Krylya Sovetov visit new stadium in Samara - RUSSIA 2018
On Tuesday, players and coaches from the Krylya Sovetov football club, led by Belgian coach Franky Vercauteren, took a short time-out from their campaign for promotion to the Russian Premier League and allowed their imagination to run wild. On a warm spring day, the Samara club visited the site where a new stadium is being built as the city prepares to host matches during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™.
As soon as you see the dexterity with which the excavators and cranes are being operated at the site of the new stadium, you start imagining the missing pieces of the jigsaw – this is where the centre circle will be, and, over there, behind the goals, is where the footballers will be urged on by loyal supporters chanting the name of their team. At present, there are 800 construction workers engaged in building the new arena, as well as 49 pieces of equipment, including nine tower cranes and two concrete mixers that are providing all the material required to build the stadium's foundations. By the end of the year, the number of people working at the site will have more than trebled to 3,000.
Krylya Sovetov's footballers were able to take another look at the stadium design, to see what it will look like when it is completed before December 2017. The stadium's facade consists of a transparent dome, which means the arena will resemble a type of spacecraft. That will be of symbolic importance to Samara, a city that has played an important role in the history of space exploration.
The visiting players were clearly impressed, with many expressing a desire to play on the new 45,000-seater stadium's pitch in three years' time. Denis Vavilin, Krylya Sovetov's veteran 32-year-old goalkeeper, who was born in Samara and came up through the club ranks, cannot wait for the stadium to welcome top level football. "I'm proud that my home town will be one of the host cities for the World Cup," Vavilin said. "I can sense how preparations for the tournament are gathering momentum, and every day there's some piece of news about the tournament. Now I am convinced that the city's main sports construction project is in full swing!"
"I doubt there's any country where football is more popular than in my homeland, in Brazil," said Krylya defender Bruno Teles. "But even there, the World Cup really made a huge difference to the development of the sport. It's great that the next tournament will be in Russia, and that the city where I currently play will be hosting matches. Football's very popular in Samara, and I can already imagine what the atmosphere will be like in the new stadium."
Nor did Krylya's coach, Belgian Franky Vercauteren, try to conceal his feelings about what he saw. "It's important that Samara will have a new football arena thanks to the World Cup,” he said. “Krylya Sovetov's fans will be able to support their team in comfortable surroundings. The stadium's design really impressed me. No-one's seen anything like it. I think that Samara's new stadium has a good chance of being ranked alongside Europe's best arenas.”
Founded in 1942, Krylya Sovetov are one of Russia's oldest football clubs. Including the Soviet era, the club have spent more than 45 seasons in the domestic top flight. They reached the final of the Soviet Cup twice (1953, 1964) and in 2004 graced the final of the Russian Cup and came third in the Russian Premier League. They also competed in the UEFA Cup in 2005 and in the Europa League in 2009.
Work on Samara's new stadium began on 21 July 2014, when Russian President Vladimir Putin and Samara Region governor Nikolai Merkushkin placed a time capsule in the arena's foundations. Once Russia 2018 is over, Krylya Sovetov will play their home games at the stadium. In addition, the arena will be heavily used as a venue for sports competitions at various levels, as well as for cultural and entertainment events.