The $400 million stadium in Donetsk, financed by billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, had its grand opening on Aug. 29.
Ukraine’s grandest stadium, Donbass Arena, opened with fireworks, a concert and other entertainment on Aug. 29 in Donetsk [1,2,5]. The $400 million sports palace, regarded as one of the best in Europe, will be the training ground of the local Shakhtar football club. Both the stadium and the club belong to Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man [3]. President Victor Yushchenko and his wife Kateryna Chumachenko [3] attended the opening ceremony. Yushchenko gave a speech to the crowd of 80,000 people, but got booed. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and other VIPs [4] also attended the ceremony, but Tymoshenko decided against addressing the crowd. Victor Yanukovych, a presidential candidate and former governor of Donetsk Oblast, got a standing ovation after his speech – as did his political ally Akhmetov. The opening concert featured many Ukrainian performers [6] and American pop singer Beyonce, who turned out to be camera shy and refused to be photographed at this event.
