Saudi Arabia’s World Cup bid outlines 11 new stadiums

Saudi 2034

• Stadium proposed within The Line
• Bid centred on five cities
• No costs or dates confirmed

Saudi Arabia plans to build 11 new stadiums as part of its 2034 World Cup bid, including one inside its horizontal city The Line, but without any breakdown of the costs. 

The Saudi bid – which is expected to win formal Fifa approval this year – centres on five cities: Riyadh, Jeddah, Khobar, Abha and Neom’s The Line, which will have a stadium on its upper levels at 350 metres high. 

Most of the stadiums have a completion deadline of 2032 and some, such as Qiddiya, are part of the giga-projects at the heart of the country’s social and economic transformation strategy. 

---

---

A further four existing stadiums will undergo refurbishment, and most of Saudi Arabia’s existing football grounds will be used for team training and preparation. 

The document gives no cost breakdown and appears to leave the door open to hosting the tournament during the winter, as neighbouring Qatar did in 2022, despite promises in its initial bid to create cooled environments inside its stadiums.  

“The proposed dates for the event will be determined based on factors including technical and operational readiness, ideal conditions for teams, and providing fans with a seamless and enjoyable experience,” it says. 

• Saudi Arabia formally bids to host Fifa World Cup 2034
• Saudi Arabia’s GDP falls as revenue tightens
• Saudi Arabia scales down plans for 170km Line by 2030

Other countries backed out of the bidding process before the October 31 deadline last year. Saudi Arabia’s complete bid was formally presented in Paris this week. 

Qatar’s bid also came without a price tag but its hosting of the event is thought to have cost $220 billion because of the infrastructure built especially for the event, said Simon Chadwick, sports professor at the Skema Business School in France. The stadiums themselves cost about $10 billion. 

“One suspects that this will be a ‘money’s no object’ tournament, as the country seeks both to create infrastructure that will sustain its positioning as a major event host and to outwardly project an image of modernity and trustworthiness,” Chadwick said.

He added that it was almost certain Fifa would agree to another winter World Cup. 

Saudi 2034

In Saudi Arabia’s case the tourism and infrastructure projects are already in motion as part of its Vision 2030 development programme. 

James Dorsey, author of a book on Middle East sport, said there was a question mark over whether The Line stadium would be finished on time. It emerged in March that original plans for The Line to open in 2030 at 170 km in length have been scaled back to around 2.4 km. 

“To be fair, reducing the number of stadia stipulated in a bid document is not uncommon. Qatar was not the first host to do so,” Dorsey said. 

“As a matter of principle, 11 stadiums in 10 years is ambitious but not impossible. The issue is more with futuristic projects like The Line,” he added. 

Notably, the Neom resort of Trojena – which is to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games – has been left out of the document, apparently in favour of the mountain resort of Abha in south-west Saudi Arabia.  

Faisal Durrani of real estate consultancy Knight Frank said hosting the tournament, after almost two decades of construction projects valued at $1.25 trillion, would be a huge boon for Saudi Arabia’s international standing. 

“It will showcase the country in a way never seen before,” he said.