Donbass Arena Stadium, Ukraine

 Extra-Velganzer. From west to the east. A little bit problem, but that’s ok. After visiting Arena Lviv, we are going to visit one of the host city in the eastern of Ukraine and is about 1175 Km. I take this opportunity just to make sure that our final trip is the stadium that would held the final game of EURO 2012. Where we heading. Of course you already now. Donetsk. And Donetsk will be team base camps for France.

First things you have to know about Donetsk is this city is the centre of Ukraine's coal mining region. South-east of Kyiv on the Kalmius River, it was founded in 1869 by Welsh businessman John Hughes, who established a steel mill and several coal mines in the area. A century and a half later and Donetsk's patrons are still built on foundations of steel and coal, the industries leaving an indelible mark on the cityscape.

Despite images of soot-caked faces and hob-nailed industry, the capital of the Donbas has actually been recognised by UNESCO as the world's cleanest industrial city and the center is benefitting from a financial injection. Five rivers meander through it and the Sea of Azov, the world's shallowest sea, is an hour away. But let me tell you another story of this city in another discussion. Right now, let’s hurry to finish our travel in this city by visiting the stadium that will be used to live event of EURO 2012.

 Yes, Donbass Arena. One of the stadium in the heart of Donetsk. The Donbass Arena is the new home of FC Shakhtar Donetsk. It has a capacity of 51,504 seats, which includes 45 corporate boxes that can hold 830 people.The construction of this stadium begun in June 27, 2006. The first story of this building started when the businessman and club owner Rinat Akhmetov had raised the profile of the club with his investments, the next step was to be the construction of a prestigious arena. Construction started in 2006 and was completed in 2009. 

 The architect for this stadium is Arusport. Arup (officially Arup Group Limited) is a multinational professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom which provides engineering, design, planning, project management and consulting services for all aspects of the built environment. The firm is present in Africa, the Americas, Australasia, East Asia, Europe and the Middle East, and has over 10,000 staff based in 92 offices across 37 countries. Arup has participated in projects in over 160 countries. That’s why if you observe the architecture of the stadium you will find how amazing the stadium. The stadium finished thanks for the help from general contractor ENKA a Turkish construction conglomerate based in Istanbul Turkey. The construction cost for this entire stadium is 400 million Dollar (Such a lot of money isn’t it?).

The name of the stadium represents the shortened name for the Donets basin industrial region, hence - Donbas, however the official name in English spells after the Russian orthography.

 So, whats really interesting about Donbass Arena can be described in Number Fun facts as follow (Please remember the fun facts about Donbas Arena, who knows when you watch the live show of EURO 2012 football game there will be quiz you can win with answering the question):

• The total area of the stadium's glazed facade is 14,283 sq.m.
• 2,482 triple-pane glass units were used for glazing the stadium’s outer façade.
• Over 16 thousand sq.m of vertical surfaces are made of glass, totaling 3,108 heavy-duty panes.
• The underground height of the building is: parking lot area - 12m; dressing rooms - 8m, media space rooms - 4m.
• Height from pitch level to the topmost roof point is 54m.
• The total floor area of all the stadium's levels makes 83,823 sq.m.
• 93% of stands are roof-covered, only 3,800 seats in the bottom tier are not covered.
• 24 first-aid stations (18 permanent ones and 6 mobile ambulance groups).
• 53 fast-food outlets, a fan cafe, 4 Silver bars, 3 restaurants (Diamond, Platinum, Gold), a media cafe and a lounge bar will satisfy any visitor's taste.
•  2,000 lux is the lighting intensity, ensured by 272 high-precision targeting spotlights mounted along the perimeter of the stadium's roof.
• 6,000 ports installed in the stadium for concurrent network connection
• The stadium's video monitoring system comprises 570 CCTV cameras.
• 588 monitors installed throughout the stadium.
• 92 sq.m is the display surface of each of the 2 giant LED screens.
• 267m is the total length of the LED electronic advertising hoardings
•  The stadium's logo structure weighs 50 tons, it is 8m high and 14m wide.
•  34 staircases availablethroughout the stadium space.
•  11,978 is the total number of stairs at the stadium. The flights of stairs comprise 4,181 steps.
• The shortest stairway includesonly 22 stairs (the sub-stand space on the arena’s western side). While the longest one is comprised of 240 steps (on the eastern side).
•  The longest stairs are nearly 50m-long.
• 35 steps form each aisle in betweenneighbouring blocks.
•  550 heaters aggregately radiate 22 MW of thermal energy.
• Each heater weighs 49 kg.
• The bowl is divided into 24 heated areas.
• The prime cost of heating one spectator seat during the match is about UAH 1.
• The system consumes some 2200-2300 cubic centimetres of gas per hour.

This Arena will be a venue at the Euro 2012 championships. At the tournament the stadium will host three group matches, a quarter-final, and a semi-final. The game are France VS England on June 11, Ukraine VS France on June 15 and England VS Ukraine on June 19.

How To Get To The Donbass Arena.

If you from ouside Ukraine then you have to take flight to Ukraine. I suggest that you take flight directly to Donetsk. So you can immediately arrive in Donetsk Sergey Prokovief International Airport.

The Donbass Arena is located in the central Voroshylovskyi district, tucked against the northern edge of the city centre. The stadium is within walking distance of most city centre locations. On its northern side lies Leninskogo Komsomolo park.

The main railway station lies further north, approximately 6 kilometres. Tram line 1 brings you in 20-25 minutes to the stadium. Get off at stop Prospekt Mira. Alternatively take trolleybus line 2 and get off at Bely Lebed shopping mall.

Buses that serve the stadium are line 13, 14, 16, 46a, 46б, 73б, and 77. Your stop is Krytiy Rynok.

If arriving by car, make your way to the city centre and the main Artema/Artyoma avenue that crosses the city north-south (starting at the railway station in the north and running all the way to the southern edge of the city centre). At the altitude of Mira/Myru avenue turn east and you will find the stadium after one block on your left hand side.

Address: 189e Chelyuskintsev Street, Donetsk 83048

Read more »

Posted in: Ukraine

Arena Lviv Stadium, Ukraine

 Extra-velganzer, lets cross the border of Poland to another beautiful country. Yes, iam talking about Ukraine. How beautifull is’t it?. We still looking for another excitement before the kick off the game. A week before the match that will be watch over 4 million eyes around the world. lets travel first to stadium by stadium and from one city to another host city.

Check your passport and then without you realize you already in Lviv. Lviv is a charming city, just 70km from the Polish border, with a coffee-house culture more akin to Austria and Hungary, and while other cityscapes were whitewashed by Soviet rule, Since it was founded as a hilltop fort on Zamkova Hora in 1256, Lviv's colour continued to shine through. The narrow-gauge tramways are not as visible as they once were – in the past two decades nine of the 11 lines have been abandoned – but they retain a presence, trundling along in their green livery.

 A jaunt up to the city's highest point, Zamkova Hora (Castle Hill) is revealing, and looking down on the UNESCO World Heritage site the epitaph 'the Florence of the east' is hard to discredit. Some 80km south of the city, the Carpathian mountains may be a touch too far to see but you may get a glimpse of the coniferous forest that dominate parts of the surrounding region, camouflage for the significant mineral wealth that lies below.

We are not going to talk about Castle Hill, Let’s talk about it in next journey. Right now, let’s just straight to the southern part of Lviv (a little bit hard to say Lviv is not it?). Near the intersection of the city's beltway M10 and M6 and also the route E471 and M06. Yes, we are in Arena Lviv, one of the host of EURO 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.

Arena Lviv is a football specific stadium in Lviv, Ukraine. It is one of the eight UEFA Euro 2012 venues, where it will host three of the group-stage games. According to the official plans, the stadium has a total seating capacity of 34,915. It has also been the new home field of FC Karpaty Lviv since 10 December 2011.

 The stadium construction started in November 20, 2008. The architect of the stadium is combination between local and European architect. Albert Wimmer ZT Gmbh (Vienna) / Arnika (Lviv) is the architect of this building. The stadium completed in October 2011 after spend 211 Million Euro only for construction cost. The contractor is Altkom.

The stadium's capacity is anticipated to be 34,915 spectators including 450 VIP sittings as well. All seats will be covered, while part of the roof assembly will be transparent to provide sufficient sunlight for the turf. The stadium's parking will be located underneath the arena which will consist of three levels. The parking for VIP will include 1593 spaces. Parking for tele- and radio-media agencies will include (6,000 square metres (65,000 sq ft)). There also will be parking for the disabled and special elevators will provide passage to seats that are also designed and reserved to accustom the necessary personnel.

Arena Lviv is the most modern and one of the newest stadiums in Europe. Arena Lviv meets all the requirements of UEFA, which include development of new technologies in construction, information and digital spheres.  A good few of the requirements aimed at increasing of spectators’ conveniences and security at the match.

 It is comfortable and beautiful sport facility with well-developed infrastructure designed especially for UEFA Euro 2012 and is designated for maintaining a service at football and entertainment events of the highest level and scope. During Euro 2012 the Lviv stadium will seat 32,767 guests, including  300 seats  - for honoured guests in the VIP-zone and about 150 seats in the skybox zone. The “hallmark’ of the stadium is its view of the pitch from the spectators’ seats of both upper and lower tiers, since the specially designed stands structure provides the maximum effect of the spectator on the pitch. All the seats are located under partially transparent covering. After the European Championship number of seats will be increased to 34,915 by reducing the media sector and the area provided for special technique for broadcasting of Euro 2012 finals.

 Stadium has 9 turnstile groups around the perimeter. Within each group there are scores of turnstiles, providing an unimpeded access to the stands. All the turnstiles are equipped with pointers. All the information you need, you can always check with stewards, dressed in yellow bibs.

All the visitors enter the promenade, a space between lower and upper stands, and then they are divided into two streams.  “A” stands are the lower tier and “B” stands are the upper one.

Visitor can be catered by 26 fast food outlets situated on the level 0 and the promenade. At the lateral sides of these outlets there are installed the water closets.

Arena Lviv will host three of the group-stage games of 2012 European Football Championship finals in Group B. those games are Germany VS Portugal at June 9, Denmark VS Portugal at June 13 and Denmark VS Germany at June 17.

How To Get To The Arena Lviv.

If you are travellers from outside Ukraine then you shoul take flight to Ukraine or straight to Lviv International Airport. The airport lies northwest from the stadium.

The Arena Lviv lies in the far south of the city of Lviv, just outside the urban limits, at about 8 kilometres of Lviv’s city centre and about 10 kilometres from the central rail station (which lies south-west of the centre).

The stadium lies near the crossing of the M10 and M06, and can thus be easily reached by car. The M06 connects with Lviv city centre in almost a straight line.

By public transport one can take trolleybus 5 from the city centre. Take the bus from Shota Rustaveli Street in the southern part of the city centre. The bus will go to the central bus terminal, which is almost next-door to the Arena Lviv.

Trolleybus 3 connects the stadium directly with the airport.

Read more »

Posted in: Ukraine