Ahead of the joint hosting of the Euro 2012 Football Championship with Poland, Ukraine invested heavily in enhancing its infrastructure. Donetsk’s Sergey Prokofiev International Airport saw major changes, but the eastern Ukraine city also built a brand new stadium which saw it host five matches at the Donbass Arena, including a Quarter Final and a Semi Final. And Routes CIS delegates took the chance to see this first hand during an excursion ahead of yesterday’s formal meetings.

The stadium is now a significant landmark in the city and has helped support a major regeneration in part of the city. The facility was actually conceived long before Ukraine was named as a co-host for the prestigious football tournament and construction began in 2006. It was designed by ArupSport, who also designed the City of Manchester Stadium (Manchester, England), Allianz Arena (Munich, Germany) and the Beijing National Stadium (Beijing, China) and the work was completed by Turkish contractor ENKA.

The work was completed in mid-2009 but the official opening was timed to coincide with the symbolic Ukrainian holiday of Miners Day, as well as the Donetsk City day on August 29, 2009 with American Pop/R&B singer-songwriter Beyoncé Knowles performing in the stadium as part of her global ‘I Am... Tour’.

The Donbass Arena is now the home of Dontesk’s leading football team FC Shakhtar and has a capacity for 52,518 spectators. The club played its first match in the stadium on September 27, 2009 – a 4-0 victory against FC Obolon Kyiv and has hosted European heavyweights such as Arsenal, Barcelona, Porto and Roma in the European Champions League in subsequent seasons. They will again be hoisting matches in this prestigious tournament in the coming season having won the Ukrainian Championship in 2012/2013.

The stadium is located in the Lenin Comsomol Park, a recreational area especially developed around the site and is now more than just a performance arena but is also popular with local residents due to its bars and restaurants as well as for first time visitors to Donetsk.

Speaking to The HUB during the tour, Real Madrid fan Ashraf Basheer, Senior Marketing Executive at Fujairah International Airport in the United Arab Emirates, said: “What a great stadium and icon for Donetsk. I have thoroughly enjoyed having the opportunity to see inside this great facility.” Meanwhile, Sergali Amirbekov, Country Manager, Ukraine for Air Astana, a Barcelona fan, said: “What a wonderful chance to see inside the Donbass Arena. I can’t wait to come back here and experience a match with a full stadium of fans.”

Vyacheslav Fomin, Head of Aviation Marketing, Volgograd International Airport added: “I particularly enjoyed the opportunity to run down the tunnel and out on to the pitch. I have been in many modern football stadiums and am sure such facilities will be further enhanced when Russia builds its next generation of arenas to support the World Cup in 2018.”

You can see some images from yesterday’s tour, which included a visit to the FC Shakhtar dressing room, the media conference hall and the chance to run out of the tunnel, below: