Social media has been awash this week with a viral video showing what appears to be a football stadium perched atop a skyscraper in Saudi Arabia.

According to details, the clip has circulated with claims that the structure will host matches during the 2034 FIFA World Cup.

The short, unofficial video, presented as a concept design, suggests plans for a US $1 billion, 46,000-seat arena in NEOM – a futuristic city under development in the country’s northwest. The stadium is portrayed as standing 350 metres (1,150 feet) above ground level on a purpose-built tower.

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Uncertainty surrounds the origin of the clip, which has drawn both fascination and doubt online. Viewers have questioned the project’s feasibility, safety and design – including whether the stadium’s silhouette was inspired by the Eye of Sauron.

Despite its convincing visuals, the computer-generated video is fictional. Yet the truth behind Saudi Arabia’s actual plans remains ambitious.

An official NEOM Stadium has already been proposed as one of 15 venues, either new or renovated, for the 2034 FIFA World Cup. Saudi officials intend for the structure to rise 350 metres above ground, forming part of The Line, a planned smart, zero-carbon city stretching more than 100 miles across the province of Tabuk by 2045. The city is designed to operate entirely on renewable energy.

The 46,000-capacity stadium will be developed jointly by NEOM, the Saudi Ministry of Sport and the Public Investment Fund. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2027 and finish in 2032, two years before the tournament begins.

Included in Saudi Arabia’s official 2034 World Cup bid, published by FIFA in November 2024 (p. 107), the NEOM project was described as “the most unique stadium in the world”. Preliminary plans highlight a “striking landmark” in the first district of The Line, centred around a large artificial marina intended as a showpiece of the new city.

Design documents depict the stadium integrated into The Line’s continuous roofline, forming the heart of a sports-focused district featuring a World Cup fan park, hotels, apartments, an airport, a hospital and an electric transport system.

Although more than 1,000 feet above the ground, the stadium would occupy the fourth and fifth tiers of The Line’s five-level megastructure rather than sit exposed on a single tower.

If the viral images achieved anything beyond attracting global attention, they have drawn focus to the scale of Saudi Arabia’s real vision – a 350-metre-high, 100-mile-long city that no longer seems beyond imagination.

Yet one question lingers for any high-altitude arena: what would happen if a football were kicked beyond the top tier and plunged to the ground below? It would take a bold pedestrian to attempt to bring it under control.