Olimpik Sports Complex - Olimpik Donetsk Stadium Guide

The small 1,678 capacity training ground located within the Olympic Stadium Sports Complex is known as Bannikov Stadium, named after Victor Maksymovych Bannikov. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of his day, the Ukrainian famously rose to prominence with the Soviet Union National Team between 1964-1972 and Dynamo Kiev.

The Stadium was constructed in 2005 to be used by the Ukrainian National Men’s Team for training purposes but has often been used for competitive fixtures due to the neighbouring 70,050 capacity Olimpiyskiy stadium being too large for run-of-the-mill matches. The first international match held was an under 21s game against Turkey on 5th September 2005 and since then numerous youth level matches have been hosted.

Occasionally Bannikov Stadium has also been used to entertain games of the Ukrainian Premier League, acting as a temporary or reserve stadium for teams who are either renovating their facilities such as both Obolon (2005) and Arsenal Kiev (2008-2010) or for those who are forced to relocate due to circumstances beyond their control.

This was the case for FC Olimpik Donetsk during the 2015 season when conflict between Pro-Russian Separatists and Nationalist forces engulfed the Donbass Region making the local area unsafe for sports. Neighbours Shakhtar Donetsk also vacated their stadium, opting to locate further West albeit in the sanctity of Lviv.

Bannikov Stadium is comprised of four stands: North, East, South and West.

Click the thumbnails above to enlarge an image of each stand and to read a more detailed description of each part of the Stadium.

The stadium’s address for satnav is as follows:

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