STAND UP, IF YOU’RE BRAVE ENOUGH! IT’S RUSSIA’S 150ft MECCANO VENUE
FOOTBALL fans with a fear of heights had better look away. The enormous temporary stand at the World Cup stadium in Ekaterinburg has finally been completed. While a seat at the top of this enormous Meccano set offers fine views of the most easterly host city, you’re going to need binoculars to see group games such as Egypt v Uruguay, France v Peru, Japan v Senegal and Mexico v Sweden. The original circular stadium, built in 1957, did not meet FIFA’s minimum capacity of 35,000 so they built this 150ft temporary stand extending beyond the limits of the ground, with a smaller one behind the opposite goal. Unfortunately for those ticketholders up in the gods, there is no protection from bad weather, though they will see it coming from miles off. After the tournament, the plan is to take down the temporary seating and restore the capacity to 23,000 for the home matches of Ural.