The construction process started in 2007 but had been halted several times, with the longest pause lasting 16 months. The VEB Arena has a capacity around 30,000 people. An integral part of the stadium is a skyscraper designed to resemble the UEFA Cup, the first European trophy won by a Russian club, with CSKA beating Sporting CP in 2005. The 142 meter-tall skyscraper is to stand in one of the corners, but the remaining three will also have office spaces and skyboxes instead of regular stands. There are 1,400 car park spaces planned. The first match at the new stadium was supposed to be the 2016 Russian Super Cup between CSKA and Zenit Saint Petersburg on 23 July 2016, but due to the stadium's unpreparedness the game was moved to RZD Arena. The actual first match was played on 4 September 2016, a closed friendly match between CSKA and Torpedo Moscow), in which CSKA won 3–0. The first official match at the stadium was held six days later against Terek Grozny; CSKA also won 3–0. Lacina Traoré scored the first official goal in the new arena. On 27 September 2016, the stadium held its first European match; in the Champions League against the English club Tottenham Hotspur, in which CSKA lost 0–1. On 30 April 2017, CSKA lost 1–2 to Spartak Moscow. This was the first league defeat for CSKA in this stadium. On 9 June 2017, the Russian national team played at the stadium for the first time; a friendly game against Chile which ended 1–1, with CSKA player Viktor Vasin scored for the host. On 28 February 2017, CSKA Moscow announced that they had sold the naming rights to the stadium to Russian bank VEB, with the stadium becoming the VEB Arena. The first match at the stadium under the new name was held on 4 March 2017 between CSKA and Zenit; the game ended with a goalless draw. Exactly a year after its first European match at the stadium, CSKA played in a UEFA Champions League match against another English team. Manchester United defeated CSKA 4–1 as the match broke the attendance record with 29,073 spectators. On 12 April 2018, in a Europa League quarter-final match between CSKA and yet another English club Arsenal, the attendance record was broken. The 2–2 draw was seen by 29,284 spectators.
