2029 Asian Winter Games in Saudi Arabia Postponed

Only five months ago, the OCA was said to have denied a report from Reuters saying that it had contacted officials in South Korea and China about taking over as potential replacement hosts. Meanwhile, a story in Singapore-based publication The Strait Times suggested that the construction of the ski resort project in Trojena had been delayed, despite being planned for completion this year.

The SOPC and the OCA said that they had agreed on a “revised framework” to host a “series of standalone winter sports events in the coming years.”

They added that the competitions are designed to “promote winter sports, broaden participation, and develop a stronger pipeline of athletes, technical officials, and practitioners”, and that the delay would provide “additional preparation time to support wider regional representation at future Asian winter events.”

Saudi Vision 2030

NEOM is the flagship mega-project as part of Saudi Vision 2030, a government initiative which sets out to diversify the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s economy away from a reliance on oil. Worth between $500 billion and $1 trillion, NEOM will include the ski resort of Trojena and proposed port city The Line (over 170 kilometres long), and is one of 14 mega-projects planned in the Kingdom.

NEOM Stadium is also set to be one of the host venues for the 2034 Men’s FIFA World Cup in Saudi Arabia, with a proposed capacity of 46,000 people.