Metalist Stadium
Thursday, September 1, 2011
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This venue began life as the Traktor Stadium as it was sponsored by a nearby production plant.
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UEFA Capacity: 37,750
Record attendance: 42,000 (FC Metalist Kharkiv v SC Tavriya Simferopol on 23/09/1980)
Tenants: FC Metalist Kharkiv
Opened: 1926 (reopened December 2009)
• The ground has received several face-lifts down the years – the latest creating the multipurpose Metalist City complex, raising its non-UEFA capacity from 32,000 to 38,633 in anticipation of the 2012 European showpiece.
• It was originally constructed on the site of the Holy Spirit cemetery and initially known as the Traktor Stadium as it was sponsored by a nearby production plant.
• It was renamed Zenit (Zenith) in 1940, Dzerzhynets (in honour of the Bolshevik secret police's first director) in 1947 and then Avangard (Vanguard) between 1956 and 1976 before adopting its current moniker.
• The latest renovations featured a new pitch, undersoil heating and LED scoreboards.
• They were funded to the tune of approximately €60m by the authorities and Metalist owner Olexander Yaroslavskiy, on whose 50th birthday it reopened on 5 December 2009.