SAUDI ARABIA has quietly shelved plans to build a new £1.9billion stadium for the 2034 World Cup.
The NEOM Stadium, a 46,000-seater venue, had been tipped to become one of the most ambitious projects in world football.
It was initially , inside The Line – a planned 170km-long smart city.
However, plans to build the unique stadium will no longer go ahead.
The Line project has been radically scaled back and construction delayed until at least 2030 due to extreme costs.
MEED Projects – a construction market intelligence platform – lists the stadium as “on hold” with no expected completion date.
The megaproject of NEOM was first launched in 2017 with plans envisioning multiple regions, a global trade hub, tourist resorts, Oxagon – a floating industrial complex – and The Line.
However, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) which owns NEOM, revealed in April that The Line was no longer a priority.
Despite the setback regarding the NEOM Stadium, other grounds are still undergoing work to prepare for the in eight years.
Saudi Arabia is working on 15 venues across five cities for the first 48-team World Cup to be hosted by a single nation.
MEED estimates the overall stadium and related project value to be $17bn.
The King Fahd Stadium in Riyadh is undergoing renovation and Aramco Stadium in Al Khobar is nearing completion.
