Cosmos Arena: FC Krylia Sovetov Samara
See page for author [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons
When Russia originally made their bid to host the FIFA World Cup in 2018 there weren’t enough top-quality stadiums already in the country, so they had to commit to building new ones. One such new stadium is the Cosmos Arena, so named because the region it’s being built in, Samara, is known for its links to the space industry. On top of that, the original design of the ground makes it look a little like an asteroid. The official name of the ground has changed numerous times since its conception, with the Russians unsure what option to stick with. During the actual World Cup it will officially be know as ‘Samara Arena’, presumably to help people know where they’re heading to watch matches.
As with most of the new grounds being built in advance of the 2018 World Cup, there isn’t a huge amount of information available about Cosmos Arena. The closer the tournament gets the more information becomes available, so we’ll keep updating this page accordingly. One thing we can tell you right now, though, is that Cosmos Arena will be the home of FC Krylia Sovetov Samara once the World Cup is over and done. At the moment the Russian Premier League side play their games at the Metallurg Stadium, which has a capacity of 33,001. It seems odd that they’ll need to move to any even bigger stadium, given that their average attendance for the 2016-2017 season in the Russian Premier League was less than 7,000. Regardless, for the 2018-2019 season they’ll have one of the newest stadiums in Russia at their disposal.
Stats
| Cosmos Arena Stats | |
|---|---|
| Year Opened | 2018 |
| Capacity | 44918 |
| Average Attendance | 41525 |
| Record Attendance | 41970 (Uruguay v Russia (2018)) |
| Pitch Size | 105x68(7140) |
| Former Name | Samara Arena |
| Owner | Russian Government |
| Clubs Hosted | FC Krylia Sovetov Samara |
| First Fixture | Costa Rica v Serbia (17/06/2018) |
Cosmos Arena Photos
By Samorok (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0]
By Олег ÐœакÑимов (Oleg Maximov Youtube-канал) [CC BY-SA 4.0]
Cosmos Arena Seating Plan and Where to Sit
The Cosmos Arena will have an interesting design, partially looking like a ‘typical’ English stadium, with straight stands running along the edges of the pitch. However it will also take on the design more common to European grounds of rows of continuous seating over two tiers.
Getting To Cosmos Arena
Train – It will take you close to three days to get to Samara by train from London, so we’d recommend flying as a first option. At the time of writing the closest train station once you’re in the city is in the city centre, though the Russians have built Metro stations closer to their new grounds in some of the other cities. For now, you might prefer to get the bus.
Bus – The 50 and the 1K both run close to the ground, but it’s still a bit of a walk. If you’re heading to the stadium specifically for World Cup matches then you’ll almost certainly find that there are buses being laid on to transport you out to the Arena.
Car – The 36K-91B is the main road that runs closest to the Cosmos Arena, so if you’re driving your best bet will be to head towards that and then follow the signs.
By Air – Kurumoch International Airport is less than fifty miles from the centre of Samara and is the closest airport to the city.
Taxi – A cab from the centre of Samara out to the stadium will cost you about 190 rubles and take in the region of fifteen minutes.
Parking Near Cosmos Arena
The beauty of building a football ground from scratch is that you can essentially do whatever you want, so it seems likely that there will be some parking available once the stadium has been completed. It’s unclear what the plans are on that front at the moment, but we’ll update this section once we’ve got a bit more information.
Useful Resources
Cosmos Arena Hotels
Dubki Hotel - £20+
Hotel Moya - £40+
Renaissance Samara - £50+
Pubs and Bars Near Cosmos Arena
Shamrock
Maximilian's
Parburg
Hospitality
The intention is to have two sky boxes on either side of the stadium, along with enough VIP seating for more than a thousand supporters. We do know that FIFA executives love their hospitality facilities, so expect this section of the ground to be up to scratch even if the rest of it is falling apart at the seams.
Private Hire
It’s not uncommon for football clubs to rent out their stadiums for private use in order to ensure that they make money even when there aren’t any football matches taking place. It’s likely that Cosmos Arena will be rented out in just such a way, depending on whether or not FC Krylia Sovetov want to make use of the new facilities they’ll have available to them.
Stadium Tours & Museum
Whether or not you’ll be able to do a tour of the Cosmos Arena remains to be seen, but once we have that information we’ll obviously update this section.
Cosmos Arena History
Considering that the Cosmos Arena hasn’t even opened yet, it’s got one of the most interesting histories of all of the new stadiums being built by Russia ahead of the World Cup. The original hope was that it would be built on an island on the South side of the city. The problem was that there was no infrastructure whatsoever in that part of Samara, without even a bridge being in place from the mainland out to the island. Not only would the Russians need to build a new football ground, they’d also need to put all of the various things in place to allow that ground to operate properly. A decision was made to move it to the North of the city instead, building it within the city’s limits. The area laid out for the new stadium was initially twenty-seven hectares, moving to two-hundred and forty hectares and then nine-hundred and thirty hectares.
Interestingly, most of the planned construction for the area has nothing to do with the World Cup or even sports. That might perhaps explain why the increased space was decided upon before any consultation was done with the people that lived in Samara. All of that contributed to escalating costs, which eventually needed to be pulled back. There was supposed to be an eighty metre dome at the top of the stadium, but that is likely to be closer to the sixty-five metre mark by the time it’s finished. At the time of writing, the Cosmos Arena is the one that is most delayed in terms of when it is going to open compared to when it was supposed to. The first practice match wasn’t even scheduled at the stadium until the end of April 2018, meaning that the ability for FIFA to check whether it’s ready for the World Cup will go right to the wire.
Future Developments
Obviously the most pressing concern for the immediate future is that the stadium is completed. As we’ve already mentioned, in the wake of the World Cup the stadium will be handed over to FC Krylia Sovetov Samara. Whether or not they choose to make any changes remains to be seen.