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By Joe Edwards
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A striking video depicting a football stadium suspended inside a towering skyscraper is being shared online as Saudi Arabia's vision for the 2034 World Cup.
The Claim
The post depicts a futuristic supertall skyscraper rising above a dense, brightly lit city at night. Suspended within the upper section is an open-air football stadium, illuminated by floodlights.
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“Saudi Arabia has released images of its ‘sky stadium’ which will be built for the 2034 World Cup,” read a caption accompanying the video. “The stadium is planned to be located at a height of 350 meters. It will be part of a new ‘city of the future’ currently being built.”
The post has received almost 3 million views on social media platform X as of reporting.
Reactions suggested some users believed the design was genuine, with several commenters raising concerns about emergency exits and evacuation procedures for spectators hundreds of meters above ground. For reference, 350 meters is 1,148.29 feet, or 76 cars stacked bumper to bumper into the sky.
The Facts
The post carried X’s “Made with AI” label, which allows creators to disclose that material was generated or altered using artificial intelligence*.* A Community Note underneath the post also noted the video was AI-generated and not an official Saudi release. “[Saudi Arabia] plans a NEOM Stadium 350m high integrated into The Line for the 2034 World Cup but the design differs from this viral skyscraper render,” it said.
As Newsweek previously reported, Saudi Arabia had proposed a 46,000-capacity stadium perched on a cliff that's more than 1,150 feet (350 meters) above ground level in NEOM, Saudi Arabia's planned futuristic smart city.
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However, the real NEOM Stadium renderings depicted a stadium integrated into The Line megaproject, with a broad horizontal structure embedded into the development, rather than a football stadium suspended inside a freestanding trophy-shaped skyscraper.
Newsweek was unable to request comment from the account via X, as the account does not accept direct messages. Newsweek reached out to NEOM for comment via email.
This also isn’t the first time the video has circulated on social media.
The clip was previously debunked by AFP Fact Check in 2025, which found that although Saudi Arabia was planning an elevated stadium as part of its NEOM megacity project and 2034 FIFA World Cup preparations, the viral imagery did not show an official design.
AFP reported that a source familiar with the project said the skyscraper-style stadium depicted in the clip was "completely fabricated" and did not appear in any official project materials. AFP also found no evidence of the design in NEOM's published plans or Saudi Arabia's World Cup bid documents at the time.
AFP traced the viral visuals to social media accounts operated by Hypora UltraWorks, which it said had published AI-generated depictions of futuristic infrastructure and cities. The same clip appeared on the creator's TikTok, Instagram and Facebook accounts, where it was described as an "aerial flyby of a skyscraper stadium design" and labeled as AI-generated on TikTok, according to the outlet.
AFP reported that the creator later said the video was a "100% AI concept" and that he was unaware of any Saudi Arabian stadium project when he produced it, describing the work as an exercise in imagining what a vertical, skyscraper-style football venue might look like.
The Ruling
False. Saudi Arabia had proposed an elevated stadium within the NEOM project for the 2034 World Cup, but the viral skyscraper video has been shown to be an independent AI-generated concept, not released as an official Saudi design.
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