NEW STADIUM FIELD OPENING CEREMONY ON LEV YASHIN’S BIRTHDAY ANNIVERSARY
October 22, 2017, the birthday anniversary of the legendary goalkeeper Lev Yashin, the invited guests were presented the new football field and tribunes of the reconstructed “Dynamo” stadium. The Stadium and the Arena are planned to be fully operational in April 2018 and the first game is scheduled for June 5.
The VTB Arena Park project officially announced the completion of the first construction phase and demonstrated the invited guests and reporters a finished football field and tribunes of the Central Stadium “Dynamo”, which has been named after the famous goalkeeper Lev Yashin. Conferences, forums, festivals and exhibitions, together with sports, will become an important part of the VTB Arena Park project.
Among the first visitors of the stadium, there were Vitaly Mutko, the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia and President of the Russian Football Union, and Sergey Stepashin, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the “Dynamo” football club. The guests inspected the filed with freshly rolled out turf, tested the seats installed on the tribunes and visited a VIP suite.
“Presentation of the new football field and stadium tribunes is a milestone event showing that VTB Arena Park has successfully entered the homestretch. The Russian government and “Dynamo” society representatives inspected the facility and highly appreciated the quality of the field turf and the tribunes for spectators. I am sure that the stadium will become a future attraction place for the football fans and other sports enthusiasts,” noted Andrei Peregoudov, the head of VTB Arena Park and Senior Vice President of VTB Bank.
The football field lawn complies with the strictest international standards. The arrangement of the field cushion, the foundation of the future lawn, required over 11,000 cubic meters of sand and stone. The Russian roll-out turf in the amount of over 7,500 square meters was delivered from Volgograd. The turf consists of several sorts of grass making it resistant to loads and damages and providing comfortable game for the football players. In total, the stadium field required 18 trailers of turf.
In 1930-1950s, the “Dynamo” stadium was used to gather 80,000-90,000 people, like during the match between the national teams of the USSR and Western Germany in 1955 (3:2). The new stadium is not so spacious – its capacity is approximately 26,000 seats. 26,000 modern seats installed on the tribunes were manufactured by BlueCube (UK). The seats are made of a special polypropylene with reinforced hardware and a 5-year guarantee period. Three colors of the seats (blue, white and golden) form a pixel image of letter D, the “Dynamo” logo, two golden stars and words “Dynamo Moscow”. The golden stars symbolize the victories in the national championships. In Russia, the football clubs are rewarded a gold star for each five championship victories. The “Dynamo” club won 11 championships, although the last one was long time ago in 1976.
The football field presentation was accompanied by a symbolic ceremony called “Past. Present. Future”, when three generations of “Dynamo” representatives entered the football field: veterans, active players and students of the “Dynamo” football academy. Among the veterans, there was Vladimir Pilguy, a famous goalkeeper and successor of Lev Yashin. The current “Dynamo” team was represented by its Capitan and goalkeeper Anton Shunin and its best goal scorer Kirill Panchenko.
The invited guests and reporters had a chance to witness the first goal shot. The right of the first shot was delegated to the 83-year-old Valery Urin who played for “Dynamo” in 1950s-1960s – and the veteran did not miss the goal. The second goal was hit by the 28-year-old Kirill Panchenko. The both balls will go the “Dynamo” museum collection. The next generation made a difference – the goal was attacked by eleven juniors.
The ceremony was also attended by Valentina Yashina, the widow of the Soviet goalkeeper. At the ceremony she received flowers from the honored artist of Russia and “Dynamo” fan Lev Leschenko, whose tight schedule could not let him come to the opening ceremony.
The last goal at the new “Dynamo” stadium was shot by Sergey Stepashin who managed to break through Andrei Peregoudov’s defense. The head of VTB Arena Park, for his part, announced his plans to host a concert dedicated to the opening of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia. “We want to host a concert during the World Cup. It will become some kind of non-official opening,” said Andrei Peregoudov. Besides, he also mentioned that the “Dynamo” stadium will be able to host the last control match of the Russian national team before the World Cup starts. The commissioning of the “Dynamo” stadium is planned for April 2018.
The end of the ceremony was marked by a symbolic
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