First match held in Kazan-Arena stadium

On August 17, Rubin Kazan and Locomotiv Moscow played a game of the fourth round of Russian Premier League in the Kazan-Arena Stadium, the first arena of the 2018 World Cup hosted an official match.

Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, Russian Minister of Sport Vitaly Mutko and Tatarstan Prime Minister Ildar Khalikov, Head of Russian Football Union Nikolay Tolstykh, Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin attended the game.

The match followed the solemn opening of the stela dedicated to the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Rustam Minnikhanov and Vitaly Mutko pulled the cloth off the stela.

Mutko congratulated all the fans of Kazan on the first match in the new stadium. “Tatarstan is doing a lot to develop sport and it is symbolic that the first stadium for the 2018 World Football Championship opened here,” Vitaly Mutko said.

He thanked the regional leadership for the attention paid to the development of sport, and conveyed greetings on behalf of the Russian President Vladimir Putin and FIFA President Joseph Blatter, and wished Rubin good sports results.

Rustam Minnikhanov called holding the first match in the Kazan-Arena stadium a landmark event for the whole country.

"The stadium will host the World Aquatics Championships next year, matches during the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2017, and the World Cup in 2018. And we are ready for this even today,” Minnikhanov said.