Central Stadium Yekaterinburg

Listen first. Traffic hums along the wide streets, and somewhere behind the pale walls a groundskeeper's machine buzzes across the grass. The facade in front of you is calm and formal, with columns, cornices and soft yellow-cream plaster. It looks more like a palace of culture than a football ground. Then you notice the steel and the modern roof rising behind it. Two eras of the same building stand in plain view.

This is Central Stadium, in the heart of Yekaterinburg, the great city of the Ural Mountains. It is the home ground of FC Ural, the local football club. For most of its life it was simply the city's main sports arena. In the summer of 2018 it suddenly appeared on television screens around the world. To understand why, we need to start with the older building, the one whose face still greets you on the street.

The stadium was built in the 1950s and opened in 1957. That was the late Soviet postwar period, when cities across the country received grand public buildings. The style is often called Stalinist neoclassicism. In simple terms, it borrows the language of ancient Greek and Roman temples — columns, symmetry and heavy decorated entrances — and applies it to buildings for ordinary citizens. The message was clear. Sport belonged to the people, and the people deserved a temple for it.

Look at the proportions of the main front. The entrance is built to be approached slowly and seen from a distance. The columns create rhythm, and the deep shadows between them change with the hour. Sculptural details and decorative mouldings appear along the upper levels. Take a moment to trace them with your eyes. Many visitors walk straight past toward the gates, but this facade carries the original character of the stadium.

Here is the first surprise. When Russia prepared to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Yekaterinburg was chosen as one of the host cities. The old stadium was far too small and too dated for a modern tournament. Engineers could have demolished it and started again. Instead, the historic facade was protected as part of the city's heritage. So the builders kept the old outer walls and constructed a new arena inside them.

Think about what that means for the space around you. In effect, a modern stadium sits inside an old shell, like a new heart inside an old chest. The new roof, the new seating bowl and the modern technical systems all rise behind the preserved front. From certain angles on the street, you see only the 1950s. Step a little further away, and the twenty-first-century structure appears over the top.

Now the second surprise, and the reason the stadium became famous. The World Cup required a much larger capacity than the old footprint could hold. The solution was bold. Builders added huge temporary stands at both ends of the ground. These stands climbed so high, and reached so far, that they extended beyond the walls of the stadium itself. Fans in the top rows sat outside the building, under the open Ural sky.

Photographs of those stands travelled around the world. People joked about them. Some worried about them. Others found them wonderful. Spectators at the very top could see the city rooftops behind them and the pitch far below in front of them. It was an unusual sight, a reminder that this was a practical engineering answer to a difficult problem. After the tournament, the temporary stands were removed, and the capacity returned to a more modest size.

During the 2018 tournament, the stadium hosted four group-stage matches. Teams from several continents played here, including Egypt, Uruguay, France, Peru, Japan, Senegal, Mexico and Sweden. For a few weeks, the streets nearby filled with flags, drums and many languages. Yekaterinburg is one of the easternmost cities to host World Cup matches in Europe's football calendar, and that geography became part of the story for the fans who travelled here.

That geography deserves a moment. Yekaterinburg sits close to the boundary between Europe and Asia, which follows the line of the Ural Mountains. The city grew as an industrial centre, known for metalworking and heavy industry. Its people are often proud of a practical, engineering mindset. In a way, this stadium shows that spirit well. The city kept its old monument and solved the new problem with steel, scaffolding and clear thinking.

On an ordinary day, the atmosphere is quieter. You may see locals walking past with shopping bags, students crossing the square, or parents with strollers. On match days, everything changes. The blue-and-orange colours of FC Ural, often called the Urals, appear on scarves and jackets. Chanting starts in the streets long before kick-off. If you can attend a game, you will see the stadium as it was meant to be seen — full and loud.

Walk slowly around the outside if you have time. Notice where the old plaster meets the new materials. In some places, the transition is smooth. In others, you can clearly see where one century ends and the next begins. Pay attention to the light, too. In the low sun of morning or evening, the facade turns warm and golden. In grey weather, the columns look more severe and monumental.

Before you leave, stand back from the main entrance once more. Look at the old columns, then lift your eyes to the modern roof behind them. Few buildings show their own history so openly. As you walk away, listen for the city around you — trams, voices, the wind moving across the open square. The stadium stays behind you, old in front and new inside, still waiting for the next match.