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Riyadh Developers Reveal New 45,000-Seat Murabba Stadium
The ambitious project, projected to be completed by 2032, will transform the Saudi capital’s downtown.
The New Murabba Development Company — part of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) — has revealed its ambitious plans for a new state-of-the-art stadium for Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh.
With a capacity exceeding 45,000 spectators, the Murabba Stadium will transform the city’s landscape and become an international hub for sports, entertainment and culture.
Michael Dyke, Al Murabba CEO, underscored the stadium’s significance, explaining, “This new stadium embodies Riyadh’s evolution into a vibrant global hub. It underscores our commitment to developing world-class infrastructure that showcases Saudi Arabia’s ongoing transformation”.
The massive architectural project, earmarked for completion by the end of 2032, will be far more than a simple sports and event venue. Its innovative structure, inspired by the multi-layered, scaly bark of the acacia tree, represents the coming together of Saudi tradition and modern innovation. This design philosophy is part of an overriding vision for a completely new square in Riyadh’s downtown area.
The Murabba Stadium is designed to provide an unrivaled experience for sports fans and event goers, with multi-purpose configurations that allow concerts, gaming tournaments, exhibitions, and educational gatherings to be hosted.
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The building is expected to play a vital role in boosting Riyadh’s tourist and consumer economy, and designers hope that the development will also help to further the Kingdom’s ambitious development goals and Vision 2030 strategy.
With its breathtaking design and multifunctional event-hosting capabilities, the Murabba Stadium is set to become an iconic Riyadh landmark, epitomizing the capital city’s aspirations and Saudi Arabia’s dynamic future as it diversifies away from an oil-based economy.
News
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
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The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
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