Saudi Arabia details ambitious 2034 World Cup stadiums and project building plan to FIFA

PARIS: Saudi Arabia detailed a massive stadium building project on Wednesday (Jul 31) to host the 2034 World Cup, with one venue 350m above ground in a planned futuristic city.

A 46,000-seat stadium in the Neom megaproject along the Red Sea coast is “designed to stand out among the world’s most iconic landmarks,” according to the first overall World Cup plan published by Saudi soccer officials.

The Neom stadium is set to link to a network of tram-like vehicles running in “horizontal transport corridors ... placed at 30, 150, 250, 350 and 450m above ground,” the Saudi plans stated.

The World Cup project includes a previously announced plan for a stadium atop a 200m cliff near the capital Riyadh, with an entire wall of LED screens that opens out to views of the city.

Riyadh is set to have eight of 15 stadiums of at least 45,000 seats, the tournament plan said, with four in the Red Sea city Jeddah and one each in Al Khobar, Abha and Neom.

A 92,000-seat stadium in Riyadh set to host the final is one of eight that are currently just design plans. Four of the 15 stadiums will refurbish existing venues and three new stadiums are currently being built.

The scale of construction is likely to cost hundreds of billions of dollars in Saudi Arabia over the next decade.

It echoes the national modernisation plan that Qatar undertook for the 2022 World Cup, which was played in November and December to avoid the region’s searing desert heat in June and July.

Qatar faced intense scrutiny on its labor laws and working conditions for hundreds of thousands of migrant workers, and Saudi Arabia can expect similar questions. At the UN Human Rights Council review of Saudi Arabia in January, widespread concerns raised included Australia noting