An ambitious and striking design has been pulled off superbly having been built at the foot of the Mamayev Kurgan war memorial, the city’s most iconic landmark.
This towering monument of Mother Russia wielding an 11m long sword marks the bloody battle in 1943, when the city was known as Stalingrad, that turned back the German advance into Russia once and for all.
The new stadium will be home to second-tier Rotor Volgograd after the tournament, a team best known for their UEFA Cup elimination of Manchester United back in 1995.
Almost 1,000km south of Moscow, this venue will only stage group games and it’s also one of the longer trips for the England team, at two hours 35 minutes.