Valeriy Lobanovskyy Stadium
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Club Stadium |
Truly, Kyiv has got a great deal of sights to offer both to its residents and visitors. Some will leisurely wander through the maze of cozy Podil streets and then plunge into the hectic life of Khreshchatyk. In the meanwhile, others will have a strong preference to attend the city’s various museums, gold-domed churches and cathedrals, admire the grandeur of its parks on the banks of the Dnieper. Yet, there is another landmark in Ukraine’s capital city that fuses a unique parkland setting and amazing architecture in a terrific way. It is the Dynamo stadium carrying the name of Valeriy Lobanovskyy.
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At the beginning of the XXth century, the territory of the present stadium used to be occupied with greenhouses producing fruit and vegetables for the tzar residence – Mariyinsk Palace, one of the stadium’s most illustrious “neighbors”. It is also here that the Chateau-de-Fleur café, so popular among the residents, was located. .jpg) |
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| Management Office |
Later on, in the 20’s, the Dynamo Society Kyiv Province Council built several sports grounds, a football pitch with a wooden changing room, gymnastics campus, basketball, volleyball and handball courts.
With the time, Dynamo sportsmen found themselves in cramped training conditions. Consequently, the decision was made to construct a large stadium with all the necessary sporting facilities. Designed by architects Osmak and Bezpalyy, the sports building was erected within a two years’ time and could accommodate around 23,000 spectators under the wooden awning. The stadium welcomed its first visitors in 1934. Since then, the native arena hosted all the Dynamo’s home matches.
The new stadium proved a good luck for the squad. In the pre-war years the Kyiv side carried off Silver and bronze USSR championship awards. The “bead” was drawn on the golden medals, but the year 1941 arrived…The stadium fell into decline and the repercussion of the war is still to be perceived nowadays: some aircraft bombs were discovered under the running track in the early 90’s…
Following the war, the Dynamo players hosted their matches at Kyiv’s other stadium, the Khrushchov stadium, the club arena seeing the reconstruction no sooner than in the year 1956. .jpg) |
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| Colonnaded Entrance |
The next time construction workers “attended” the stadium was before the 1980 Olympics to be held in Moscow. The architecture design of the stadium now also included four light towers and an electronic score board. The seat capacity having dropped to 18,000, the administrative building became a storey higher. Tracks, gyms, pools, tennis and basketball courts all went through the fundamental reconstruction as well.
Although the arena was not to host one of the Dynamo’s Olympic group stage matches, it is here that the national squad did readily their training for the upcoming event. Consequently, the final stages of the Junior European Championship were held at the renovated and comfortable stadium.
Its new life began in the 90’s. Another reconstruction transformed it into a .jpg) |
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Dynamo Footballers Monument |
solely football stadium. Tracks being removed, the pitch got a regular size. Individual plastic spectator-friendly chairs were put up on the completely repaired stands in order to comply with the international football associations requirements. Since 1996 the first club team has been playing its home matches in the Dynamo stadium. The arena meets all the standards to play host to showpiece matches. It complies with audience safety regulations and provides optimum TV match action conditions.
The rebuilt and extensively restored central grandstand is home to a three-storey office of the joint-stock Co FC Dynamo (Kyiv) and practically its all departments. .jpg) |
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| Valeriy Lobanovskyy Monument |
The year 2001 saw the emergence of a comfortable fitness suite and reconstructed 25-meter swimming pool on the stadium premises.
The next welcome additions were an open, abutting on the office building parking lot and underground garage. The previously erected monument to those Dynamo footballers who died in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 was kept.
Following the death of the great Dynamo player and coach Valeriy Lobanovskyy, the FC Dynamo Shareholders’ Board arrives at the decision to rename the stadium. Since May 15, 2002, it has been bearing the name of the prominent sports figure – it is no exaggeration to say so – who steered his native club to the blaze of European football glory.
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Stadium’s technical features
Sectors: 29
Seating Capacity: 16,873
Floodlights: 1,200 lux
Pitch dimensions: 100х75
Address: 3 Hrushevskyy st., Kyiv, Ukraine, 01001
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