King Fahad Stadium is being prepared for 2034
At its eastern edge Riyadhthe King Fahad Sports City Stadium rises with the familiar silhouette of a landmark that has hosted Saudi football, concerts and national gatherings since the late 1980s.
It opened in 1987 as the first large scale stage of its kind in the area, the space is now entering a major renovation led by Populous in collaboration with the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Sports as the country prepares to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup.
The project looks beyond a simple upgrade of seats and services. It will expand capacity, renew the stadium’s technical systems and reshape the surrounding area into a mixed-use sports park that can support major soccer tournaments, major entertainment events and community activity throughout the year.
The King Fahad Stadium will also serve as the focal point for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, giving the renovation a closer horizon ahead of the 2034 global focus.
visualizations courtesy of Populous
Preservation of a national landmark
The design of Populous retains key elements of the original Riyadh stadium, while adapting them for new requirements. The existing east stand will be retained and renovated, along with the facilities below it, while the west side will retain the iconic beehive structure and royal areas of the venue.
These decisions from architects keep the stadium’s recognizable bowl intact, even as the building acquires the media, operations and hospitality infrastructure required for international events.
Capacity will be increased through a new lower tier created by excavating ten meters into the ground. Instead of removing soil from the site, the project will reuse it to shape the surrounding landscape, where training facilities and public amenities will be clustered around the stadium.
The plan includes a football academy, sports centre, amphitheater, fan zone, five-a-side football pitches, golf course and commercial spaces, transforming the former perimeter into a wider destination.
The King Fahad Sports City Stadium is being renovated ahead of the 2034 FIFA World Cup
Reuse of the pitch fabric
Much of renovation is shaped by reuse. The original roof dome had reached the end of its useful life and could no longer support the audiovisual rigging required for modern concerts, however its structural webs and cables will remain within the project.
These elements will be reworked as photovoltaic shading structures over the parking lots, producing enough energy to meet the stadium’s non-event electricity needs, including on-site electric vehicle charging stations.
Other parts of the existing space will also move into new roles. The hexagonal cladding that once wrapped the ramps and podium will be re-laid on the park’s landscape terraces and used to clad a new energy center and substation.
Seats, sanitary ware and lampposts are being removed during construction for reuse in community initiatives, while more than 400 existing trees around the stadium will be relocated and replanted within the new park.
the 1987 stadium will retain key parts of its original bowl and skyline profile
New dome and cooler bowl
To maintain the profile of the stadium on the Riyadh skyline, Populous will introduce a new structural fabric system capable of carrying the loads of modern entertainment events.
A 36,000 square meter cable-net roof canopy will stretch over the seating basin and the podium, bringing back the shaded quality that has long defined the spectator experience, while giving the stadium the technical prowess expected of a World Cup venue.
Inside the bowl, Populous’ sustainability department has developed a new displacement cooling strategy in response to Riyadh’s climate. After studying heat build-up on concrete seating terraces, the team proposed semi-automatic deployable covers that reflect sunlight during the day and reduce heat absorption prior to events.
Tests show the system can reduce the temperature of the concrete by up to 8 degrees Celsius, reducing radiant heat when the covers are retracted for match time and reducing the strain on the stadium’s cooling systems.
a new 36000 square meter cable dome will bring shade back to the seat
a new lower tier will be carved 10 meters into the ground to expand capacity
