Leonid Fedun: «Stadium will be built in time»

Today Vitaly Mutko, Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation, and Leonid Fedun, Spartak-Moscow President, visited Otkrytie Arena stadium. Together with  many media representatives they walked through the whole stadium: at the green pitch, under stands, VIP boxes and stands. And in the fully equipped and ready press-center Vitaly Mutko and Leonid Fedun spoke to the media.

— Sometines we arrange meetings at our stadium, so you could see with your own eyes that the construction is going on, to feel the progress, - told Leonid Fedun in the beginning of the press-conference. – Besides, it is important for us to reply to the questions of media and supporters.

As you could see now, two months before the end of the construction, the stadium in 95% ready. For example, some stadia in Brazil, which will host FIFA World Cup matches in about two weeks, have equal level of readiness. And we have much more time to finish the construction. As we promised before, the stadium will be build by 27 July. Then a special procedure is necessary in order it could be operated: we need to get the permission to start operation, to sign the realization act of investment contract with Russian Property, to agree the activities schedule with Ministry of Internal Affairs, to undergo FUR and UEFA certification, as we are going to organize not only Russian Championship, but also UEFA Europa League matches at Otkrytie Arena.

So the first event at the stadium will be held on 30 or 31 August. It will be, as we are planning now, the match of Spartak veterans and National Team of Russia veterans. The opening match will take place on 5 September: Spartak will play against Crvena Zvezda, as the supporters of the red-and-white asked about that. And on 8 September we would like to invite our National team to play their match against Lichtenstein at Otkrytie Arena.

There is a problem where to play the first four matches of the Russian Championship and three home matches of UEFA Europe League, if we are allowed to play in this tournament. As for the rest, all home matches Spartak will be playing at Otkrytie Arena.


— Do you know now in which stadium will Spartak play its home matches in August?

— We applied to RFPL with the request to play the first three matches of the Championship away. Of course, this is the additional stress for the team, but this is our objective reality. There are no other stadia in Moscow. And for UEFA Europa League only two stadia have been certified – Lokomotiv and Saturn in Ramenskoe, with which we communicate. Arena in Khimki for now has two teams playing, so it is full.

— If Torpedo requests you for the permission to play at Otkrytie Arena stadium, are you ready to give it to them?

— We shall be able to rent out the stadium, if Torpedo is ready to pay the rent, only in a year. The grass has been planted this year, and the matches of the Championship, UEFA Europa League and National Team are planned to be held here. If we take  one more team, we shall kill the grass. Agriculturists do not recommend to do that. We have very good relations Torpedo, but for the season 2014-2015 we will not be able to let them play at Otkrytie Arena, in 2016 – it is possible.

— Stadium and club — are these projects financially independent from each other?
— In principle it is one integral project. Stadium is important not on its own: this is not only the temple of football. This is a system which should be working in such a way, so Spartak would never suffer the same things as FC Moscow, Torpedo or ice-hockey Spartak. The project “Big Spartak” is to make Spartak a self-financing structure by 2018. So the club will not depend on the available money of the sponsor. In any case the team should exist and exist at a very high level. That means, the income from the stadium, from multifunctional sports hall, hotel, infrastructure around, should be enough for maintaining the high budget. Today Spartak has the fourth budget in the League.

 — Next year Spartak society is planning to have its anniversary. Are you planning to use the stadium?

— We have a wonderful VIP area and a restaurant, we shall offer this site to the society for arranging the official events free of charge.

— What is the capacity of the stadium?

— Now it is 42 thousand, but for the World Cup or even Confederations Cup it could be extended up to 46.

— Will the visiting team supporters get the zone more than regulated quota of  10%?

— We are having the biggest  in Russia sector for active supporters – 4,5 thousand seats. It has autonomous infrastructure, separate entrance, catering points. The supporters will not have as before to sit for an hour and to wait for the permission to leave the stands. We expect the home sector to be emptied within 15 minutes, and the visiting team sector – 25-30 min maximum. Those, who want to watch football in a more peaceful manner, can buy tickets to the central tribunes.