As a sports journalist, and I have a long experience, I was lucky enough to visit almost all the largest arenas in Europe. Each of them is beautiful in its own way and is a sports hallmark of the country. At one time, these arenas hosted matches of the European Champions Cup, Cup Winners' Cup, UEFA Cup, UEFA Super Cup, and now games of the Champions League, Europa League, Conference League, World and European Championships are held.
Photo: uaf.ua78 European stadiums meet the high UEFA requirements. 14 elite arenas in Germany, 13 in England, 4 in Spain, 5 in Ukraine. These are NSC Olimpiyskiy, Arena Lviv, Metallist in Kharkiv, Chernomorets in Odessa and Donbass Arena in Donetsk.
According to UEFA requirements, stadiums of the highest, fourth category, which have the right to host matches of the final part of the World Cup and Europe, the final matches of European cups, must meet 24 parameters.
I will not list all the requirements, here are some of them:
- field size 105 by 68 meters with a drainage system;
- the number of places on the bench - at least 13;
- the size of the dressing room for referees - at least 20 square meters;
- video surveillance of the stands for spectators and the territory of the stadium and the presence of a special video control room;
— the number of seats in the press box — at least 100;
- number of places for commentators - at least 25;
— Number of seats in the press conference room — at least 75;
— VIP parking for at least 150 places;
- VIP seats - at least 500.
European giants
Here are the stadiums, though not all of them, where I was lucky enough to be in the press box, covering the matches of Dynamo in European cups, as well as the games of the Ukrainian national team at the world and European championships.
— Vienna, Ernst Happel, 55,665 seats;
— London, Wembley, 90,000 seats;
- Manchester, Old Trafford, 75,957 seats;
- Athens, "Olympic", 67,199 seats;
- Barcelona, Camp Nou, 98,787 seats;
- Madrid, Santiago Bernabeu, 85,454 seats;
- Seville, "Olympic", 56,951 seats;
- Milan, San Siro, 80,018 seats;
- Rome, "Olympic", 73,261 seats;
— Berlin, Olimpiyskiy, 68,738 seats;
- Hamburg, Imtek Arena, 47,641 seats;
— Dortmund, Signal Iduna Park, 80,720 seats;
- Munich, Allianz Arena, 67,812 seats;
— Munich, Olimpiyskiy, 69,250 seats;
- Amsterdam, Johan Cruyff Arena, 51,628 seats;
- Rotterdam, Feyenoord, 51,180 seats;
- Lisbon, Da Luzh, 65,647 seats;
- Lisbon, "Jose Alvalade", 50,300 seats;
- Istanbul, "Olympic" named after Ataturk, 55,926 seats;
- Istanbul, "Sukru Saracoglu", 50,509 seats;
— Paris, Stade de France, 80,000 seats;
— Glasgow, Hampden Park, 52,103 seats.
Among the elite stadiums in Europe there is our NSC Olimpiyskiy, the main sports arena of Ukraine. It was built at the foot of Cherepanova Mountain in 1923. Over the years, it has changed its name more than once: "Red" named after Nikita Khrushchev, "Central", "Republican". In 1996 it was named NSC Olimpiyskiy. The last, fifth, reconstruction of the capital's arena was carried out in 2008-2011 in preparation for the final part of the 2012 European Championship. Olimpiysky, now with a capacity of 70,050 seats, and in different years it was 50, and 100 thousand, received the highest UEFA category - the fourth.
Matches in groups were held on its field, including the final of Euro 2012 Spain - Italy (4: 0). In 2018, for the first time in Kyiv, the final of the Champions League "Real" - "Liverpool" (3:1) was held. The organization of the Euro 2012 matches and the final of the tournament was highly appreciated by UEFA.
The London Wembley is beautiful, the Stade de France in Paris, the Camp Nou in Barcelona, but I love our Olimpiyskiy. For the first time, as an 11-year-old boy, I visited it on September 13, 1953, at the first post-war international match in Kyiv between Dynamo and the West Bengal Club (India), which ended with the victory of Kiev - 13: 1. For many years, from the podium of this stadium, from its press box, I watched about a thousand matches, no less, and for many years I worked with a microphone before the start of Dynamo games and the Ukrainian national team in various tournaments.
I also remember two matches that I played on the field of this stadium as a player. In January 1960, in the match of the Kyiv winter championship, there were then such games in which the Dynamo masters team also played, the Dynamo youth team, whose gates I defended, played with the first team. Naturally, we lost, I don’t remember the score, but I remember that twice my mood was spoiled by the swift right edge Oleg Bazilevich. And in September 1992, I was the goalkeeper of the team of journalists, whose rival was the stars of show business. The audience gathered somewhere under 80 thousand - the entrance was free, Sunday, the popular Patent market was open. In one of the episodes, Mikhail Poplavsky shot a penalty at my goal, and I parried the kick. After that, I thought that I would not get up from the lawn, because I weighed under 100 kilograms, but I got up and continued the match ... Sorry for these digressions, but what happened, it happened - and I remember that.
Love football, friends, play football, watch football from the stands of the stadiums of your cities - and let your favorite teams win.
Alexander Lipenko
