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Matan Pelhovich · Aug 18, 2023Olympic Stadium Kyiv
The Red Stadium
The plan to build a stadium in Kiev was initiated as early as 1914, when the city was the industrial center of the southwestern Russian Empire and the third most important city in the empire. With the outbreak of World War I, the plans for the stadium were canceled. During the war and in the years that followed, the city went through many wars, revolutions, and battles that prevented the construction of the stadium. In 1919, the idea of building a stadium was revived by the Bolshevik government, but it was again postponed due to political instability in the region.
When order was restored in the early 1920s, Kharkov was declared the capital of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, and Kiev remained a regional capital only. In 1923, work resumed on the construction of the stadium on the ruins of Alekseevsky Park, which had been destroyed during the fighting, with the aim of hosting the Ukrainian All-Union Championship that year. On August 12, the ‘Red Stadium’ was inaugurated with the opening of the championship games.
Stadium renovation
Due to the rushed construction process, many errors were made in the design and construction of the stadium, the main one being the construction of the stadium on an east-west axis instead of the usual north-south axis. In 1934, with the re-declaration of Kiev as the capital of Ukraine, plans were put forward for the construction of an alternative stadium. Construction of the stadium, designed to accommodate 50,000 spectators, began in 1936.
The completion date was set for 1941 and the opening ceremony was scheduled for June 22, 1941. Following the Luftwaffe’s aerial bombing of Kiev that day, as part of Operation Barbarossa, the opening ceremony was postponed and a sign was hung at the stadium gates with the inscription “Ceremony postponed until after the victory“. After Russia’s victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, the stadium was renovated and officially inaugurated in 1948 under the name ‘Khrushchev Stadium of the Republic’.
Republic Stadium
Following Stalin’s death in 1953, the Soviet Union underwent a process of de-Stalinization, and the stadium was renamed the ‘Khorosh’tsov Stadium’. As a result of the city’s rapid development after World War II, the stadium underwent another renovation in the mid-1960s. In 1966–1968, the stadium was renovated, its capacity was increased to 100,000 spectators, and its name was changed to the ‘Central Stadium’. In addition, indoor tennis courts, two additional football fields, a multi-purpose sports hall with approximately 7,000 seats, additional fields, and even a ski jump were built in the complex.
The stadium in its new form was active until 1978, when it was closed for another round of renovations, in preparation for the 1980 Olympic Games. The stadium’s name was changed again to ‘Lenin Stadium’, a name that stirred controversy until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Olympic Stadium hosted the local opening ceremony of the Olympics as well as several football matches within it.
Olympic Sports Center
Upon Ukraine’s independence, the stadium became a national facility and was renamed the National Sports Centre Olimpiyskyi (‘Olympic’). Among locals, the stadium is still frequently referred to as ‘Tsentralny’ (Central) or ‘Raspublikanskyi’ (Republican). The name of the nearby Kyiv Metro station is also ‘Republic Stadium’ and has not changed since its construction in 1984.
In 1997–1999, the stadium was renovated again according to UEFA guidelines and its capacity was reduced to 83,450 seats. Since the 1990s, the stadium has been used mainly for football matches of the Ukraine national team and for Dynamo Kyiv’s matches in the Champions League. However, none of the football teams in Kiev use the stadium as their official home, but rather in smaller stadiums in the city. Until 2008, the stadium also hosted the Ukrainian Cup final.
Euro 2012
On 18 April 2007, Ukraine and Poland were selected to co-host the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship. On 1 December 2008, renovation work began in preparation for the tournament, during which the stadium’s capacity was reduced to 70,050 seats and a roof was built over it. The stadium hosted three group stage matches, one quarter-final match and the final, in which Spain defeated Italy 4–0.
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