The internet can turn a concept sketch into a global sensation. In late October 2025, millions of people across X, TikTok, and YouTube watched a video showing what appeared to be a floating football stadium — a glowing bowl suspended 350 metres above the desert, nestled within Saudi Arabia’s futuristic city, NEOM: The Line. The captions were breathless: this was, they claimed, the NEOM Sky Stadium, a billion-dollar venue for the 2034 FIFA World Cup. It looked like the future of football. It wasn’t.

Saudi Arabia’s official bid book for the 2034 FIFA World Cup lists 15 stadiums across Riyadh, Jeddah, Al Khobar, Abha, and NEOM. One of them, the NEOM Stadium, is described as being “more than 350 metres above ground level, within The Line.” That last phrase — “within The Line” — is

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