Vietnam's Vingroup accelerates construction of 'world's largest stadium' despite doubts

HANOI — Vietnam’s Vingroup (VIC.HM) is accelerating construction in Hanoi on what it says will be the world’s largest stadium, betting that future demand will emerge to make the 135,000-seat venue financially viable over the long term.

Thousands of workers are operating around the clock at the site, about 25 kilometres (15.5 miles) south of central Hanoi, with completion targeted for July 2027, a Vingroup representative told Reuters during a site visit this week. That schedule is a year ahead of the original plan announced in December.

Vingroup said the stadium will have the world’s largest seating capacity and feature the largest fully retractable roof of its kind. The company, Vietnam’s largest by market capitalization, is simultaneously developing major infrastructure projects including a high-speed railway, urban developments and wind power plants.

The world’s largest stadium by capacity is currently the Rungrado 1st of May Stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea, which is widely cited as holding about 150,000 people, although estimates vary and some observers place its actual capacity below 120,000.

Vingroup said the project is designed to host major sporting and cultural events, including large-scale concerts, as part of its long-term commercial strategy.

“While football is hugely popular in Vietnam, it is unlikely that a 135,000-seat stadium could be justified on domestic football demand alone,” said James Walton, sports business group leader at Deloitte Asia Pacific. He noted that Vietnam’s top-tier V.League 1 averaged fewer than 6,000 spectators per match in the 2023–24 season.

Vingroup declined to disclose financial targets but said it expects the facility to be commercially sustainable over the long term.

The company is facing broader financial pressures, with liabilities reaching $36.7 billion last year, equivalent to more than 4% of Vietnam’s total private debt in 2025. The figure excludes additional debt held by privately affiliated companies.

Named the Trong Dong Stadium after the traditional Vietnamese bronze drum, the facility is part of a Vingroup-led $35 billion “Olympic Sports City” development spanning more than 9,000 hectares (22,200 acres) on the outskirts of Hanoi.

Walton said integrating the stadium into a wider urban development could improve long-term financial viability, noting that most modern national stadiums typically seat between 60,000 and 80,000 people.

The project is part of Vietnam’s broader infrastructure push aimed at supporting annual economic growth of at least 10% through the end of the decade, a key goal of the ruling Communist Party.

Authorities have announced hundreds of large-scale infrastructure projects worth an estimated $200 billion by 2030, including airports, seaports, bridges and railways.

Quynh Nguyen, a finance lecturer at Hoa Sen University in Ho Chi Minh City, said modernization is necessary but warned about risks related to bank exposure and financing.

“In a growing country like Vietnam, infrastructure often needs to precede demand,” said Tran Thi Mong Tuyen, a researcher at the Hawaii-based Pacific Forum, adding that there are risks of underused infrastructure and delayed returns on investment.

-Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; Additional reporting by Phuong Nguyen and Khanh Vu; Editing by Ed Davies/Reuters