Fisht Stadium – tournament stadium description

History

Before the final concept by Populous was revealed in 2009, two other variants were discussed: one with modest, almost flat roof and small capacity and another that would see the outer shell of the stadium resemble a Fabergé egg.

All of the plans were associated with Sochi winning the rights to hold 2014 Winter Olympics back in 2007. With Sochi needing a new stadium either way, the city got a fast track to the World Cup bid, which won FIFA's vote in 2010.

Design

Eventual design included a dynamic roof that peaks at central point of the stadium, resembling a mountain. Fittingly, the stadium was soon named Fisht after a local peak from which it took inspiration. Both ends were left uncovered and with room for only small stands, allowing fans to look at the see (south) and mountains (north) from the stands.

Interestingly, the massive steel semi-dome has only one axis of symmetry, which means two halves are mirroring one-another. Each of them is made with some 22,000 tons of steel (!) and peaks at 76 meters. Altogether the two 'shells' are covered with 36,500 m2 of ETFE cushions, at night illuminated dynamically.

For the 2014 Winter Games the stadium was built with temporary roof above the field and with no auditorium behind the goals, in order to allow thousands of artists to enter and leave the stadium during opening and closing ceremonies. Following the games both ends were filled with single-tier stands, which received temporary additional sections on top to accommodate more fans during the World Cup.

World Cup games

Phase	Game	Attendance	Date (CET)
Group B	Portugal 3–3 Spain	43,866	15/06/2018 20:00
Group G	Belgium 3–0 Panama	43,257	18/06/2018 17:00
Group F	Germany 2–1 Sweden	44,287	23/06/2018 20:00
Group C	Australia 0–2 Peru	44,073	26/06/2018 16:00
Round of 16	Uruguay 2–1 Portugal	44,287	30/06/2018 20:00
Quarterfinal	Russia 2-2 (3-4p) Croatia	44,287	07/07/2018 20:00
	21 goals / Avg: 3.5	Total: 264,057 / Avg: 44,010