History of Luzhniki Stadion

Stadium Overview

The Luzhniki Stadium is UEFA’s choice for the 2008 Champions League Finals match. The stadium’s official name is “Grand Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium” and it’s located in Luzhniki, Moscow. It is the biggest sports stadium in all of Russia. Its total seating capacity is 84,745 seats, all covered. The this grand arena is part of the Luzhniki Sports Complex, and has been awarded a five-star rating by UEFA.

Stadium History

Russia's largest stadium has seen its fair share of history. Built in 1956, Luzhniki Stadium hosted the Ice Hockey World Championships the following year, and was the principal venue for the famous 1980 Moscow Olympics. The stadium is currently being refurbished just for the Champions League Final in May 2008. The Grand Sports Arena will get additional VIP zones in section C, the press-centre will be modernized, and new large-screen video screens have already been installed. In addition, the Luzhniki Stadium is one of the few sports arenas in the world that offers the choice of playing games either on artificial turf or natural grass.

Seating Chart

By Plane - Arriving in Moscow
The vast majority of foreign travelers arrive in Moscow at Sheremetyevo Airport's Terminal 2. Sheremetyevo was built for the 1980 Olympics, and for a city of 8 million-plus, it's tiny. The building has a reputation as a seedy place prowled by even seedier taxi drivers. It's not quite that bad, but customs can be an ordeal, smoking is ubiquitous and the taxi drivers are aggressive.

By Train
Moscow has eight major train stations. All are served by the Moscow Metro and located near the center of the city. Most stations are connected by the metro's circle line. There are trains from Moscow to Cologne (with connections to London and Brussels) via Frankfurt, Berlin and Warsaw. Moscow to St. Petersburg by train takes about 8 hours. There are also direct trains from Moscow to Helsinki in Finland and Kiev in the Ukraine. If you're on an international train, you'll go through customs when you cross the border, not at the station.

Map

City Information

Area Pubs

Travel Tips

The Moscow Metro is fairly easy to navigate despite the fact there are no signs in English. The Metro runs from 5.20am to 1:00am, and the central brown color-coded Circle Line intersects with the other nine lines. Metro entrances are marked with a large red letter "M". During peak rush hour (8am-9am and 5pm-7pm) the Metro will be very crowded.

The Moscow Metro has no special area zones - the whole network and monorail line is counted as one single zone. There is no time limit for using your ticket (currently 15 rubles one way). Visitors can save money buying tickets of 5, 10 or 20 trips.

Luzhniki Stadium is located in the south of Moscow near the Moskva River and is set in a large sports' complex - a park and a few smaller sports and recreational facilities. The two nearest Metro stations are Sportivnaya and Vorobievy Gory. See Moscow Metro map

Important Links

• Official site: http://www.luzhniki.ru/
• Official Moscow Tourist Information: http://www.moscow-city.ru/
• Restaurants in Moscow: http://eng.menu.ru/
• Moscow Metro - Official Site (Russian only): http://www.metro.ru/

References