Luzhniki Stadium

Luzhniki Stadium is in Moscow, the capital city of Russia.

It is a giant round stadium with a roof. People come here to watch football and other sports.

Luzhniki Stadium stands in the Luzhniki Olympic Complex in Moscow. The stadium is also called the Grand Sports Arena.

The stadium opened in 1956. Since then it has hosted the 1980 Olympic Games, big football finals and many championships. After its latest rebuilding, the city of Moscow gave it 81,000 seats, close to the field and set at a steeper angle so that fans can see better.

The stadium is the Grand Sports Arena of the 159-hectare Luzhniki Olympic Complex in Moscow; the city says the new observation deck on its roof stands opposite the one on Vorobyovy Gory. It opened in 1956 as the Lenin Central Stadium and was partly rebuilt for the 1980 Summer Olympics and again in the 1990s.

For the 2018 FIFA World Cup it was comprehensively reconstructed while keeping its historic facade, which the city describes as a symbol of Moscow's architecture and Russian sport. In March 2017 the city gave the upgraded stadium a capacity of 81,000 and a total area, with its grandstands, of 221,000 square meters.

The roof can light up like a giant TV screen!

The seats are red. People picked the color by voting online.

Lights built into the roof can turn it into a giant screen of 40,000 square meters, showing team flags, scores or videos. There is also a lookout on the roof with a view of central Moscow.

The seats are crimson with beige, colors chosen in an online vote by 137,000 people. Under the natural grass field lies a layer 1.5 meters thick with drains, heating and watering pipes, 35 kilometers of pipe in all.

According to the city's March 2017 report, built-in LED sections can turn the roof into a 40,000 m² media screen, and a lighting system gives the facade daytime, nighttime and festive modes. A new observation deck on the roof looks toward central Moscow, Novodevichy Convent, the towers of the Moscow International Business Centre and Lomonosov Moscow State University.

The seats are crimson with beige hues, chosen by 137,000 residents on the Active Citizen website. The natural turf grows on a 1.5 m layer of drainage, heating, watering and aeration systems with 35 km of pipes, and a heating system keeps a steady temperature of plus 15 degrees to help the grass through the winter. The stands hold 2,000 VIP seats, 4,500 guest places, about 2,500 media places and 300 places for people with disabilities.

In the photo, you see the stadium from high in the sky.

Its white roof is round like a ring. Trees and tall buildings are all around.

The photo was taken from above on 30 August 2019. You can see the white ring of the roof with an open space in the middle, the light-colored walls with tall columns, trees and car parks around it, and skyscrapers far away.

Luzhniki was the main arena of the 1980 Summer Olympics. At the closing ceremony, the Games' bear mascot rose into the sky over the full stadium. On 15 July 2018 it hosted the FIFA World Cup final, where France beat Croatia 4–2.

The aerial photo (30 August 2019, Government of Moscow press center) shows the oval polycarbonate roof ring around an open center, the colonnaded facade, the forecourt and car parks among trees, and a cluster of skyscrapers on the skyline.

Mos.ru calls the stadium the center of the 1980 Summer Olympics, when more than five million people attended the competitions; the Games' bear mascot rising over the full stadium at the closing ceremony was broadcast live in 111 countries. Luzhniki also hosted the 1999 UEFA Cup final and the 2008 UEFA Champions League final. On 15 July 2018 it staged the FIFA World Cup final, in which France beat Croatia 4–2, ending a tournament played in 12 stadiums across Russia.