Luzhniki Stadium
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Grand Sports Arena of the Luzhniki Olympic Complex (Большая спортивная арена Олимпийского комплекса Лужники) in Moscow, or briefly Luzhniki Stadium (Стадион "Лужники"), is the biggest sports stadium in Russia. Its total seating capacity is 84,745 seats, all covered. The stadium is a part of the Luzhniki Olympic Complex, previously called the Central Lenin Stadium (Центральный стадион имени В. И. Ленина).
The Luzhniki Stadium has been chosen by UEFA to host the 2008 UEFA Champions League final.
Its field is used mainly for football games by Torpedo Moscow club, which is owned by the sports complex itself, and Spartak Moscow. It is also one of the few major European stadiums to use an artificial pitch, as it installed a FieldTurf pitch in 2002. In the U.S., FieldTurf is the best-known of the newest breed of artificial surfaces that offers more grass-like playing characteristics, and is approved by FIFA and UEFA for top-level competitions. The pitch is necessary for the cold Russian climate, as regular grass pitches are often destroyed during a typical winter and must be replaced at high cost. However, natural grass will be installed for the 2008 Champions League Final[1].
The Grand Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium was the chief venue for the 1980 Summer Olympics, the spectator capacity being 103,000 at that time. The events hosted in this stadium were the Opening and Closing ceremonies, Athletics, Football finals, and the Individual Jumping Grand Prix.
The Luzhniki Stadium also hosted the final game of the 1957 Ice Hockey World Championship between Sweden and the Soviet Union, attended by a crowd of 55,000 and setting a new world record.
On October 20, 1982 Luzhniki disaster took place here.
In 1989, the Lenin Stadium was the location for the Moscow Peace Festival. The Moscow Music Peace Festival was an effort by the Make A Difference Foundation and rock producers and organizers in the US and USSR. It was held over two days, and was essentially the first festival of its kind, that is, that openly was presenting Western heavy metal acts with an emphasis on international cooperation on preventing drug abuse. The festival featured artists such as Bon Jovi, Scorpions, Ozzy Osbourne, Skid Row, Mötley Crüe, Cinderella and Gorky Park.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Olympic Stadium Athens |
UEFA Champions League Final Venue 2008 |
Succeeded by Stadio Olimpico Rome |
| Summer Olympic stadia |
|---|
| Athens, 1896 • Paris, 1900 • St Louis, 1904 • London, 1908 • Stockholm, 1912 • Berlin, 1916 • Antwerp, 1920 • Paris, 1924 • Amsterdam, 1928 • Los Angeles, 1932 • Berlin, 1936 • Helsinki, 1940 • London, 1944 • London, 1948 • Helsinki, 1952 • Melbourne, 1956 • Rome, 1960 • Tokyo, 1964 • México City, 1968 • Munich, 1972 • Montréal, 1976 • Moscow, 1980 • Los Angeles, 1984 • Seoul, 1988 • Barcelona, 1992 • Atlanta, 1996 • Sydney, 2000 • Athens, 2004 • Beijing, 2008 • London, 2012 |
Categories: 1956 architecture | Sports venues built in the Soviet Union | Buildings and structures in Moscow | Football venues in Russia | Venues of the 1980 Summer Olympics | Olympic stadiums | Outdoor ice hockey venues in Russia | Sport in Moscow | Sports venues in Russia | UEFA 5 star stadiums | FC Torpedo Moscow | Spartak Moscow | National stadiums
