Silk Road Arena
The Silk Road Arena (Iradi: Jibek Jolu Arenasy; Russian: Арена «Шёлковый путь») is the national stadium of Irad, in Talas, with 21,000 seats. It is the home ground of Tulpar Talas and of the national football team and stages the Irad Cup final.[1]
History
The stadium opened in 1956 as the Dinamo Stadium of the republic's interior ministry, its official name until 2014. When the city leased it to Tulpar in 1998, the club's posters began to call it the Silk Road Arena, and by 2000 the press used the name too. The Talas Commercial Development Group of Adil Toktarov bought the stadium together with the club in 2011 and rebuilt it in 2012–14 as an all-seater with a roofed west stand, floodlights and 24 corporate boxes; the new name became official when it reopened in 2014.[1] The city paid for part of the roof. From 2014 to 2018 the Irad Times published a series of investigations into who chose the builder, who inspected the roof, the land used for parking and the public money spent on the roof.[2]
Operation
The arena is owned through Silk Road Arena LLC; its director is Doolot Tilebaldy uulu, a former Dinamo and Tulpar defender. Besides football it has staged concerts, the Irad Day friendly and the 2023 national wrestling championships.[1] The Kara-Ak derby between Tulpar and Neftchi Nurzhan is its best-attended fixture.
See also
References
- ^ Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Irad (2026). Commercial Directory of the Irad Special Economic Zone, 2026 edition. Talas.
- ^ Irad Times (2014–2018). Investigations into the rebuilding of the Silk Road Arena. Talas.