Images of world’s first ‘sky stadium’ a lesson in fake news
Images of the world’s first “sky stadium” project in Saudi Arabia have gone viral across the globe but a closer look reveals they aren’t real. So what will the 350m high stadium really look like?
READING LEVEL: GREEN
Saudi Arabia is set to build the world’s first “sky stadium” – only it might not be quite what you were expecting.
The venue, currently called the NEOM* Stadium, is set to be built far above ground level, at a dizzying 350m height, and a new unofficial concept video has sparked a huge buzz on social media.
AI generated* images show a football stadium perched atop a skyscraper, as if floating high above the city. It seems too crazy to be true – and that’s because it is too crazy to be true.
While the images have been shared widely across social media channels and even appeared in news stories, they have not been verified* as official plans released by the Saudi government.
But they look so dazzling, they have caused quite a stir online, with many people believing they are a new concept for one of a series of futuristic stadiums planned for construction ahead of Saudi Arabia’s hosting of the 2034 World Cup.
However, just because something has gone viral, that doesn’t mean it is actually true.
THE REAL NEOM STADIUM
Last year, Saudi Arabia released 15 concepts for hi-tech stadiums to be completed before the tournament.
Among those was an idea for “NEOM Stadium”, a sporting ground set to be nested within the ambitious – and as yet unbuilt – NEOM “The Line”, an entire city meant to be built in a long sideways skyscraper housing up to nine million people.
A closer look at official documents shows that this original idea for NEOM Stadium hasn’t changed.
The so-called NEOM megacity is a planned urban* development project, announced in 2017. Its official site states that the mirrored horizontal development will stretch across 170km from NEOM’s mountains to the Red Sea and measure 500m high and 200m wide. There won’t be any roads or cars within the enclosed city. Instead, everything will be built so that daily essentials are a five-minute walk away. There will also be a high speed rail network.
The Saudi Arabia’s 2034 World Cup bid book, published by FIFA in November 2024, shows the plan remains to nest the NEOM Stadium in The Line.
The stadium’s planned capacity was set at 45,000 and its elevation 350m above ground with “a roof created by the city itself.” Like the whole of The Line, the stadium will be powered entirely by renewable energy*.
While not perched at the top of a traditional skyscraper, NEOM Stadium as described will still be 40m higher than the top of The Shard in London, which is Britain’s tallest building.
Construction on the stadium is planned to start in 2027 in order to be completed by 2032, in time to host games at the FIFA World Cup two years later.
Among the other grounds planned for construction ahead of the tournament, one highlight is the King Salman Stadium, the biggest of the proposed venues.
The ground is set to house 92,000 people and serve as the new home of the Saudi national football team.
Other stadiums feature glitzy designs such as mimicking a rock canyon formation, or being built into the side of a cliff face.
Saudi Arabia was officially awarded the rights to host the 2034 tournament in December last year.
A joint bid led by Morocco, Spain and Portugal has been awarded the 2030 hosting rights.
The 2026 World Cup will be co-hosted by the USA, Canada and Mexico.
— This story originally appeared on The Sun and has been republished with permission.
WATCH THE VIDEO THAT TRICKED FOOTBALL FANS ACROSS THE GLOBE
POLL
GLOSSARY
- AI generated: created using a generative tool powered by Artificial Intelligence, that enables you to enter a series of prompts in order to direct machine learning to create a picture, video or piece of text
- NEOM: coming from the Greek word Neo, meaning new, with the M at the end of the word standing for the Arabic word Mostaqbal, which means future. M is also the first letter of the name of the founder of the project and the Saudi Arabia Crown Prince and Prime Minister Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz
- verified: confirmed, backed up or proved
- urban: relating to a city environment
- renewable energy: energy from a source that is not depleted once it is used, such as wind or solar energy
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QUICK QUIZ
- How high up in the sky will the proposed NEOM Stadium be?
- How many spectators will it hold?
- How long is NEOM’s The Line going to be?
- How many people could it house?
- When will Saudi Arabia host the FIFA World Cup?
LISTEN TO THIS STORY
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Saudi Stadiums
What benefits does the Saudi Arabian government get from hosting the 2032 World Cup of soccer to make it worthwhile for them to spend millions on new stadiums and infrastructure?
List the economic and social benefits below:
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Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking
2. Extension
What problems may come from having a 45,000 seat stadium 350 metres above the ground? List any problems you can think of:
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Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking
VCOP ACTIVITY
Wow word recycle
There are plenty of wow words (ambitious pieces of vocabulary) being used in the article. Some are in the glossary, but there might be extra ones from the article that you think are exceptional as well.
Identify all the words in the article that you think are not common words, and particularly good choices for the writer to have chosen.
Select three words you have highlighted to recycle into your own sentences.
If any of the words you identified are not in the glossary, write up your own glossary for them.
Extension
Find a bland sentence from the article to up-level. Can you add more detail and description? Can you replace any base words with more specific synonyms?
Down-level for a younger audience. Find a sentence in the article that is high level. Now rewrite it for a younger audience so they can understand the words without using the glossary.