Qiddiya’s $1bn MBS Stadium on track despite cutbacks

• Will ‘start taking shape’ next year
• Completion expected by 2031
• Situated on 200-metre-high clifftop

Prince Mohammed bin Salman Stadium, part of Saudi Arabia’s Qiddiya giga-project, should “start taking shape by the middle of next year”, despite the challenges associated with delivery and cutbacks to other big infrastructure schemes, its designers told AGBI.

The stadium is being built on a cliff overlooking Qiddiya and requires cranes and construction equipment to work alongside a sheer 200-metre drop. It also has LED screens covering much of the stadium and cliff face.

“It’s a very ambitious stadium,” said Shireen Hamdan, global director of architectural company Populous, which designed the venue. “It’s a three-sided stadium, with the world’s largest movable screen, movable pitch, movable roof.”

The stadium is scheduled to host fixtures at the 2034 Fifa World Cup. Hamdan, senior principal on the project, said it would be delivered “way before” that.

“It’s not a fast-track project,” she said, adding that she expects the stadium to be finished before 2031.

Populous describes the 45,000-seat stadium as “something out of a sci-fi movie”. The exterior and interior will be covered with electronic displays, allowing for the stadium itself to act as a screen. It incorporates cooling technology and an immersive audio system.

“Qiddiya is all about play,” Hamdan said. “[Qiddiya Investment Company] wanted a playful stadium that’s fully integrated with the landscape coming out of the mountain.”

Illustrations of how the stadium will look show a three-sided arena with an open face looking out over the cliff, a design directive that Populous says came from the crown prince, after whom the venue is named.

Construction is being led by Spanish contractor FCC in a consortium with Nesma & Partners, a Saudi company in which the Public Investment Fund has a stake.

The construction contract, awarded in October last year, totalled SAR4 billion ($1.1 billion). Populous says the ultimate cost of the stadium is bound to be much more.

For comparison, the Populous-designed Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London cost £1 billion ($1.4 billion) in 2019. While it has a larger capacity than MBS Stadium, with nearly 63,000 seats, it was completed before the post-Covid inflation of construction materials and lacks the complexity of being on a cliff.

Sovereign wealth fund PIF, which is bankrolling MBS Stadium, has indicated an intention to pull back on big spending projects.

In March, AGBI reported that the PIF had ordered cuts across more than 100 companies. Projects associated with high-profile upcoming events, including the men’s football World Cup, have been marked as a priority.

Saudi Arabia has earmarked 15 stadiums to host the World Cup. Some are existing structures undergoing varying degrees of renovation but most are being built from scratch. Populous is involved in 11 stadiums.

Aramco Stadium in Al Khobar, a 47,000-seat arena, is under construction on a fast-track schedule to be ready for the 2027 Asian Cup. Images from October show that the main structure is complete and the facade, designed to resemble overlapping sails in reference to Khobar’s maritime history, is starting to take shape. It is scheduled for completion next year.

Progress on the other World Cup stadiums is harder to discern. Satellite images show little sign of construction across sites planned in Riyadh and Jeddah.

Neom Stadium, which will sit at a height of 350 metres, slightly taller than the Eiffel Tower, depends on construction of The Line, the 170km-long city planned in the country’s northeast. 

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On a recent visit to Qiddiya, AGBI could see the earthworks in place for MBS Stadium, with the rockface cleared to make way for its foundations. The next stage is piling, Hamdan said, after which the structure will start to appear.

Beyond 2034, MBS Stadium is due to host Saudi Pro League football clubs Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr. Post-World Cup plans are being incorporated into the stadium’s design to ensure it has a function long after the tournament ends, Hamdan said. 

“They’re very conscious they don’t want to build white elephants,” she said.