Tsentralnyi Miskyi Stadion – stadium description

When was the Mykolaiv Central Municipal Stadium built?

Construction of the stadium began in 1962 and lasted three years. The main initiator of the construction was the 1st Secretary of the KPU City Committee, Vladimir Vaslayev. The facility stood on the site of a former landfill and was built without assistance from the central authorities. As the city's new main stadium, it replaced the too-small and outdated Avangard Stadium (renamed Pionier from 1967) in this role.

The design of the stadium was prepared by the Giprograd Institute of Urban Planning and its head architect was A. K. Marachynskyi. The construction work was carried out by SU-11, SU-621, Zielenstry and Mykolaivspecstroy enterprises. Many city residents, especially young people, helped with the construction as a community service. The cost of construction was 680,000 roubles.

Towards the end of the work, the authorities in Moscow issued a decree forbidding the construction of facilities for purposes other than industrial, but as the construction of the Mykolaiv stadium was already at an advanced stage, it was able to be completed.

What was the opening of the Mykolaiv stadium like?

The opening of the stadium took place on September 26, 1965, the shipyard workers' day. The team invited to the inauguration was CSKA Moscow, with whom the local Sudostroitiel (now MFC Mykolaiv), in front of a crowd of 40,000, drew 0:0. The new facility was named Sudostroitiel ('shipbuilder'), like the team playing there. It was also colloquially known as "Mykolaivski Luzhniki" (in reference to the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow).

What was the later history of the Mykolaiv stadium?

In the early 1990s, the stadium was briefly renamed Evis, after the factory that sponsored the club, and later became known as the Central City Stadium. Since the beginning of the 21st century, it has undergone several upgrades, renovating such things as the administrative rooms, replacing the floodlights or installing plastic seats in place of wooden benches.

On September 21, 2014, 1,200 people lined up on the pitch to form the capital letter N visible from above, breaking a Guinness World Record. Another 1,000 people formed further letters, aligning themselves to form the inscription 'No war' ('No to war'), in protest against the war in Donbas, which had started a few months earlier.

In the morning of June 28, 2022, a few months after the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a Russian missile attack on Mykolaiv resulted in one of the missiles hitting the stadium, falling on the running track, just in front of the main stand. No one was in the stadium at the time of impact, so that no person was hurt. However, the force of the impact caused damage to the administrative building, and a funnel 15 m wide and 5 m deep was created where the missile fell.

What does the Central Stadium in Mykolaiv look like?

The stadium has an athletics track, which is surrounded on all sides by stands supported by earth banks. After the installation of plastic seats (mostly in blue), the capacity of the stadium is 15 600 spectators. The main stand, with administrative rooms and facilities, is located on the west side. There are four floodlight masts at the corners and a digital scoreboard on the northern curve. Surrounding the facility are several training pitches.