Minsk-Arena: Pride Of Belarus

The multi-discipline sporting complex Minsk Arena was born in late 2006 in the region of Minsk known as Vesnyanka. As with many such projects, the arena is sited on the edge of the city near the Minsk orbital road, which gives easy access to the complex for supporters. The three-year timescale for construction may seem overlong, but only if one overlooks the scale of the enterprise. Belarus is preparing an arena that will be the biggest in the Kontinental Hockey League, seating 15,000, and will accommodate not only other sports but also international rock stars. Most of all, this will be the venue for the 2014 World Championship, which Belarus won the right to host in Berne this spring.

And this is not all: besides a fifteen-thousand seat enclosed stadium, the complex includes two more substantial projects. First of these is a modern oval race track with stands holding three thousand spectators, with two hockey training rinks to I.I.H.F. standard inside the track. Second is a velodrome, boasting over two thousand places for spectators. This stage of the complex was the first under construction, in 2008, and this summer the Minsk arena Velodrome hosted its first major event - the European Track Racing Championship.

As for the main arena, the first sections of ice were poured in the first ten days of November, and the first professional hockey match to be played on the new surface will be the All-Stars match of the Belarus Open Championship, taking place at the end of December. In this way, for the analogous show by the stars of the KHL, the grandest hockey arena in Eastern Europe will be perfectly prepared.