DONETSK - Donbass Arena (52,187)

[Rohatynets]

Originally Posted by Rev Stickleback

The stadium is great, but the city of Donetsk is in no way able to host a European club final. It was bad enough with maybe 4000 fans travelling for Euro 2012 games. The idea of the city trying to copy with maybe 25,000 visiting fans is a nightmare.

So why the city of Einhoven with comparable industrial focus and possibly as "big" tourist attractiveness was able to host it? The hotel capacity is about the same, in addition you have nearby Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk.

[vanbasten]

Eindhoven... Gelsenkirchen, Manchester

[Rev Stickleback]

Originally Posted by Rohatynets

So why the city of Einhoven with comparable industrial focus and possibly as "big" tourist attractiveness was able to host it? The hotel capacity is about the same, in addition you have nearby Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk.

Eindhoven is only 80 minutes by train from Amsterdam, with trains leaving four times an hour throughout the day. You can stay pretty much anywhere in the Netherlands and be in the city within a couple of hours, with tons of surrounding towns and cities to choose from.

Donetsk isn't remotely like that. Kharkiv only has 3 trains a day that'd be of any use for someone travelling to the game. They take 7 hours at the latest leaves at 05:07. Trains back after the game, leaving in the early hours of the following morning, take at least 10 and a half hours to crawl back to Kharkiv.

Dnipropetrovsk is barely any better. It has four (useful - i.e. they'd arrive before kick off) trains a day, and take 4-5 hours.

There is no comparison at all.


The same goes for Gelsenkirchen and Manchester. Neither required people to actually stay in those two cities (although Manchester has hundreds of hotels anyway) and you could get to almost anywhere in either country within 4-5 hours.

[Goalez]

Probably you're right.
Anyway, Donetsk (and ukrainian railways too) has at least 4 years to improve the infrastructure.


Generally speaking, I think that Odessa was a good variant (maybe even better that Donetsk) to host Euro 2012, but unfortunately Ukraine had only four host cities, and of course Odessa hasn't got such a luxury stadium like Donbass arena.

[Rev Stickleback]

Originally Posted by Goalez

Probably you're right.
Anyway, Donetsk (and ukrainian railways too) has at least 4 years to improve the infrastructure.


Generally speaking, I think that Odessa was a good variant (maybe even better that Donetsk) to host Euro 2012, but unfortunately Ukraine had only four host cities, and of course Odessa hasn't got such a luxury stadium like Donbass arena.

Apparently UEFA asked Donetsk to do something about the hotel/infrastructure situation in the city, appealing that this was a chance to sell the city as a tourist destination - and if they didn't then the fans wouldn't ever come back.

The reply was "they won't ever come back anyway", which is a valid point. Donetsk doesn't have many hotel rooms because it typically doesn't need many. It really depends if UEFA give a toss about travelling fans or not. For all their faux concern about arrangements in Donetsk for the EURO, it didn't stop them block booking every single hotel for 50 km for themselves and sponsors.

[danielbeier]

What's the height of highest seats?

[Goalez]

Originally Posted by danielbeier

What's the height of highest seats?

About 35 m.

[Tompson]

[vanbasten]

Donbass Arena has more boxes

Due to the growing mid-season demand, they have built more VIP space at the Donbass Arena.

- The stadium’s facilities department was fulfilling this large-scale and complex project. Given the strong demand for the existing Sky Box Premium and Classic formats, as well as the incoming requests from clients for smaller boxes which can accommodate four-five people, it was decided to expand the VIP-area on the fifth level, - explains the CEO of Donbass Arena Olexandr Atamanenko.

As a result, during the winter break they have built in the stadium:

- three additional boxes Sky Box Premium in the south-western part of the Donbass Arena (during UEFA EURO 2012, the pitchside-view TV studios were located there). Each of them is designed for 22 people. The new boxes are adjacent to the old ones, having the same interior design and decoration. In the hall near the new boxes, they also built and equipped a room for children to be taken avantage of by all the Sky Box Classic visitors. In the future, we plan to add children's rooms for the clients of Sky Box Premium, Diamond Club and Club Shakhtar Family.

- four mini-boxes in the north-eastern part of the Donbass Arena (between Tribunelounge and the existing Sky Box Classic). Each designed for four guests.

- Despite the winter break, the Donbass Arena hosts a large number of activities, festivals, corporate events and banquets, - says the Facilities Director of Donbass Arena Vadym Gun’ko. - Therefore, we faced a challenging task: to implement the project in a very short time before the next Champions League match, given that the work was carried out on the continuously operating facilities.

We would like to mention that the pitchside-view TV studio formerly used for match broadcasts, has now moved from the fifth to the third level of the stadium. By agreement with the broadcaster of Shakhtar’s home fixtures, the new studio is built to meet the UEFA requirements and with the official TV broadcaster preferences taken into account. Its special feature is a sloping glass elevation of increased width and the sound-absorbing wall sandwich panels. Naturally, the studio is fully equipped with the professional lighting equipment and the necessary infrastructure for the TV broadcaster's operation.

Overall, the stadium now has 55 boxes, designed for 825 guests. Aggregately, the reconstruction was carried out across an area of ​​about 790 square metres. And this is not the limit. The Donbass Arena - in the presence of the corresponding demand - can build another 12 corporate boxes - in the north-west, south-east and south-west of the stadium.

FC Shakhtar Press Office

[Widur]

Actually the best stadium in whole Ukraine IMO. Does Donbass Arena will host Poland-Ukraine match during WC 2014 qualifications?

[pyvovarcyk]

Originally Posted by Widur

Actually the best stadium in whole Ukraine IMO. Does Donbass Arena will host Poland-Ukraine match during WC 2014 qualifications?

I think that match will be hosted in Poland)))

[Widur]

I mean match in revenge round.

[ghalacli]

In my opinion the best after wembley!

[LucianPopa1000]

Originally Posted by ghalacli

In my opinion the best after wembley!

Dont forget allianz arena.Donbass is simply drop-dead gorgeous stadium,and it has a beatiful park around it.Very few stadiums have that.And the outside is stunning,especially at night.

[Ranma Saotome]

image hosted on flickr


by bboywilld

image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


by Timon91

[Dan Striker]

very nice stadium - do Donetsk fans fill it most games?

[www.sercan.de]

average attendance is currently 42.081
http://www.stadionwelt.de/sw_stadien...tes&site=top30

[vanbasten]

Lucescu helped the opponents beat Shakhtar



On May 24, an exceptional event happened in Ukrainian football: Shakhtar played 111 orphans at the same time.

Such an unusual match was made possible owing to the long-standing co-operation of FC Shakhtar with Rinat Akhmetov's Development of Ukraine charity foundation. It was decided to hold the match at the Donbass Arena.

- Together with the club, we finished the season with this event, being eager to once again draw attention to the problem of child abandonment, - the head of the No to Parentlesness! Project Darya Kasyanova explains. - 111 boys and girls who played today are very confident and dedicated children. In our opinion, they have every chance and the right to be brought up in a family, rather than in an orphanage. On the other hand, their dreams came true today. The children were eager to visit the Donbass Arena, not to mention playing Shakhtar on a real football field!

Hundreds of fans gathered to support both teams from the stands of Donbass Arena. To the traditional tune of Kurhany song, 111 children from five boarding schools of Donetsk oblast and their opponents – full Shakhtar team – took to the emerald-green pitch. Only Fernandinho could not take part in the encounter. The vice-captain of Shakhtar suffered an injury the previous day, so he watched the match from the bench.

The match was very similar to any regular game. Thus, the team was led to the pitch by the match officials team headed by the chief of the International competitions department at FC Shakhtar, Europe’s recent top referee Lubos Michel. Before the opening whistle, the opposing sides traditionally exchanged handshakes. Understandably, handshaking was a little too long, because shaking hands with the ranks of the boys and girls, the Pitmen slowly approached the goal.

The Pitmen’s mentor Mircea Lucescu took the most active part in the match. Probably for the first time in his career, for the entire first half, Mister was walking around the pitch and gave advice to the opposing team regarding how to beat his charges. Besides the Romanian specialist, the actions of the 111 team were being corrected by Shakhtar veterans Olexiy Bakharev and Henadiy Zubov. So the chidren enjoyed an impressive and reputable support!

In the first half (the meeting was split into two halves of seven minutes), the following Shakhtar line-up was fielded: Shevchenko, Srna, Rakitskiy, Kucher, Rat, Gai, Teixeira, Taison, Costa, Eduardo and Maicon.

At the starting whistle by the Slovak referee, the children played the ball in the centre circle. No sooner had the Pitmen known it than the children’s first attack resulted in a goal! Apparently, the host team could not understand one another regarding who would mark whom. Well, it happens in football!

Having conceded the goal, Shakhtar surged forward and eventually pulled one back: Srna, once on the left flank, fired a low cross into the box to Maicon, who rolled it into the back of the net. During the break, the captain of the Pitmen admitted to the fact that it would not be easy for the champions to beat such opponents.

- A very troublesome team! Moreover, they are a little bit more numerous than us, - said Darijo.

During the break, Mircea Lucescu made some adjustments in Shakhtar. The following players appeared in the second half: Shevchenko, Kobin, Kryvtsov, Rakitskiy, Rat, Hubschman, Stepanenko, Hrechyshkin, Patrick, MkhitaryanandBudkovskyi.

The second half kicked off ... and Shakhtar conceded another one! Even the presence of three nominal holding midfielders did not save Shakhtar from the goal - a massive attack by young visitors was rounded off with an accurate effort by Mykyta Shevchenko.

The match was coming to a close, and numerous attacks by the Orange-and-Blacks lacked the effective finishing. And then Mircea Lucescu decided on an unprecedented move: From the bench to the field ran all the remaining players of Shakhtar! Andriy Pyatov and Anton Kanibolotskiy joined Shevchenko between the sticks, Adriano and Eduardo joined the attackers ... But the final whistle by Lubos Michel marked the children’s 2-1 win over the domestic league champions and the Ukrainian Cup title holders.

One of the goalscorers against Shakhtar was an 8-year-old Dmitriy Gimorin. The boy admitted that he could never ever imagine that he would score a goal at the Donbass Arena:

- Today I liked it very much! I cannot even tell you who is my favourite football player, it was fun to play against all of them.

At the end of the event, Lubos Michel shared his impressions:

- Good game. I took part in it because I myself was wondering what would happen here. I never worked at a match involving 122 players. I knew right away that there it would be highly emotional, so the referee would find it tough to perform his duties ... The children won today and felt the positive atmosphere of Donbass Arena right on the pitch. It makes them very happy. After the match, many of kids asked: "What’s the scoreline? We won? Really?” This match was very important for the children.

Probably, for the first time ever the Pitmen were not upset about a defeat. On the contrary, after the match, everyone – the children, the players, the coaches, the club staff and the fans – rejoiced at it, just like one big family.

FC Shakhtar Press Office

[Lumbergo]

Originally Posted by Ranma Saotome

image hosted on flickr

wow, how much must it suck to sit behind the player benches?