Thousands of tons of metal, concrete used to construct Astana Arena
The construction of the Astana Arena lasted for two and a half years. Thousands of tons of metal and concrete were used. For instance, the total weight of the metal structures is 11,500 tons.
As the builders say, one of the hardest jobs was installing the retractable roof. Because after assembling its parts on the ground, it was necessary to continue assembling it on the top of the structure. If it were placed on special rails in a wrong way, the two parts of the roof would not match and there would be a gap. All the respective calculations were to be as accurate as possible.
The retractable roof of the stadium is operated via a computer. On the four sides of the structure, there are special engines to roll back the roof by metal cables. If the two parts of the roof do not match, the respective signal is received by the computer that equalizes both parts using a laser.
Currently, the roof of the stadium is moved not very frequently, just twice a year. It opens up in spring, when it gets warm, and closes in autumn.
It should be mentioned that in the world, there are there are only six stadiums having a retractable roof of 10 thousand square meters in area. And one of them is Astana Arena.
No doubt, natural turfgrass instead of artificial one would put even more value on the stadium. However, there are reasons why the Astana Arena does not make a natural turfgrass.
"A lot of teams train here. The Kazakhstan National Team, FC Astana, the youth team, and, in addition, teams from other regions come here. Besides, the stadium hosts football matches between various teams. As a result, the turf frays rapidly. So, we have already changed the artificial turf four times. Normally, the service life of one turf is 7-8 years. And we have changed it four times within less than one decade. Because a lot of matches are held here. If there was a natural turfgrass here, it would not withstand it at all. In addition, it hosts various concerts. In such cases, the field is covered by a special material. We did that during the opening of the Asian Games," said Head of the Department for the Football Field Preparation and Maintenance Kalkaman Baisseitov.
According to him, an artificial turf is no worse than a natural one. Below it, there is a soft material and heating equipment. An artificial turf is laid over, and, then, it is covered up with quartz sand and rubber granules. Owing to this, the synthetic turf stems stand vertically. Otherwise, they would fall. Using special equipment, the workers of the stadium comb artificial grass every day. They even water it.
"In general, we do not water the artificial turf much. But, the players themselves ask to moisten the field, because it's easier to roll the ball. The field is checked annually by FIFA and UEFA experts. If the lines are just one centimeter displaced, we will be penalized. However, we have never been fined, fortunately," Baisseitov said.
The stadium officially opened in 2009. At first, it was named after Kazhimukan Munaitpasov. But then, the name was changed to the Astana Arena.
It was President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev who launched the first match. At that time, Lokomotiv Astana (the current FC Astana) faced the National Youth Team of Kazakhstan.
The world's top football players such as Mesut Ozil, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Zlatan Ibrahimovic have played at the Astana Arena.
