Kyiv's Football (Soccer) "Olympic" Stadium

From the time we arrived in Kyiv there were already signs and talk about the 2012 European Football (Soccer) Championships to be held jointly in Poland and Ukraine with the finals in Kyiv.  The city was upgrading transportation systems and also their large football stadium.  We happened to get lost in the area of the construction and took these pictures just before Christmas, 2010.  I remember thinking they had a long ways to go to get it ready!

I didn't know the major seating and field was already there and this was an upgrade with better expensive seating and a cover over the seats.

This is what we saw this week.  We could walk around outside and other than some of the shops that will be open by the time of the games in June, everything was in order.  The stadium had an opening gala concert in October of 2011 and hosted a game in November of 2011

Some workmen were hanging from the suspended ceiling fixing something...!










We could not go inside and the best photo I could get through the entryways showed this kind of interior

These are photos I got online which show the stadium better.

The final round games will be held here in June with the European Cup Finals game on July 1.  The stadium seats 70,000.  We saw the regular stadium for the Kyiv Dynamo soccer club two weeks ago.  It seats about 10,000 and is used for everything except matches where a high turnout is expected.  Then this stadium is used.