Zenit Arena Stadium: what the famous sports unfinished construction is like. Zenit Arena will break the world record for construction cost. How much does the Krestovsky stadium accommodate?

And it will be inferior to London's Wembley; the price of one seat on Krestovsky Island in St. Petersburg will become a record for football stadiums.

Current estimated construction price Zenit Arena, or, as it was planned to be called earlier, “Gazprom Arena”, . However, this is not the final price yet. It may be revised as soon as the name of the general contractor (already the third) who will complete the construction is determined.

If we divide the total amount by the estimated capacity of the arena under construction (69,501 people), it turns out that one seat will cost the city $15827- a very high figure by world standards.

This figure is inferior even to the cost of one seat at the most expensive football stadium on the planet - London "Wembley", where the England national team plays its home matches. With a construction cost of $1.3 billion, the legendary arena has a capacity of 90,000 people. Therefore, the price of each seat is equal to $14444. Wembley was completed in 2007 and the stadium is not owned by any football club.

The most expensive stadium in the world among all sports at the moment is the arena of the New York Giants club - MetLife Stadium. Opened in 2010, the stadium cost about $1.6 billion and seats 82,566 people— 19378 dollars in for everyone. It hosts American football matches.

What can we say, when the main stadium of the Olympic Games cost the British treasury 875 million dollars, with its capacity of 80,000 people.

Football

The home arena of St. Petersburg "Zenith", when completed, will move into third place in terms of total cost among football stadiums, which hosted the 2008 World Cup final Stade de France in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis. The construction of the stands, which can accommodate 80,000 spectators, cost the French budget $974 million - $12175 in place.

If we take into account only stadiums owned by football clubs, then Zenit has no equal at all. The closest pursuer, Arsenal, has been saving up a “pathetic” $770 million for many years to rebuild its beautiful 60,000-tonne building. Emirates- order $12800 for one seat.

But, unlike Zenit, the London club built the arena with its own money. In order to somehow compensate for the costs of building the stadium, Arsenal was forced to sign a record advertising agreement at that time with the Emirates airline, after which the stadium was named. It will retain this name until at least 2019, and the airline will pay about $130 million for it.

Priorities

Zenit will get its arena for free. All construction costs come from the city treasury, which can no longer cope with its obligations. Upon completion of the project, the arena will simply be transferred to the balance sheet of a football club from the northern capital. Zenit, using the freed-up funds, prefers to acquire football players from Portugal, spending a record $122 million on this.

$51.5 million was spent on the purchase of Axel Witzel from Benfica - that's a third of the amount spent on building their stadium "Da Luzh", which hosted the final of the European Football Championship in 2004. The remaining amount ($68.5 million) was paid for the Hulk from Porto. The Portuguese club, by the way, has a stadium "Dragão", on which $125.7 million was spent in 2003. Of these, 23.8 million were paid by the state.

In Europe, Zenit are compared to the wasteful Manchester City, owned by UAE's Sheikh Mansour. But even he, contrary to popular belief, was used to counting money. The club's stadium, where, by the way, Zenit won the UEFA Cup, was built before his arrival and cost the team $180 million. The sheikh not only compensated for this money, but also brought profit to the club by signing an advertising contract with the Etihad airline for $193 million. Now the arena in Manchester is called Etihad Stadium.

And the arena, which was completed just last year by the most titled club in Italy and one of the most famous in Europe - Juventus Turin, cannot be compared with the long-term construction in St. Petersburg. Capacity 41,000 people, Juventus Stadium cost the team owners $135 million. The construction of the stadium affected the inactive transfer policy, and patient fans were rewarded when the team in the new arena won the championship title in 2012 without losing a single match during the season.

Russia and CIS

But why look at Europe when in our country there are excellent examples of wise investment. Moscow stadium "Lokomotiv" cost the club $30 million and seats 28,800 people. Yes, you won’t be able to host the Champions League final on it, but it’s quite enough for the national team’s games.

They don’t make a splash in neighboring Ukraine either. Hosted the European Championship final "Olympic" the stadium in Kyiv was reconstructed. In fact, it was rebuilt on the old site. $566 million was spent on reconstruction, which was borrowed under state guarantees.

And the construction of a new stadium for Shakhtar Donetsk, Donbass Arena, which hosted one of the semi-finals of Euro 2012, cost the owner of the Donetsk club Rinat Akhmetov $400 million. With a capacity of 52,187 people, the cost of one seat in this stadium was $7664. Why such savings? It's simple: Akhmetov took money from his own pocket.

But, we can say with a high degree of probability that the story with the most expensive sports long-term construction will not end here. The city has already allocated more than $900 million for the construction of the arena, and it is unlikely that the stadium will be completed with the remaining 200 million before the announced limit of $1.1 billion.

In 2018, our country will host the most significant international football tournament - the World Cup. The upcoming World Cup will be hosted by 11 cities in our country, and the matches will be played in 12 brand new stadiums that will be built for this truly great event! Some stadiums for the 2018 FIFA World Cup have already been built, and the construction of the rest is planned to be completed in the near future.

Russia, as always, approached this event on a grand scale! We have already surprised foreigners with the stunning Winter Olympics Sochi 2014, and now we don’t want to lose face before the world football festival. Extraordinary amounts of money were allocated for the construction of unique facilities; some sports complexes were built with private investment. By the way, just the other day the championship mascot was chosen, and it became .

The opening ceremony of the 2018 World Cup and the final match will take place at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. Now let's look at photographs of the stadiums, find out what they are called and how many spectators they can accommodate, of which there will be many.

Which stadiums will host the 2018 World Cup. Photo.

Luzhniki. The Moscow stadium seats 81 thousand people

Zenit Arena. Saint Petersburg. Accommodates 70,000 people

"Victory". Volgograd. The stadium is designed for 45 thousand spectators

"Central". Ekaterinburg. Capacity 35,000

"Kazan Arena". Kazan. Holds 45,000

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"Kaliningrad". Kaliningrad. Stadium for 35 thousand fans

"Opening Arena". Moscow. Designed for 45 thousand.

Volga Arena. Nizhny Novgorod. Holds 45,000

The construction of the Zenit Arena stadium is the longest undertaking in Russian football. The long-term construction began in 2007 and has not yet been completed, the deadline for the completion of the project is constantly being postponed, and the cost is growing day by day. Encouraging statements from contractors and managers about the construction of the stadium regularly appear in the newspapers.

Zenit is already waiting for a new arena, but the players cannot influence the speed of construction in any way. So, let's fast forward ten years ago, when the idea of building a new stadium first appeared.

2005 year

In March 2005, information appeared that the Kirov Arena on Krestovsky Island would be demolished, and in its place the construction of a stadium would begin from scratch. Zenit was still far from the UEFA Cup and the Hulk in the lineup. Management announced that the new arena would cost one hundred and fifty million dollars and have a capacity of 50 thousand spectators.

Already in April, the concept of the future stadium appeared. The basis was Old Trafford. This idea was later criticized by Demit Momot, who considered the open stadium unsuitable for the Russian climate. Six months later, management announced that the construction of the Zenit Arena stadium already costs $250 million.

2006

In January, the organizers of the construction promised to commission the Gazprom Arena (as they planned to call the stadium) by 2009. Even then, analysts predicted repeated postponements. In April, the vice-governor of St. Petersburg promised that construction of the Zenit Arena stadium would start at the end of this year.

In the summer of 2006, the arena project, which was developed by a Japanese company, was presented. The structure was supposed to have a roof in the shape of a spaceship with the possibility of heating. The project cost was $225 million. At the end of the year, a builder was identified. It was the company SINTEZ-SUI LLC, which promised to build the Zenit Arena stadium for 6.7 billion rubles.

2007

In March, Valentina Matvienko said that construction would be completed by the end and the team would spend the next season at the new stadium. A month later, the governor of St. Petersburg said that the Zenit Arena stadium would receive a retractable field, which would cost additional money. In September, the lieutenant governor gave a statement in which he indicated that construction was ahead of schedule. He promised that the arena would be ready in December 2008.

2008

In March he reported that the construction of a new stadium could become more expensive. Gazprom was brought in for additional investment. A month later, Alexander Dyukov made it clear that in 2009 he would not see the new stadium of FC Zenit. The deadline for delivery was presumably moved to 2010. In addition, the cost of construction now amounts to 13-14 billion rubles.

In the middle of summer there was another increase in the price of the Zenit Arena stadium. Now the price was a whopping 23.7 billion rubles. Management promised a capacity of 62,000 people. At the end of the year, it was announced that the construction would be carried out by the Inzhtransstroy company, which signed a contract for 13.2 billion rubles.

year 2009

In April, information appeared in the media that in 2010 the famous Metallica would perform at the opening of the stadium. In December, the arena under construction was inspected and it was found that it did not meet FIFA requirements. There were complaints about the location of the stands and the rooms under the stands.

2010

In February 2010, they decided to make the stadium more spacious (67,000), which affected its cost. Due to budget adjustments in April, construction timelines are increasing again. Because of this, the cost rises again. At the end of the year, the president of Zenit announced the completion of the redesign of the arena. The new capacity will be 68,000 people.

2011

In January, Glavgosexpertiza orders the dismantling of the arena's already constructed roof, which leads to additional costs and postponement of completion. Now the total cost of construction is already a cosmic 33 billion rubles. In October, the roof was demolished again, which the customer did not like. In November, delivery of the finished arena is scheduled for 2013. The cost increased to 40 billion rubles.

year 2013

At the beginning of the year it was published that the stadium was 34.4% ready. In February, the Investigative Committee begins to investigate a case of fraud related to the construction of the arena. The case involves the first contractor and the amount of 500 million rubles.

In March, the construction management promises to commission the arena in the summer of 2016. In the summer, it turns out that the construction of the Zenit Arena stadium, which will host matches at the home 2018 World Cup, is only 35% complete.

year 2014

In April, the exact date for the commissioning of the facility was set - June 15, 2016. The vice-governor ruled out an increase in the cost and named the figure at 34.9 billion rubles.

2015

In March, the case of the theft of 145 million rubles was closed. The reason is the expiration of the statute of limitations. In November it was announced that Zenit would play the first match at the new arena in September 2016. A month later, the date was again moved to December.

2016

In February, the contractor asks to increase the construction amount to 35.3 billion rubles. In the summer, 144.5 million rubles are lost, which were intended for the installation of a video board. Information has emerged that workers are not receiving wages. On July 13, according to the general contractor, there was an attempted raider takeover. He did not rule out that in this way the city administration is trying to delay the delivery date of the facility.

Over the ten years during which the future Zenit stadium has been in the spotlight, this grandiose structure has migrated from the category of architectural works of art to the list of the most scandalous long-term construction projects of our time.

Today, when a new chapter in the history of the construction of the stadium opens, when the general contractor is organizing a real information war with the official authorities of St. Petersburg, we remember how it all began and what it ultimately led to. To do this, we will answer five main questions about the stadium being built on Krestovsky Island, which is popularly called the Zenit Arena.

When will construction be completed?

In 2007, when the decision was finally made to begin construction of a stadium on Krestovsky Island, Governor of St. Petersburg Valentina Matvienko announced the end of 2009 as the date for commissioning of the structure.

Since then, the estimated completion date has been postponed many times for all sorts of reasons. First, the 2008 crisis struck, which led to higher construction prices, problems for the developer and a change of general contractor. Then there were endless checks and lawsuits in connection with the waste of funds. After this there was a new crisis, as a result of which the cost of construction jumped even higher. And here we are again observing the procedure for changing the contractor.

Today, the final date for completion of construction is the end of 2016 - beginning of 2017. This date, in any case, is the deadline, because in the summer of 2017 the stadium in St. Petersburg will become one of four that will host the traditional tournament preceding the World Cup scheduled for 2018 - the Confederations Cup.

How much does construction cost?

Initially, it was planned to spend about 6.7 billion rubles on the construction of a new stadium in St. Petersburg. At that time it was about 268 million dollars.

Already in April 2008, the cost of construction jumped first to 13-14 billion rubles, and by the end of 2008 it amounted to about 24 billion rubles. At that time, at current exchange rates, this amounted to almost $900 million.

Four years later, in October 2012, someone announced a figure of 43.8 billion rubles, which at the current exchange rate was more than 1.4 billion dollars. At this moment they started talking about how the stadium in St. Petersburg would be the most expensive sports facility on the planet.

True, since then the price tag in rubles has fallen slightly. In June 2016, the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg limited the arena construction budget to 39.2 billion rubles. At the same time, the dollar exchange rate against the ruble doubled. Therefore, the final figure in foreign currency does not yet look so shocking - “only” $620 million at the current exchange rate. However, given that most of the funds were spent at a different rate, in reality the amount in dollars will look more impressive.

What is the value of the Zenit stadium in the world?

Considering the dollar exchange rate that jumped in 2014, the St. Petersburg stadium is unlikely to become the most expensive football facility in the world, but it will also not go far from the first line.

The championship was given to the legendary Wembley, which does not belong to any club. It is where the England national team plays their home matches and where the English Cup final is played. At one time, its reconstruction, more like the construction of a new arena, cost the British $1.25 billion.

Next comes the Brazilian stadium in the capital, Brasilia, which was built for the 2014 World Cup and cost the government $900 million. It is followed by another London giant - the home stadium of the Arsenal football club, which cost $750 million to build.

And so far only the fourth place among football stadiums is the arena on Krestovsky Island. As we have already approximately calculated, the cost of its construction will be about 620 million dollars, if calculated at the current exchange rate.

Who pays for the construction?

When information about the construction of a stadium on Krestovsky Island first appeared, it was planned that Gazprom would pay for its construction. Subsequently, the arena was to be transferred to the balance of the Zenit football club, which also belongs to the gas giant.

However, after some time, information appeared that the construction of the stadium would be paid for from the city budget. The construction budget immediately doubled - to 13-14 billion rubles, and later reached almost 40 billion.

It is also currently unknown which organization will own the stadium after construction is completed and the 2018 FIFA World Cup ends. There were rumors that Zenit might even refuse to take responsibility for the arena, since the cost of maintaining it exceeds the income it can generate for the football club.

Why does building a stadium cost so much?

The construction of the Zenit Arena is so expensive for St. Petersburg because this arena will be one of the most technically equipped on the planet.

A standard example is a roll-out field. The stadium lawn will be able to travel outside the arena on rails so that it can be ventilated. This is necessary to create and maintain a high-quality grass surface, which is so necessary for playing football at a high level.

In addition, Zenit Arena will have a unique fire safety system. And the point here is not even how the stadium will fight fires in the premises under the stands with virtually no outside help. The most interesting thing is a robot firefighter that will be able to extinguish fires right in the stands. It will be able to automatically detect the source of a fire, be it a chair set on fire by fans or a lit firecracker. Using a directed jet of water, the robot will be able to extinguish the fire, preventing the threat.

The stadium will also be equipped with one of the best security systems on the planet, which will recognize fans, their tickets, and also display on the monitor in real time all the information about the fan that law enforcement agencies may need.

It’s probably not worth talking about the fact that the roof of the stadium on Krestovsky Island, which, by the way, is created from the latest generation of light-transmitting materials, will move and move apart to prevent bad weather from spoiling the match.

Gazprom Arena is the most expensive Russian football stadium, located in St. Petersburg. This football arena has other names:

St. Petersburg "Zenit Arena";
St. Petersburg "Zenith" or "Zenit" stadium;
Krestovsky Stadium;
"Saint Petersburg".

The general designer of the Gazprom Arena stadium was an architect from Japan, Kisho Kurokawa. The area of the Zenit Arena stadium, taking into account all the premises, is almost 290 thousand m², and the roll-out football field is about 10 thousand m². However, according to the original project, the area of the St. Petersburg arena should be smaller.

The Zenit Arena stadium is a landmark of St. Petersburg, which is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful buildings on Krestovsky Island. It has a retractable dome, the diameter of which is about 290 meters. The dome of the St. Petersburg football arena rests on masts. There are 8 such masts in total. The evening view of the stadium attracts with its unusual design - from a distance the arena resembles a flying saucer, from which multi-colored light emanates.

How the name was chosen for the Zenit Arena stadium

From the moment the first stone was laid during construction until 2018, the Gazprom Arena stadium had many different names. The key points in choosing a name for the arena are as follows:

FSZCHKO or “Football stadium in the western part of Krestovsky Island” - this was the name the stadium had at the time the construction of the Gazprom Arena was underway. Initially, it was decided that the official name would be assigned only after the object was completely finished.
Due to the fact that the St. Petersburg football club Zenit and the Gazprom company expressed a desire to participate in the construction of the future Krestovsky stadium, the arena was planned to be named one of the following options: Gazprom Arena, Zenit or Zenit Arena .
By the end of winter 2010, it became known that the Government of St. Petersburg would make a final decision regarding the name of the future stadium only after the arena was put into operation.
“St. Petersburg” is exactly the name FIFA proposed in the fall of 2015 for the St. Petersburg stadium under construction. However, at the end of April of the same year, the Toponymic Commission of St. Petersburg chose a different name for the football arena - “Krestovsky”. A year later, it was confirmed that the most expensive football arena in Russia will be named after the island on which it is located - the stadium was named “Krestovsky”.
However, after the approval of the official name for the Gazprom Arena, during some events taking place in this arena, the stadium was called differently. For example, it is known that during the Confederations Cup (in 2017) and the World Cup (in 2018), the new stadium on Krestovsky Island was called “St. Petersburg”.
At the beginning of December 2018, the most expensive Russian stadium changed its old official name “Krestovsky” to a new one - “Gazprom Arena”.

Cost of the Zenit Arena stadium

The St. Petersburg stadium on Krestovsky Island is one of the longest-under-construction and most expensive Russian football arenas.

At first it was decided that the Gazprom company would allocate funds for construction, but then information appeared that the money for the construction of the Zenit Arena would be taken from the city budget. It was also known that the cost of construction increased from the original 6.7 billion rubles to 14 billion.

Between the end of summer 2008 and December 2016, 42 billion rubles have already been spent on the construction of a new St. Petersburg football arena. The cost of the facility under construction was affected by amendments to the project to comply with FIFA requirements.

At the beginning of 2017, the cost of construction of the stadium increased to almost 44 billion rubles. However, according to some reports, it is known that the Gazprom Arena stadium costs more than 44 billion rubles. The media mentioned such amounts as 48 billion and 50 billion rubles.

How many years did it take to build the Zenit Arena stadium?

The deadline for the stadium's completion has been pushed back many times. Construction of the arena began in 2007 and was supposed to end in 2009, but this did not happen. The stadium was put into operation only at the end of 2016, that is, 9 years after the start of construction. And the opening of the St. Petersburg stadium took place at the end of April 2017.

Chronology of the construction of the Zenit Arena stadium

The construction of the Krestovsky Stadium can be divided into stages by year:

2006- this year the old stadium named after S. M. Kirov was demolished for the future construction of the Zenit Arena.

2007- after the excavation work to partially dismantle the hill was completed, the first stone was laid.

2008- the Krestovsky project was ready, but in November the contractor and the St. Petersburg construction committee signed an agreement to terminate the contract due to the fact that the project had become more expensive. But thanks to the fact that the necessary funds were later allocated by decision of the budget and finance committee of the Legislative Assembly, construction of the arena was resumed at the end of that year.

year 2009- at the end of this year it was revealed that the Zenit Arena stadium under construction does not meet FIFA standards - the complaints were mostly regarding the layout of the premises under the stands, as well as the configuration of the stands. Because of this, construction on the third level of the arena was stopped until the identified inconsistencies in the project were corrected.

2010- construction on the third level of the stadium was resumed thanks to a new general designer, who made the necessary changes to the project to comply with FIFA standards. After amendments were made to the project, the area of Zenit Arena increased from 170 thousand to 260 thousand m². The number of spectator seats has also increased. However, this entailed an increase in the cost of the object.

2015- by August of this year, the construction of the Krestovsky stadium was approximately 76% completed and the dismantling of the fixed roof was completed. The installation of the thermal system was completed in September. Work was underway to install seats, as well as to decorate the appearance of the arena stands.

2016- in March, the readiness of St. Petersburg Zenit was 84%. The facade work was almost completed, and the arena was put into operation in December.

Capacity of the Gazprom Arena stadium

The exact number of spectators that Krestovsky can accommodate is unknown. However, during construction, the developer’s website contained information that the future Zenit Arena stadium would have 80 thousand seats for spectators during various concerts and theatrical events. And also 68 thousand spectator seats at football matches.

In addition, it is known that in 2018, during the Russia-Finland hockey match (Channel One Cup), the stadium was visited by 81 thousand people.

Gazprom Arena can also be visited by people with disabilities, for whom there are special places. Thus, out of 560 places for the disabled, 266 places are intended for those who cannot walk and use a wheelchair.

Location of St. Petersburg Zenit stadium

The Zenit Arena stadium is located on Krestovsky Island, where the stadium named after S. M. Kirov was previously located. The stadium address is easy to remember: Football Alley, building 1 (St. Petersburg, Russia).

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