Metallurg Stadion – stadium description

When new steelworks plant was announced for Samara, it had to go along with a new stadium that would satisfy recreational needs of the workers – as planned by Lenin. Construction started in 1956 and used mostly land excavated for the steelworks to create artificial hills on which benches were set. By summer 1957 the 8,000-capacity ground was ready and bearing the name of Metallurg, club created to become major tenants.

However in current form the stadium dates back to 1970’s when Genady Cherny became its manager and Krylya Sovetov (Wings of the Soviets) became anchor tenants. In 1976 new East stand was built, followed by West and North by 1978. Only the southern part was left unoccupied with just a scoreboard (replaced in 2006 by a new giant screen) and administration building. Capacity was up to 38,000.

But as Krylya Sovetov was a real magnet even this capacity was insufficient on some occasions, with record attendance seen in 1997 and reaching 44,000 people. It was the last year with such a huge capacity as individual seats were installed on each stand, respectively in 1998, 2001 and 2005. Despite decrease in capacity Metallurg Stadion was still the most crowded venue in Russia and in 2004 even in all of Eastern Europe.