Did Indonesian media confuse Vietnam's largest stadium in the world?

Indonesian media surprisingly made an error by claiming the Trống Đồng Stadium ranks only second worldwide.

Vietnam’s sports and construction sectors have just marked a historic milestone as the Trống Đồng Stadium officially broke ground within the Olympic Sports City complex. This mega project, funded by Vingroup with a total investment of up to 925 trillion VND, quickly became the focal point of regional and international media attention.

According to the developer's announcement, Trống Đồng Stadium will have a seating capacity of 135,000, surpassing all existing venues to become the largest stadium in the world upon completion. Not only impressive in scale, the project will also set another record with the largest retractable roof system on the planet, enabling continuous hosting of sports, cultural, and entertainment events regardless of weather conditions. The stadium is expected to be completed by August 2028.

However, recently, the well-known Indonesian sports news page Sepakbola Indonesia Fansbook published information suggesting that Trống Đồng Stadium ranks only second in the world by capacity. Specifically, this fanpage stated that Vietnam’s new stadium is behind North Korea’s Rungrado 1st of May Stadium but ahead of India’s Narendra Modi Stadium.

This information is considered inaccurate and reflects some confusion in how capacity is calculated. In fact, Rungrado 1st of May is North Korea’s largest sports facility, operational since 1989 in Pyongyang. For many years, it hosted North Korea’s national team matches and was chosen as a venue for the 2018 AFC U23 Asian Cup qualifiers.

Rungrado makes a strong visual impression with its roof shaped like layered petals covering two massive tiers of seating inside. However, it is also the stadium most debated for its actual seating capacity. While some sources, including information once on the International Olympic Committee’s website, state a capacity of 150,000 people, independent surveys (notably by Stadium Database) confirm direct inspections show only about 114,000 fixed seats. The remainder is estimated capacity based on standing room, similar to calculations used for many older stadiums historically.

Therefore, based on the criterion of fixed seating, Vietnam’s Trống Đồng Stadium with 135,000 seats will be the largest stadium in the world in the future, surpassing both Rungrado 1st of May and Narendra Modi Stadium (132,000 seats). This is not only a source of pride for Vietnamese sports, but also affirms Vietnam’s growing stature on the global stage of major sports facilities.