Russia
Luzhniki Stadium
The Luzhniki Stadium is the biggest sports stadium in Russia. Its total
seating capacity is 84 000 seats, all covered. The stadium is a part of the
Luzhniki Olympic Complex, previously called the Central Lenin Stadium. Its
field is used mainly for football games by FC Spartak Moscow and FC Torpedo
Moscow. It is also one of the few major football stadiums to use an
artificial pitch, as it installed a FIFA-approved FieldTurf pitch in 2002.
The pitch is necessary for the cold Russian climate, as regular grass
pitches are often destroyed during a typical winter and must be replaced at
high cost. In October 1982, disaster struck during the UEFA Cup match
between FC Spartak Moscow and HFC Haarlem from the Netherlands. Scores of
people were trampled. The official number of deaths is 66 but many people
believe this number to be significantly higher.
