Each stadium for the tournament has to have a minimum capacity of 35,000, which looked like it would be an issue for the Ekaterinburg Arena in Yekaterinburg which currently has only 27,000 seats, with just under 12 months until the world’s biggest football tournament kicks off.
However, the construction team have come up with a totally unique solution to the problem, by expanding two of the stands outside the stadium.
With these two additional stands on either end of the pitch, the stadium’s capacity has been increased to 45,000.
A FIFA spokesperson said: “In the case of Ekaterinburg, temporary seats are being installed in order to ensure that the renovation work would conserve the historical façade of the stadium and that maintenance costs are reduced after the Fifa World Cup. Inspection visits and detailed reports have shown that the temporary seats in the Ekaterinburg Arena fully comply with all safety and security requirements.”
The seats at the top of the stands certainly aren’t for the faint hearted!
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