium is located on Krestovsky Island in the Neva river bay, about 7 kilometres north-west of Saint-Petersburg’s city centre.

The stadium is going to be one of the playing venues during the 2018 World Cup in Russia and is expected to host one of the two semi-finals.