"This stadium is still new for me": what is known about the possible move of "Lokomotiv" to "Luzhniki" and the demolition of the "Russian Railways Arena"

Big changes await Lokomotiv football club.

In recent days, there has been active talk that his home stadium, Russian Railways Arena, will be demolished, and the team will be relocated to Luzhniki for a long time.

According to the Championship, the move may take place in the near future, and in the 2021/22 season, the current Russian Cup holders will receive their rivals in the arena where the 2018 World Cup final was held.

Russian Railways, which is the owner of the club, is still discussing all the details with the leadership of Moscow, but with a high degree of probability the parties will agree soon, according to the media.

“The management of Russian Railways and Lokomotiv are actively negotiating with the Moscow Mayor's Office on the lease of Luzhniki for 49 years.

At the same time, the club wants to start at Luzhniki for the next season, "the source said.

The fate of the territory currently occupied by the stadium in Cherkizov remains unclear.

According to the latest information announced by the media, the construction of a new large football arena at this place is not planned.

This may be due, among other things, to the appearance of a new Vostochny railway station nearby.

Lokomotiv board chairman Alexander Plutnik confirmed to Sport24 that Russian Railways really plans to start negotiations with the Moscow government on the club's move to Luzhniki. The need for this is due to the poor state of the arena in Cherkizovo. As for the use of the territory of the current stadium, according to another version, Russian Railways wants to build the country's largest football academy, which will have ten full-size fields, an arena and a small arena.

The fact that Lokomotiv will move in the near future became known two days earlier, during the matches of the last round of the Russian championship. The editions Sport-Express and Eurostavka reported that the game between Lokomotiv and Ural could be the last for the railway workers at their home stadium. According to them, the "Russian Railways Arena" will either be reconstructed or demolished, and the new stadium will be built either on the same site, or on the territory near the Rizhsky railway station, or in New Moscow. With any of these options, in the coming years, Lokomotiv will play at Luzhniki until it finds a new home or returns to the old one.

The media also wrote that all the paths that the club's management and its owners can take have significant drawbacks.

The construction of a new stadium or the reconstruction of an old one will require huge costs, and moving to another place is associated with a negative reaction from active fans.

Fans may not like the idea of ​​holding matches in Luzhniki that are not directly related to the club, or moving to remote areas of Moscow.

Lokomotiv then confirmed that the issue of moving from Cherkizov was on the agenda, but the final decision had not yet been made.

Commenting on this information, Plutnik said that he would definitely take into account the opinion of the fans.

“There is such a problem, it is urgent for both Russian Railways and the club.

We have several options.

But we will only make a decision after talking to the core of Lokomotiv fans.

The opinion of the fans and their participation in the life of the club is important to us, ”Plutnik quoted the Nobel Telegram channel.

The Lokomotiv stadium in Cherkizov was built in 2002 on the site of the club's former home site.

At that time, it was the second largest in Moscow after Luzhniki, now the stands can accommodate 27,320 fans.

Over time, according to this indicator, he was bypassed by the home arenas of Spartak and CSKA.

In 2017, the stadium received its current name.

Near the main arena there is a smaller Sapsan Arena, where the Kazanka team plays, and an indoor football arena.

For the former Lokomotiv goalkeeper Ruslan Nigmatullin, who played in the team before and after the construction of the current stadium, the latest news came as a surprise.

He was surprised that the arena, which is not yet 20 years old, could be demolished.

“The information is so ambiguous.

Honestly, one can doubt whether this is a fake?

It is difficult to imagine that the old stadium in Cherkizovo will be demolished, which is still new for me.

It feels like it was just recently built.

Maybe there are some commercial reasons.

Of course, everything in life changes, but all this is connected not with sports, but with commercial history.

Perhaps some kind of super-project for the construction of a garden city in Cherkizovo has appeared.

Maybe there will be a new format Cherkizovsky market, who knows, ”Nigmatullin said to RT.

He also noted that Lokomotiv fans might not like the move to Luzhniki, although this stadium, which hosted the World Cup final, is a worthy venue for matches.

“It's great to play at Luzhniki, of course, it's a sports place, but I associate them with Lokomotiv in the last place ... The team will be without its own stadium, because Luzhniki will only be on loan.

I think that the fans will not understand, they simply lose their home, ”added Nigmatullin.