Russian World Cup football stadium turns into swimming pool

Kazan: As one of the venues for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Kazan Arena Stadium will be marked as the first ever swimming pool on a football pitch for the upcoming 16th Swimming World Championships.

During the World Championships from July 24 to August 9, the stadium will host swimming and synchronised swimming events. Two temporary 50-metre long pools will be set up on the football pitch -- one for competitions and another for practice, reports Xinhua.

It will have a seating capacity of 11,000, much less than the previous 48,000 seats. Ranko Tepavcevic, Secretary General of the World Championships, revealed that temporary roofs are also being put up in case of weather changes.

"It is the first time that a football stadium turns to be swimming pools. All the installation work will be done in one week. We will remove the temporary pools and roofs after the swimming worlds," Tepavcevic said.

"The point is that our Kazan Arena Stadium can be a role model for the future usage of the stadiums. Maybe other cities will learn from our innovation."

Kazan Arena Stadium was launched on May 5, 2010, when Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was then Prime Minister, laid the foundation stone.