The Central Stadium (, Almaty ortalyq stadıony or "Орталық стадион", Ortalyq stadıon; Ortalyq Stadıony) is a multi-purpose stadium in Almaty, Kazakhstan and the largest sports complex in the Republic of Kazakhstan. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium is shared by FC Kairat Almaty. It also serves as the home stadium for the Kazakhstan national football team. History The sports complex, consisting of several sports facilities, was built between 1955 and 1975. A large sports arena, a small sports arena (stadium) and athletics hall (wrestling hall, multi-purpose sports hall) as well as a reserve football field with athletics tracks were built on an area of 22 hectares. In 1955-1958 architects Adambek Kapanov (chief architect of the project) and A.Ya. Kossov built the large sports arena consisting of a 104x69 meter soccer field, eight 100 and 400 meter running tracks, athletics sectors for jumping and throwing. The grandstands of the large arena were designed for thirty-thousand seats. Under the arena were the halls for sports events, wrestling, boxing, as well as rooms for coaches, referees and doctors. The small arena included a five-thousand seat stadium, an archery field (onion field), tennis and handball courts. The athletics hall was built in 1975. Refurbishment In 1997 the Central Stadium was reconstructed in preparation for the second Central Asian Games. During the reconstruction, the latest track and field surface of the Italian company Mondo was laid. This was the same surface which had been installed for the 1996 Olympic Games in the USA. In 2002 Kazakhstan became a member of UEFA. In order to bring the entire stadium infrastructure up to the minimum UEFA standards, funds from the city budget were allocated for the refurbishment including repairs to the metal roof over the west stand, a construction of more than three hundred and fifty tons and the replacement of plastic seats. As a result of these activities, the stadium received a license to host international matches. In 2009-2010, following new UEFA requirements and with a view to the planned Asian Winter Games in 2011, a major reconstruction of the Central Stadium was carried out at a cost of 3 billion Tenge, financed from the city budget. At the same time, the turf of the soccer field was replaced by an innovative turf consisting of natural grass with synthetic fiber implants. The irrigation and heating of the turf is regulated by an