MINSK, 7 June (BelTA) – Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko has arrived for the ceremony of inauguration of the National Football Stadium in Minsk, BelTA has learned.
Outside an entrance to the stadium the head of state was greeted by government officials and female athletes, who presented a bouquet of flowers to the president according to the established tradition. The first question Aleksandr Lukashenko asked those present was “Will we win? When?”
Not far from the entrance the president stopped near a sculptural composition depicting football players with a ball. The head of state remarked that it would be appropriate to place a monument to China President Xi Jinping at this location. Because it is thanks to top-level agreements of the leaders of Belarus and China that the massive football stadium has been built in Minsk.
The head of state was briefly informed about the project’s realization and prospects of the stadium’s operation. Attention was drawn to the fact that the facility has been built in compliance with requirements of the international football organizations FIFA and UEFA and the procedure for acquiring the necessary accreditations has already begun. Today’s match is a necessary test.
The National Football Stadium will open with a friendly game of Belarus’ and China’s youth football teams. They will be the first to walk onto the field of the new sport facility.
The stadium’s construction began in August 2020 and ended in December 2024. The Chinese side took care of implementing the project using the turn-key principle. The National Football Stadium was being built in parallel with an international-standard swimming pool in Kalvariyskaya Street: both facilities are a gift from Chinese partners to the Belarusian people.
The stadium can seat over 33,000 spectators. It meets all the criteria for getting the UEFA’s Category 4. In other words, it can host games of European and world championships, the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Europa League as well as the UEFA Super Cup.
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