The capacity of Moscow's massive Luzhniki Stadium will be reduced to 35,000 for the 2013 world athletics championships, according to the vice-president of the IAAF Sergei Bubka.
The 80,000-seater arena, which hosted the 1980 Olympics and is due to stage the 2018 World Cup final, will be home to the biennial event for the first time in August of next year.
"It is extremely important for use to provided maximum attendance," Bubka said. "However, we also need to decorate the stadium properly to make its capacity suitable for a pleasant atmosphere."
"That's why we are planning to sell 35,000 tickets, and have the first and upper stages decorated," he said.
Luzhniki has an artificial football pitch and serves as home to the Russian capital's Premier League football teams Spartak and CSKA.
