The stadium located close to the city centre of Kiev has been revitalized and extended. The mayor redevelopment of the “Olimpiyskiy” National Sports Complex comprises in rebuilding the lower tear and adding many facilities to achieve UEFA standards for the European Championship 2012. Part of the redevelopment was a new roof structure which serves to protect the spectators from the elements as well as enabling state-of-the-art lighting systems. The roof structure based on a pretensioned spokes wheel structure is designed with a rather dense structural grid due to the high snow loads in Kiev. Further this dense grid enables the use of very translucent membrane materials that will give a bright stadiums interior. The façade structure will be made of glass to enable that while approaching the stadium the old upper tear of the “Olimpiyskiy” can still be seen.
History of The Stadium
The NSC Olimpiyskiy also known as the Ukrainian national stadium is the home of FC Dynamo Kiev. The stadium then known as Republic Stadium MS Krushchov was supposed to be opened to the public on 22 June 1941.
The first ever match played in this stadium was between Dynamo Kiev and CBCA Moscow. Sadly, on the opening day of this stadium, the German army invaded Russia. Due to this, the event was postponed.
It was after a few months that Germans came and occupied the city. It was only after things settled the stadium officially opened on 12 July 1942. Again after a year when the Germans retreated, the stadium was damaged a lot. It took a year to rebuild the stadium and again attract the audiences. The stadium was then reopened on 25 June 1944 with the match that was originally planned to be played in 1941.
The stadium again went for renovation in 1966 in which the seating capacity was increased to 100,000. Another renovation took place before the 1980 Moscow Olympics, during which the stadium hosted a series of matches in the football tournament.
At that point of time, the stadium was known as the Central Stadium. It was in the year 1996 when it got its present name i.e. Olympic Stadium. After two years, the stadium again went over a refurbishment and new seats were installed, which reduced capacity to about 83,000.
Another development came around when the Olimpiyskiy Stadium was selected for Euro final 2012. The redevelopment consisted of constructing the first tier, the west stand and the installation of a roof on the previously uncovered stadium.
The stadium hosted a total of group matches, a quarter-final, and the final between Spain and Italy (4-0) in the Euro Championships 2012. Earlier, Dynamo Kiev used to opt for this stadium only for European cup matches. In the initial days, they were quite unsure regarding the decision of moving to the new Olimpiyskiy.
But in the end,they were lured and played their first league match at the renovated stadium on 4 March 2012 against Arsenal Kiev (1-0).
