The stadium is a part of the Luzhniki Olympic Complex, and is located in Khamovniki District of the Central Administrative Okrug of Moscow city.

Luzhniki was the main stadium of the 1980 Olympic Games, hosting the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as some of the competitions, including the athletics and final of the football tournament.

It was necessary to find a very large plot of land, preferably in a green area close to the city center that could fit into the transport map of the capital without too much difficulty.

[5] According to one of the architects: "On a sunny spring day of 1954, we, a group of architects and engineers who were tasked with designing the Central stadium, climbed onto a large paved area on the Lenin Hills [which after the Soviet era would revert to their old name, the Sparrow Hills ]... the proximity of the river, green mass of clean, fresh air – this circumstance alone mattered to select the area of the future city of sports...

In addition, Luzhniki is located relatively close to the city center and convenient access to major transport systems with all parts of the capital".

[13] It was a success, but the increased athletic development of the Soviet Union, which was a matter of state policy, required the construction of a new sports complex.

[15] Building materials came from Leningrad and the Armenian SSR, electrical and oak beams for the spectator benches from the Ukrainian SSR, furniture from Riga and Kaunas, glass was brought from Minsk, electrical equipment from Podolsk in Moscow Oblast, and larch lumber from Irkutsk in Siberia.

[21] In 1960 a 26-foot bronze statue of Lenin by sculptor Matvei Manizer, which was created for Expo 58 in Brussel, was placed on the square in front of the main stadium entrance.

The events hosted in this stadium were the opening and closing ceremonies, athletics, football finals, and the individual jumping grand prix.

[28] Then General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet Leonid Brezhnev declared the XXII Summer Olympic Games open.

[29] On 20 October 1982, disaster struck during a UEFA Cup match between FC Spartak Moscow and HFC Haarlem.

66 people died in the crowd crush,[30] which made it Russia's worst sporting disaster and most infamous cover-up at the time.

[31] An extensive renovation in 1996 saw the construction of a roof over the stands, and the refurbishment of the seating areas, resulting in a decrease in capacity.

The match passed incident-free and a spokesman for the British Embassy in Moscow said, "The security and logistical arrangements put in place by the Russian authorities have been first-rate, as has been their cooperation with their visiting counterparts from the UK.

[47] On 23 May 1963, Fidel Castro made a historic speech in Luzhniki Stadium during his record 38-day visit to the Soviet Union.

[50][51] Luzhniki Stadium hosted seven games of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, including the opening and the final matches.