Stadium construction put on hold

A stadium with 46,000 seats, built at 350 meters above ground level—higher than the Eiffel Tower—was intended to be among the 15 stadiums for the 2034 World Cup. The Saudi bid document described it as "the most unique stadium in the world."

Project status unclear

According to Reuters, citing two anonymous sources, the stadium has recently been put aside for an indefinite period. Riyadh has not confirmed this, and Neom and the government press office have not responded to the agency's questions.

Construction progress slow

The authority responsible for organizing the 2034 World Cup has only indicated that a "substantial delivery" of construction milestones is ongoing, without mentioning the stadium or its cost. Data from MEED Projects, a Dubai-based monitoring service, classify the project as "on hold," with an expected cost of $2.5 billion and no delivery date.

The Line project scaled back

The Neom stadium, at 350 meters above ground, has been put aside for an indefinite period. The Line was planned to be 170 kilometers long, but according to the press, about 2.4 kilometers have been excavated. Neom is postponing all new work on The Line until after 2030.

Ambitious vision from 2021

To understand why this stadium was at the top of a construction site that has stopped, we need to go back to 2021. That year, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman presented The Line: 170 km long, 200 m wide, 500 m high, for 9 million inhabitants. Nine million is approximately the population of Austria, aligned along a distance greater than that between Paris and Rouen.

Stadium location within The Line

In this wall with a height equivalent to one and a half times the Eiffel Tower, the stadium was to be inserted at 350 meters altitude. In October 2022, excavations began along the entire length of the route, a straight trench opened in the desert in the northwest of the country. However, several media outlets mention that only about 2.4 km have actually been excavated, or 1.4% of the 170 km promised, a figure reported by the press and not confirmed by a primary source.

Uncertain financial figures

The amounts circulating around the project are press estimates, not published budgets. According to these articles, the bill would be between $100 and $200 billion initially, and Semafor recalls that The Line was presented as a project exceeding $1 trillion. Internal figures reported by the press go up to $880 billion, or 44 times the upper end of the first range.

Strategic review and funding shift

On May 22, 2026, Semafor reveals that Neom is postponing all new work on The Line until after 2030. The sovereign wealth fund PIF, which controls Neom, is redirecting its spending to infrastructure such as ports and data centers. According to the media, which relies on sources close to the matter, the decision follows a strategic review conducted by Aiman al-Mudaifer, the general director of Neom appointed last year.

Population targets revised

Semafor also highlights deficits and lower-than-expected foreign investments. The population target for 2030 is also revised: up to 100,000 inhabitants for the entire Neom, or about 1% of the 9 million announced in 2021. Trojena, the mountain station that was to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games, will not receive new investments before 2030 either, according to the same sources.

Reduction in stadium plans

From the stadium to five venues, the retreat continues. The governor of the PIF, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, had prepared the ground in April 2026. He stated that The Line was no longer a priority and was not vital before the 2030 deadline, while denying that any project had been canceled. To date, Saudi authorities have not officially announced any cancellations.

Abandoning five stadiums

On October 14, Semafor went further. According to the media, the PIF is preparing to inform FIFA that it is abandoning five new stadiums: that of Neom, but also those of Qiddiya, King Abdullah Economic City, Roshn and New Murabba. Instead of eight new venues for 2034, only three would remain.

Stadium's dependency on The Line

Semafor adds that Neom has allocated no funding to The Line before at least 2030. This stadium only made sense if it was adjacent to The Line: at 350 m, it requires an already built supporting structure, transport links and water and electricity supplies capable of handling a match night. However, the construction is on hold, and no public schedule indicates when these prerequisites would exist.

Financial impact on World Cup

To measure its weight, MEED estimates the total cost of World Cup-related projects at $22.7 billion, of which $2.5 billion for this single venue, or about 11%. However, Saudi Arabia will still host the 2034 World Cup. The word "cancellation" remains premature: neither Neom nor the government have confirmed the abandonment of the stadium, and Reuters relies on anonymous sources.

Design changes without budget

As for the project itself, Semafor specifies that the two mirror towers must be redesigned, with no known completion date or new budget allocated.