As Saudi Arabia prepares to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup, lessons can be learned from the construction of stadiums in Qatar for the 2022 showpiece football tournament, where HKA supported contractors in improving delivery certainty and claims resolution.

The world’s attention will be focused intently both on and off the pitch when hosts Saudi Arabia welcomes millions of football fans to the 2034 World Cup. As with the 2022 event, held in Qatar, success will be measured not only by the quality of the sporting action, but also in the stadium and supporting infrastructure necessary to ensure the smooth running of the prestigious tournament.

Saudi Arabia’s proposed line-up of innovative and sustainable facilities certainly aims to inspire. The Kingdom proposes to use 15 state-of-the-art stadiums, 10 of which will be new and five renovated. The 2034 World Cup will be the first time a single nation has hosted the expanded 48-team format, so much will rely on the Kingdom’s ability to deliver the stadiums on time across the five planned host cities of Riyadh, Jeddah, Khobar, Abha and NEOM.

Ensuring a bold sporting legacy

The broader context for the 2034 World Cup is the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, with multiple stadiums just one of many major construction projects underway. The event-driven deadlines imposed by the World Cup, therefore, pose a daunting challenge to the delivery of a combination of stadiums, facilities, and infrastructure alongside ongoing giga-projects currently being planned.

Bold ambition in stadium and major event infrastructure delivery must be underpinned by robust organisation, disciplined planning, and strong collaboration between employers and contractors. In complex, high‑profile programmes, the risk of delay and dispute remains a consistent challenge, requiring clear governance, defined scopes, and realistic delivery strategies.

Recent developments affecting major international events highlight the importance of aligning design maturity, programme planning, and execution readiness from the outset. For large-scale projects, particularly those involving innovative or non‑traditional environments, early clarity on design development and delivery sequencing is essential to mitigate programme risk and maintain stakeholder confidence.

A structured approach to planning, coupled with effective coordination and proactive risk management, is therefore critical to achieving successful and timely outcomes.

Facing up to the main causes of construction disputes

A key concern for the employer during the stadium construction phase is ensuring that, wherever possible, they avoid disputes that could delay the schedule. The challenges facing employers and contractors are significant, as HKA’s Eighth Annual CRUX Insight Report on the causes of disputes and claims in major construction projects highlights. The report analysed over 2,200 projects in 114 countries with a combined CAPEX of $2.43tn and found that Middle East projects faced the longest schedule overruns.

In Saudi Arabia, the report notes that scope change, cash flow, and payment issues were the main causes of project overruns. Other contributory factors include the late issuance of design information, late approvals and restricted or late access to sites.

Tactical takeaways from Qatar’s World Cup

The success of construction projects like the World Cup also relies on a broad ‘invisible infrastructure’ beyond the physical assets. These include complex contracts, commercial strategies and governance of contracts, claims handling and risk management.

Lessons learned from neighbouring Qatar’s World Cup stadium-building experience could prove invaluable for the Kingdom, particularly with time and cost claims related to design development, late information and scope growth. Claims linked to acceleration and disruption also occurred during Qatar’s stadium construction.

HKA supported a number of stadium and infrastructure projects during the Qatar World Cup preparations, drawing on experience in design, construction and complex programme delivery. HKA benefited from expertise from different jurisdictions, including the Middle East, Australia, the UK and the US, to provide integrated claims, dispute and technical support tailored to the needs of each project.

Qatar used eight World Cup venues, and HKA was involved in handling claims at two of them during their construction. The 2022 World Cup involved the delivery of multiple purpose‑built venues, two of which were subject to contractual claims during construction. One venue required the demolition of an existing facility and its replacement with a new stadium, giving rise to complex sequencing and change‑management challenges. These challenges included late changes to the roof specification and the incorporation of a bespoke cooling solution. As a result, claims were submitted in relation to variations to the works, programme impacts, and associated costs.

At another venue within the same programme, a dispute arose following changes to the original design. The architectural form, retractable roof configuration, and overall scale of the venue increased delivery complexity, particularly in relation to the cooling systems and associated building services.

Qatar’s stadium projects were fast-tracked to ensure they were completed on time. Although contractors were usually involved from an early stage, this did not always include before plan drawings had been finalised.

The employer adopted an established claims framework to help progress the resolution of issues in a structured and collaborative manner. HKA’s delay and quantum experts worked alongside the employer-appointed review committee, engaging on the technical aspects of the projects and supporting constructive dialogue between the parties as programme information and cost submissions were assessed.

Developing a game plan for managing stadium construction risk

Based on experience from Qatar’s World Cup programme, effective delivery of Saudi Arabia’s stadium portfolio will depend on adopting well-considered approaches and disciplined decision‑making across design, procurement, contracting and governance. Key considerations should include:

1. Control design ambition and timing

Ambitious stadium design concepts must be aligned with what can be designed, procured and constructed within fixed event deadlines. Concept designs should be adequately developed by the Employer’s design team. Early contractor involvement should be used to test buildability of the developed concept, supported by clear design verification stage‑gates and enforceable design freezes to limit late change.

2. Accept fast‑tracking, but plan for its consequences

Fast‑tracked delivery is often inevitable for World Cup programmes, but commencing construction ahead of design completion materially increases the risk of variation, disruption and acceleration. Contracts, programmes and contingency allowances should explicitly anticipate this reality rather than assume linear delivery.

3. Put robust governance around change and claims

Late design development and evolving requirements are major drivers of dispute. Clear processes for change control, timely decision‑making, and structured claims management are essential to protect programme certainty and enable issues to be resolved before they escalate.

4. Allocate risk realistically, not rhetorically

Attempting to transfer all time and cost risk to contractors is rarely effective on complex, time‑critical projects. Risk should be allocated to the party best able to manage it, priced transparently, and supported by collaborative behaviours rather than adversarial contract administration.

5. Strengthen programme‑wide coordination

Whether through a single lead contractor or a strong project management consultant, stadium programmes benefit from central oversight of interfaces, design coordination and scheduling. Fragmented packaging without effective integration increases the likelihood of delay and dispute.

6. Plan for external pressures and market constraints

With multiple giga‑projects progressing in parallel under Vision 2030, resource availability, cash flow and supply‑chain resilience should be treated as programme risks in their own right. Ground conditions, weather and geopolitical factors also require realistic contingency planning.

Starring role for the host nation

Impressive as the stadiums will undoubtedly be, once the tournament kicks off, it is the football itself that is likely to live longest in people’s memories. Saudi Arabia’s supporters will be hoping their team can again capture global attention, following their headline‑grabbing group‑stage victory over eventual champions, Argentina, at the 2022 World Cup.

The pressure, however, is on the Kingdom alone to deliver an optimal sporting experience and leave a lasting legacy through its programme of stadiums and supporting infrastructure. By contrast, construction and delivery risks were shared, to a degree, by the co‑hosts of the 2026 tournament (the US, Mexico and Canada) and will be shared again in 2030 across Morocco, Portugal and Spain. Against that backdrop, the Kingdom’s achievement in delivering the stadiums and infrastructure for 2034 will be all the more remarkable.

About the authors

Feras Al Roumani is a Delay Expert, RICS Accredited Expert Witness, and a Managing Director at HKA based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  He is a qualified Civil Engineer with over 29 years of experience in claims preparation, defence, alternative dispute resolution, project management, project control, and contract management. Feras has held positions in several countries, including UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Ghana, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Syria, and Qatar, supporting clients in claim consultancy, delay experts, forensic delay analysis, planning advice, and arbitration support services. His rigorous logic and analytical methods have helped resolve complex disputes involving large and complicated projects. 

Stephen Cochrane is a planning and delay specialist with 19 years of experience providing technical and commercial assistance to employers, contractors, and consultants. He can competently lead challenging commissions and create clear and unbiased accounts of delay quantity and cause at various project stages. He has substantial experience in producing and assessing claims on complex projects and can confidently lead the resolution of disputes by simplifying matters for easy understanding by all parties. Stephen has facilitated successful Expert Witness testimony during arbitration proceedings and undertaken numerous delay and compensation analyses for clients using all industry-accepted methods.

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