Saudi Arabia quietly shelves elevated Neom stadium planned for 2034 World Cup

It was meant to be the postcard of the 2034 World Cup: a 46,000-seat stadium more than 350 metres above ground, set on the roof of The Line, the 160-km steel-and-glass structure sketched by the Red Sea. Reuters, citing two sources familiar with the matter, reports that Riyadh is “quietly shelving” the project. The MEED Projects platform lists the stadium as on hold, with no completion date: the NEOM Stadium never left the drawing board.

The bill weighs. The stadium was priced at $2.5 billion, the fifteen venues presented for the tournament at $22.7 billion in total.

The economy has changed in the meantime. The war in Iran has disrupted energy deliveries, Houthi attacks have added to the strain, and the finance ministry expects a wider deficit and a 3.6% contraction in real GDP, driven by falling oil activity. Reuters links the decision to delays and to the downscaling of the host development. The Line itself has been pushed back: Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the PIF, which owns Neom, admitted in April that it was no longer vital before 2030, while denying any cancellation.

Riyadh has confirmed nothing

Nothing is official. Neom Company and the government media office did not respond to Reuters; the sports ministry passed the question to the authority in charge of the 2034 World Cup, which pointed to progress on the other sites without a word on the stadium. Foot Mercato notes that Riyadh has not officially confirmed the abandonment.

The tournament keeps its other fourteen venues

The 2034 World Cup, awarded to Saudi Arabia by FIFA in December 2024, remains the first 48-team tournament staged by a single country. The other venues are due between 2026 and 2033, starting with the Aramco Stadium in Al Khobar: delivery by the end of 2026, first match in January 2027. The country loses the most spectacular venue of its bid, not the tournament itself. At Neom, what remains is a pitch drawn 350 metres off the ground.