HANOI, June 11 (Reuters) - Vietnam's Vingroup is accelerating construction in Hanoi of 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, to complete the venue by July 2027, a Vingroup representative told Reuters during a site visit this week. The completion date would be a year ahead of the initial plan unveiled in December.
The stadium will have "the world's largest seating capacity" and will also feature the biggest fully retractable roof, said Vingroup, Vietnam's largest firm by market capitalisation, which is simultaneously working on multiple projects, including a high-speed railway, urban developments and wind power plants.
The world's current biggest venue, according to the International Olympic Committee, is the Rungrado Stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea, with a cited capacity of 150,000, although some observers have questioned the figure and counted fewer than 120,000 seats.
Vingroup said the project's scale reflects plans to host large sporting and cultural events, including concerts.
"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 Vietnam's top-tier V.League 1 averaged fewer than 6,000 spectators per match in the 2023-24 season.
Vingroup declined to give financial targets, but said it expected the facility to be commercially sustainable long term.
The company faces broader pressures from its financial liabilities, which stood at $36.7 billion last year, accounting for more than 4% of Vietnam's total private debt in 2025. The figure excludes additional debt in private affiliated companies.
DRUM-SHAPED STADIUM
The Trong Dong Stadium, named after the traditional Vietnamese bronze drum, is part of a Vingroup-led $35-billion development of an "Olympic Sports City" designed to host major global events and covering more than 9,000 hectares (22,200 acres) on the outskirts of the capital.
"Being part of a broader urban development can improve the project's long-term financial sustainability," said Walton, who noted many modern national stadiums typically have a 60,000- to 80,000-seat capacity.
The project is part of a massive push to modernise Vietnam's infrastructure and sustain economic growth of at least 10% annually until the end of the decade, which is an explicit goal of the ruling Communist Party.
Authorities have announced hundreds of large-scale projects worth an estimated $200 billion by 2030, including airports, seaports, bridges and railways.
Quynh Nguyen, finance lecturer at Hoa Sen University in Ho Chi Minh City, said modernisation was necessary, but caution was warranted about banks' exposure and funding risks.
"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, also flagging risks of underused infrastructure and delayed investment returns.
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; Additional reporting by Phuong Nguyen, Khanh VuEditing by Ed Davies)
