At the end of October 2025, a video of a futuristic arena project located on the roof of a skyscraper spread on social networks. We have verified the accuracy of this video.
Viral posts claim that Saudi Arabia has unveiled a design for the world's first stadium on the roof of a skyscraper. It is said to be called Neom, open in 2032 and host several World Cup matches two years later. The posts are accompanied by a video with a three-dimensional animation of an unusual, expanding skyscraper, in the upper part of which there is a stadium bowl. The video was published by such Telegram channels as Insider UA (326,000 views at the time of writing this analysis) and “Truthfulness» (139,000), Facebook users (1, 2, 3) And Instagram. The agency wrote about the proposed construction of this skyscraper TASS (no video, but with a link to an article on the website Gulf News, which contains his screenshots) and other Russian media.
In 2024, Saudi Arabia was announced host of the 2034 FIFA World Cup. At the same time, now in this country only two stadiums fully meet FIFA requirements for the World Cup. In his application Saudi Arabia has promised that there will be 15 of them for the tournament, so the kingdom will have to build many sports arenas in the coming years.
There really is a project to build a high-rise stadium in Saudi Arabia. It is planned to be built in a futuristic metropolis Neom, which is being built on the shores of the Red Sea in the northwest of the country. “Showcasing cutting-edge innovation, Neom Stadium will be the most unique in the world. It will become the home arena for the Saudi Arabian professional team,” the statement reads. application kingdom to host the World Cup.
In the same document you can find out details about the project. The stadium will be located in The Line, an unusual linear city within Neom, which will be 170 km long, 200 m wide and 500 m high. “All World Cup events in Neom will take place in the first area of The Line, which will be completely ready before the competition begins. This site, built in one of the largest man-made marinas in the world, includes a stadium, FIFA Fan Festival site and other venues associated with the tournament,” the application states. The arena for 46,000 spectators, as stated in viral posts, will be located at an altitude of 350 m above the ground and run entirely on wind and solar energy.
Visualization of the project is presented in the application and also published in a verified blog Neom on the social network X. This stadium does not even remotely resemble the arena from the viral video.
It is noteworthy that in early October a video of another The (also fictional) version of the project was more conservative: the stadium was located on the flat top of a high-rise building. Apparently, because this video did not look as impressive as the later one, it did not become as viral.
Thus, although Saudi Arabia is indeed planning to build a stadium at an altitude of 350 m, the video distributed on social networks has nothing to do with its actual project.
Cover photo: screenshot of a viral video
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