World Cup Postcard from the stunning St. Petersburg spaceship stadium

From Macdara Ferris in St. Petersburg

Much of the focus on this World Cup in Russia revolves around Moscow with two stadia hosting matches in the nations capital, including the opening and closing games. The international TV studio backdrops are from Moscow with Red Square or the Luzhniki Stadium.

On Tuesday evening though, eyes will focus 687km away from Moscow to the city that was the capital of Russia for over two centuries – now known as the northern capital of Russia - St. Petersburg. 

At the stunning St. Petersburg Stadium, the Russian team, on the back of their 5-0 demolition of Saudi Arabia, will play their second game of the tournament. The stadium is a magnificent venue set right on the end of Krestovsky Island looking out across the Gulf of Finland. 

The stadium has both a retractable roof and sliding pitch – is this what eircom Park would have been like I wonder!?! 

If you think it looks like something out of this world, then that is exactly what the Japanese architect Kisho Kurosawa wanted. His vision was for the venue to look like a spaceship that had landed on the edge of the city.

 

#lightherup #whitenights #worldcup

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The stadium was opened for last year’s Confederations Cup when it hosted four matches including the opening game between Russia and New Zealand and the final of the tournament won by Germany. 

The venue is home to Zenit St. Petersburg and has had additional seats erected to bring the capacity up from 56,000 for Russian Premier League games to around 64,000 for this tournament.



These are temporary seats, which are slightly incongruously placed in small sections of scaffold supported bucket seats dotted in concourse areas at the top of the lower tier and at the very top of the upper tier – but it is nothing like the bizarre temporary stand creations that they have in Ekaterinburg!

The new stadium is built on the site of the former Kirov Stadium which had a 110,000 capacity at one stage but prior to moving into the new venue, Zenit since 1990 had been playing their matches in the smaller 21,500 capacity Petrovsky Stadium.

That ground, just a couple of kilometres from the central Palace Square, was the venue for Dundalk’s Europa League clash with Zenit in November 2016.

The St. Petersburg stadium hosted Morocco and Iran last Friday. Even with the roof open, it was a deafening experience being in the stadium. Those who have sat in the Aviva know they like their stadium PA loud, but in St Peterburg they crank it beyond 11. 

Coupled with the vuvuzelas that every Iranian and Moroccan fan seemed to have, it may be time to crack out the noise cancelling earphones in the press box for the Russia v Egypt game.



There were a small number of empty seats for the match. FIFA had sold tickets in four categories for the tournament with only Cat 4 available for Russians.

Cat 1 were priced at $210 along the length of the pitch in the lower tier and unsurprisingly these seats – along with Cat 2 in the lower tier behind the goal – were where most of the unoccupied seats were.

The Morocco fans, who had lost out earlier in the week on being awarded the 2026 World Cup, were distraught at the end with losing after conceding a 94th minute own goal.

After this coming Tuesday’s Russia v Egypt game, St. Petersburg will host Brazil and Costa Rica and then Argentina against Nigeria. There will be one round of 16 match, a semi-final and the third fourth place playoff. Like Dublin, St. Petersburg is also a host city for Euro2020.

The Iranian manager Carolos Queiroz described the stadium as “fantastic” when asked about the venue after Friday’s game but those fancy dugout seats, 32,000 tonnes of structural steelwork and 71,000 m2 of roof didn’t come cheap.

It cost in excess of $1b to construct the venue, making it reputedly the most expensive stadium in history taking over the mantle from a ground built for the last World Cup.

That venue in Brasilia is now a complete white elephant, hosting the occasional game in front of crowds of 6,000 in a 72,000 capacity venue and the stadium has been used as a bus parking lot!

The finances for Zenit’s new ground weren’t helped by Gazprom prioritising their new corporate headquarters over the stadium. They have created a new landmark visible all around the city. The Lakhta Center is tallest building in Europe at 462m and at 87 storeys is currently 13thtallest in the World. 

It was some light show on leaving the ground after Friday’s game with the stadium lit up in alternating blue, green and red colours, while the sun set behind the Lakhta Tower.

The home fans are hoping that their team can light up the place on Tuesday evening with another Russian win that would effectively put them through to the next round. The Group A winner will travel to Sochi for the last, 16 while the runners up will head to Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium.

 

Cracking sunset behind the Gazprom Tower

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Our reporter Macdara Ferris will be in the St. Petersburg stadium for Tuesday night's Russia v Egypt game to bring you all the action from the Group A match.

    About Macdara Ferris

    Macdara Ferris is a contributor since 2007 to Hoops Scene (Shamrock Rovers' match day programme) and is the co-author of two books on Shamrock Rovers - 'Tallaght Time: Shamrock Rovers 2009 to 2012' (with Karl … View Full Profile