Mordovia Arena (Saransk)

The Mordovia Arena is a completely new stadium in Saransk, built specifically for hosting the matches of the 2018 World Cup. The first official match was held on April 21, 2018.

General information

Arena capacity: 44, 149 (FIFA mode: for the World Cup), 30, 000 (“legacy” mode: at the end of the Russian Mundial)

Address: 430009, Republic of Mordovia, Saransk, st. Volgograd 1

GPS coordinates for the navigator: 54°10′58″N 45°12′05″E

Years built: 2010-2018

Cost of construction: estimated 15-16.5 billion Russian rubles

Field: natural lawn measuring 105×68 m

Scheme of seats, sectors and stands of the Mordovia Arena

This is how the “Mordovia Arena” scheme looks.

How to get there

Even at the construction stage, it was planned that after the World Championship “Mordovia Arena” will be used as the main sports facility of the Republic. Local executive authorities made sure that convenient transport routes were laid between the main infrastructure of Saransk and the stadium.

The construction site of the Mordovia Arena was not chosen by chance: it is convenient because the Saransk airport and the central railway station are approximately the same distance from the arena. In any case, getting here from the main air harbor of the city or from the railway station is not difficult.

From airport

Arriving at the airport of Saransk, buses 7, 13, 31 will help. You need to drive about 20 minutes and get off at one of the following stops: “Pamyatnik Pugachevu” or “Volodarskogo”. You can also get from the airport to the stadium by city minibus No. 15: the travel time will be a little less than 15 minutes, and you need to get out at the Mokhovaya stop point.

From the train station

Those arriving in Saransk by train and moving to the arena from the central railway station need to use the trolleybus number 5 and, as in the case of the minibus, get off at the Mokhovaya stop.

Ticket Office

At the Mordovia Arena, ticket offices are located opposite the entrance to Stadium 3 (Gate 3). Anyone can buy a ticket daily from 10:00 to 20:00. First of all, we highlight the possibility of buying tickets online.

Stadium Facts

Saransk is the smallest host city of the 2018 World Cup, so for a fairly long period of time there has been debate about whether to give it the right to host world championship matches or entrust this mission to the more developed Krasnodar or Yaroslavl. The organizers from Mordovia had no doubt that they would manage to build and commission a modern arena, which would meet all the requirements of FIFA, right on time — there were much greater concerns about the lack of amenities in the whole city. At the time of the start of construction, there were no major transport interchanges in Saransk, and there weren’t enough hotel places that could accommodate all tourists and football fans, but fortunately these problems were successfully resolved — and Saransk is ready to hold a football holiday.

It was originally planned that the construction budget of the Mordovia Arena would be about 14 billion rubles, but later, due to the sagging ruble exchange rate, it grew by about 10%. The development company and local authorities in their very first communications stated that the commissioning of the new sports facility is scheduled for 2012. This date coincided immediately with two important events for the Republic of Mordovia: firstly, this year exactly one thousand years of unity of the Mordovian people with the people of Russia was celebrated, and secondly, it was planned to hold the All-Russian Spartakiad here. As a result, the Spartakiad was held at the Start stadium and at the Olympus sports complex, and with the unification of the peoples, a hitch occurred for a period of more than 5 years.

As for the appearance of the stadium, according to one version, the bright colors of the arena, using a combination of orange, red and white, refer us to the characteristic palette of the Mordvinian folk craft, and according to another, it is most similar to the red sun depicted on the flag of Mordovia. From the bird’s-eye view, the arena looks very presentable and bright, one might say it even shines and sparkles in the sun. They managed to achieve such solutions due to metal panels, plus an LED media facade was created on the western parts of the facade.

“Mordovia Arena” did not get its name right away. According to unofficial data, the new stadium in Saransk was to be called “Jubilee” – such naming was to the liking of both the townspeople and the organizers, however, a hitch arose on the side of FIFA. According to the rules of the organization, the name should be short, sonorous and, most importantly, easily understood in Latin. It didn’t work out with Yubileiny, therefore, a general vote was held on the official website of Saransk, following which the name “Shumbart Arena” was the most successful, and the options “Lev Yashin” and “Saransk Arena” were also highly appreciated, but none of this FIFA representatives were not approved — and the current simplest and most understandable version was born, from which it immediately becomes clear where the stadium is located.

Initially, the project of this sports facility had a form somewhat reminiscent of a saddle, but later it was decided to abandon this idea, since it was believed that it could not be accepted by everyone with the same degree of adequacy. As a result, all the stands received the same height, and the final estimate of the project fell by 50 million rubles. Perhaps, against the background of the fact that all other arenas only added in value over time, this fact influenced the fact that Saransk ultimately received the largest support among the organizing cities from the population.

As soon as the main football holiday of the four-year anniversary has sunk into oblivion, and someone leaves Russia with the World Cup, the Mordovia Arena will be transferred to the local Mordovia football club. In order to at least partially cover the costs of building the facility, the leadership of the Republic is considering the option of selling the rights to the name of the stadium (by the type of Moscow Spartak arena, which now bears the name of Otkritie Arena). By the way, such a fate will befall not only the construction in Saransk, but also in Kaliningrad, Kazan, Rostov and Volgograd.

Tribunes and infrastructure

The facility has a two-story stylobate (maximum height reaches 50 meters), covered with a bowl of the arena, protected by a shell that flows into the canopy of the stadium. The main (western) facade of the Mordovia Arena is looking at the central part of Saransk and the embankment of the Insar River. It is noteworthy that the shell of the structure is raised above the basement floors — this undoubtedly looks advantageous even externally and goes to a huge plus for the creators of the Mordovia Arena project. They can be proud that they were able to come up with and implement the project of the stadium, which has already been dubbed the “most airy” in Russia — and, indeed, such an architectural solution creates the effect of lightness and soaring.

One of the main advantages of a stadium is its almost perfect visibility from any of its points. During construction, in order to provide the audience with the best possible viewing of the match, it was done so that the distance from the center of the football field to the spectators in each of the stands does not exceed 90 meters. Of course, the best overview, as in many modern stadiums in the world, will be given to those who purchase tickets for the VIP box located on the western podium (Grandstand A).

The Mordovia Arena is one of the few stadiums in Mundial (along with arenas in Yekaterinburg and Rostov) where temporary structures are available. Their dismantling allows you to effectively use the power of the stadium in Saransk: playgrounds for volleyball, basketball and tennis will be created on the liberated territory, and there will be a place for modern gyms and fitness rooms. As you can see, it was decided to turn the Mordovia Arena into a multifunctional sports complex and use it for the benefit of the entire city’s population, and not just to please fans who love football exclusively.

Fans enter the stadium through special turnstiles, and exit through the gates. The stands of the stadium are divided into 4 sectors: A-West, B-North, C-East and D-South. In each of them there are subsectors in which lodges are provided — for ordinary guests who decide to watch football with a little more comfort, for VIP guests (in sector A), as well as the Presidential box (for the most demanding guests, also sector A). As befits a modern sports facility, each of the sectors is equipped with separate entrances and exits, medical points, food points of sale, as well as sanitary rooms, including for persons with disabilities.

In the stands for spectators there are places for people with limited mobility in wheelchairs and their attendants, as well as places for people with hearing impairment, which are located in the direct line of sight of the information board and video screens.

A separate family sector has been created under the arches of the stadium. What does this mean by itself? Obviously, not all parents can leave their children unattended at home and go to the stadium. It is also clear that not all children are interested in watching what is happening on the football field. To please both one and the second category of guests, children’s playrooms will be created next to the family sector — parents can safely leave their child under the supervision of specially trained children’s animators.

Among other things, the Mordovia Arena provides space for media, TV and radio studios, a press conference room where up to 100 people can accommodate at a time, a mixed zone in which the press representatives before the match, during its break or after the final whistle, they will be able to take flash interviews with players and coaches. Locker rooms, showers for host and guest teams, a relaxation room, as well as a judge’s room are for granted. But the highlight of this sports facility promises to be a restaurant with 250 seats on the western platform.