St. Petersburg Stadium, World Cup Venue, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Saint Petersburg Stadium, also referred to as Zenit Arena, Krestovsky Stadium, and Piter Arena, is the recently opened new stadium of FC Zenit. It got built at the site of the former Kirov Stadium.
Planning for the new stadium began late 2005, and first construction works started by the end of 2008. The stadium was initially planned to be completed in 2009, but works were hampered by a series of delays, including a redesign to comply with FIFA requirements and fraud investigations.
Saint Petersburg Stadium was initially to be funded by Russian gas firm Gazprom, however after they pulled out the project was taken over by the St. Petersburg city government. Works finally sped up in 2016 and the stadium was completed in April 2017, however overall costs had soared past $1 billion, which made it one of the most expensive stadiums ever built.
The first official match at Saint Petersburg Stadium was played on 22 April 2017 when Zenit hosted Ural for a league match (2-0).
The stadium has been design
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