The Tatneft Arena Ice Palace is a multi-purpose sports and events venue. It’s one of the biggest and most well-equipped ice palaces in Russia and Europe. The facility was inaugurated during Kazan’s 1,000th anniversary celebrations.
The venue has two fully-featured ice rinks, each having independently operating infrastructure, general use facilities (locker rooms, makeup rooms, judges rooms, etc.), press centre and medical station. The venue also features a variety of dining options including coffee bars, café and restaurant.
Being the home arena for the Ak Bars Hockey Club, the ice palace regularly stages the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and Youth Hockey League (YHL) matches. The venue often hosts ice shows featuring titled figure skating stars. Beyond that, the TNA TATNEFT Cup World Championships are held annually here. The ice rink can be easily transformed into a concert hall. The Scorpions and 30 Seconds to Mars rock bands, Swedish pop band Roxette, legendary British musicians Sting and Elton John played their gigs here.
Specifically for the 27th Summer Universiade, in 2013 the venue was re-equipped to host judo and sambo tournaments. In July-August 2015, the Tatneft Arena Ice Palace played host to the Opening/Closing Ceremonies of the 16th FINA World Championships. The venue hosted sports and social events of various levels: the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (2008), European Judo Championships (2016), final of the VII National championship “Young Professionals (WorldSkills Russia)” (2019), IJF World Tour: Kazan Grand Slam (2021), charity game “Hockey for Everyone” (2022), etc.
At present, the ice palace stays in the center of sporting events. In 2023, the 1st Kazan Hockey Cup 2023 international amateur ice hockey tournament between Islamic countries and the Republic of Tatarstan, final of the Gagarin Cup and other significant matches were held at the venue. Tatneft Arena became the winner of the 2023 Sport Business Awards in the Ice Arena of the Year category.
