Arup’s design skills will feature alongside the football talents of Ashley Young, Franck Ribery and the rest of the players at this year’s European Football Championships.

The Arup-designed Shaktar Donetsk 50,000-seater stadium – the Donbass Arena – will play host to the opening game in Group D between France and England, as well as several other matches, including the second semi-final.

Arup played a key role in the design team that produced the €320 million Donbass Arena, which became the first new FIFA compliant football stadium built in a former Soviet country when it opened in August 2009.

According to Burkhard Miehe, the Arup lead structural engineer responsible for the design of the stadium bowl, “Donbass set the standard for all the followers in the Ukraine and Russia. We still get enquiries from other clubs in Eastern Europe referring to Shakhtar as their prime example for excellent stadium design.”

The Donbass stadium is just one of many major stadia commissions for Arup, extending from the City of Manchester Stadium to the Allianz Arena, so the fans will enjoy the atmosphere no matter what the final score.