Olimpiysky National Sports Complex

The Olympic National Sports Complex (also known as Olympic Stadium; Ukrainian: Національний спортивний комплекс "Олімпійський", romanized: Natsionalnyi sportovyi kompleks "Olimpiiskyi") is a multi-use sports and recreation facility in Kyiv, Ukraine, located on the slopes of the city's central Cherepanova Hora (Cherepanov Hill), Pecherskyi District. The Olympic National Sports Complex Stadium, the home of FC Dynamo Kyiv, is the premier sports venue in Ukraine and the sixteenth largest in Europe. Since May 2020, the stadium is also used for the home matches of Shakhtar Donetsk due to the war in Donbas. The complex beside its stadium also features several other sports facilities and is designed to host the Olympic Games (the stadium hosted some football matches at the 1980 Summer Olympics).

Following extensive renovation works, including the construction of a new roof, the stadium was reopened on 9 October 2011 with a performance by Shakira and had its international inauguration with a 3–3 friendly draw by Ukraine against Germany on 11 November 2011. It hosted the final of the UEFA Euro 2012 and the 2018 UEFA Champions League Final.

History

After Ukrainian independence in 1991, the stadium was given national status in 1996 and renamed again as the "Olympic" National Sports Complex. Kyivans still commonly refer to it as the Tsentralny (Central) or Respublykanskyi stadion (Republican Stadium), and the nearby metro station "Olimpiiska" that was also called "Respublykanskyi Stadion".

In 1997–99, the stadium was renovated again in accordance with FIFA guidelines, and its capacity was reduced to 83,450. The stadium continued to be the home ground of Dynamo with the Lobanovsky stadium serving as a training ground. Sometime after 1998 big changes took place as it was no longer efficient to keep and maintain the stadium as a club ground. Dynamo decided to reconstruct the Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium as its primary ground because match attendances rarely exceeded 10,000 spectators. Since that time Olympic has been used primarily for football international matches and was lent to FC Dynamo Kyiv for high-profile home games when a high attendance was expected. However it is not the official home ground of Dynamo or any other Kyiv club, as they all have smaller home stadiums and training bases. The stadium is an official home ground of the Ukraine national football team and was the official venue of the Ukrainian Cup final until 2008. From 2008 Olympic underwent a major reconstruction in preparation for the continental championship.

Previous names

For most of its history the stadium was known as the Republican Stadium.

• 1923–1924: Red Stadium named L. Trotsky
• 1924–1935: Red Stadium
• 1936–1938: Republican Stadium named S. Kosior
• 1938–1941: Republican Stadium
• 1941; 1943–1962: Republican Stadium named N. Khrushchev (50,000 capacity in 1941; reduced to 47,756 in 1944)
  • Occupation by National Socialist Germany 1941–1943: All-Ukrainian Stadium
• 1962–1979: Central Stadium (100,062 capacity in 1967)
• 1980–1996: Republican Stadium
• 1996–present: Olympic National Sports Complex (83,450 capacity in 1999; reduced to 70,050 in 2011)

1980 Summer Olympics

Three Group C and three Group D matches, as well as a quarter-final were scheduled for here, a total of seven games. In the first match on 20 July, East Germany tied with Spain by a scoreline of 1–1. The one quarterfinal, held on 27 July 1980, saw East Germany thrash Iraq by the record-breaking score of 4–0 on the way to their third title.

Matches at 1980 Summer Olympics

Date Time Team Result Team Round Attendance 20 July 1980 12:00  East Germany 1–1 Spain Group C 100,000 22 July 1980 12:00 1–0  Algeria 70,000 24 July 1980 12:00 5–0  Syria 80,000 21 July 1980 12:00  Iraq 3–0  Costa Rica Group D 23 July 1980 12:00 0–0  Finland 40,000 25 July 1980 12:00 1–1  Yugoslavia 27 July 1980 12:00  East Germany 4–0  Iraq Quarter-finals 48,000

Euro 2012

On 18 April 2007, Poland and Ukraine were chosen by UEFA to co-host the finals of Euro 2012, with the Olimpiyskiy Stadium set to host the final. The reconstruction of the stadium involved the demolition and rebuilding of the lower tier, a completely new west stand with a two-level press box, luxury boxes between the two tiers, the addition of a 13-storey high-rise building to the west (to house the Sheraton Kyiv Olimpiysky Hotel), and the addition of a new roof (of unique design) covering the entire seating area. The capacity of the stadium after the reconstruction is 70,050. Reconstruction began on 1 December 2008, when the winner of a tender was announced. It was scheduled to be finished in 2011. The stadium was officially opened by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych on 8 October 2011.

Text imported from Wikipedia article "Olimpiyskyi National Sports Complex" and modified on 2 March 2022 according to the CC-BY-SA 3.0 license.