As national teams from all over the world enter the final stretch of their qualifying campaigns for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™, the finishing touches are being applied to seven stadiums that will be hosting matches in ten months. FIFA.com provides an update on how the construction and renovation of these venues are going.
The four stadiums that held the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017 in the summer are ready to host games, while the reconstruction of Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium is almost complete. Progress continues a-pace at the seven remaining arenas, where the playing surface has already been laid at some and others are putting in seats for spectators or lifting the roof into place.
At the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, more than 29,000 squared metres of the roof structure have been erected. The stands and the main entrance will be covered, but the pitch is going to be left open. The colours of the roof are white, light blue and dark blue, laid out in a checked pattern. Over 7,700 seats have been installed and a team of experts are regularly trimming the length of the turf on the pitch, after a special blend of grass seeds was sown at the end of July.
Work is also continuing on the playing surface at the Volgograd Arena. Pipes are being laid for the drainage system, which in total measures three kilometres in length, and the pitch’s foundations are being built. The inside and outside of the structure is now at the decorating stage. Protective barriers and seats for spectators are being installed: over 3,000 dark blue and light blue seats have already been put in place.
The Russia 2018 venue in Ekaterinburg has also started putting in chairs, which have been delineated into different categories. Alongside standard seating and places for those with restricted mobility, there will also be seats with adjoining desks for the media, luxury seats and reinforced seating that can withstand over 120 kilograms in weight. The roof is expected to be fully mounted before the end of September. Down on the football pitch, agriculturalists are carefully looking after the first shoots of grass.In August, two giant screens measuring 15×9 metres were installed at the Kaliningrad Stadium, while the utility systems continue to be installed. The venue is roughly 80 per cent complete. Seats are beginning to appear at the Rostov Arena, where they have been trimming the turf of the recently planted pitch. Decorations on the inside of the building are ongoing, as is progress on the stadium’s utilities.
The construction companies working on the Samara Arena have begun mounting the polycarbonate roof, the total surface area of which exceeds 76,000 m2 – larger than ten football pitches. The architects suggested using modern materials in white and silver for the roof. According to the designers’ plans, the colours will alternate and line the stadium along its diameter. This design will enhance the stadium’s volume, make it easily identifiable and ultimately reflect the overarching theme of space.
The framework of the Mordovia Arena in Saransk is complete, with temporary stands being constructed and the internal and external utility networks being installed. 27 out of 30 lifts have been built, while work on the technology of the football pitch is ongoing.
Sourtce:-Fifa
