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Russia's World Cup Stadiums, in Photos

Jun 13, 2018 - 06:21 pm

Moscow. The largest venue at 81,000 seats, Luzhniki hosts the opening and final matches. Legion Media

Moscow. Home to the Spartak football club, this stadium is watched over by gladiator Spartacus. Sergei Bobylev / TASS

Rostov-on-Don. The brand new arena looks directly over the Don River. Sergei Pivovarov / Reuters

Volgograd. The facade, which resembles basket weaving, overlooks the Volga River. Tatyana Makeyeva / Reuters

Saransk. Architects designed Mordovia Arena to look like a hot air balloon. Wikicommons

Sochi. Resembling a snowy mountain peak, Fisht Stadium got a test run during the Sochi Olympics. Legion Media

Kazan.The arena features one of the largest sports stadium screens in the world. Flickr

Kaliningrad. The smallest venue of the tournament (35,212 seats) was built on the previously untouched Oktyabrsky Island. Wikicommons

St. Petersburg. This space-age stadium features a retractable roof and pitch. Legion Media

Samara. A 65.5 meter high dome roof is composed of 32 panels. Yegor Aleyev / TASS

Nizhny Novgorod. Cutting-edge technology is decked out in blue and white, inspired by the Volga countryside. Stanislav Krasilnkov / TASS

Yekaterinburg. Original Stalinist architecture from 1957 is preserved in Russia’s easternmost stadium. Donat Sorokin / TASS

Besides the renovated Luzhniki Stadium and Yekaterinburg Arena, every other venue hosting World Cup games this summer was tailor-made for the tournament. The latest technological innovations combine with architectural whimsy in these highly anticipated arenas that will each host tens of thousands of fans through the month.

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