The stadium was primarily built as the home ground for Everton FC – one of the oldest and most successful football clubs in England. The square also hosts a memorial to Michael Jones, a construction worker who died during the stadium’s construction. The memorial takes the form of a blue mooring post with a band inscribed with his name.
- Another element recalling the site’s industrial past is the preserved traces of railway tracks.
- In February 2020, Laing O’Rourke was chosen as the main contractor for the new stadium.
- However, the vision could not be realized due to insufficient funding, and instead of a stadium, the Liverpool Arena concert hall was built on the King’s Dock site.
- Earlier, in January 2020, it had been announced that the naming rights would go to Russian company USM Holdings.
- The seating is very steep – the stand angles reach the maximum allowed by regulations – and positioned as close to the pitch as possible.
- The venue was built on top of the existing Bramley Moore dock, which is filled with reclaimed sand from both River Mersey and 20 miles away in the Irish Sea.
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The idea of building a large stadium in this location faced strong opposition from local residents and opposing politicians, and it was abandoned in May 2016. The stadium’s capacity at that time stood at around 40,000, though in earlier years – before seats were installed – it was much higher. Such were the beginnings of one of the most famous rivalries in English football, known as the Merseyside derby. Over time, it was Liverpool FC, founded later, that gained a dominant position and worldwide renown; but it is also worth stressing that Everton remains one of the most historic and decorated clubs in England.
They were removed and safely disposed of by Army and Navy Bomb Disposal teams. In April 2017, the club established a subsidiary called Everton Stadium Development Limited to manage the construction process of the new stadium. Hill Dickinson Stadium is less than a 30-minute walk from the City’s foremost shopping area. Liverpool ONE offers top brands like Zara, Bershka, Urban Outfitters, and Space NK – ideal for filling time before kick-off.
Before moving to their new home at Bramley-Moore Dock, Everton FC had played for many decades at Goodison Park. The origins of that ground go back to a dispute between the club and the owner of the pitch at Anfield Road, where Everton used to play. The East Stand’s Trinity Place Bar is a modern venue dedicated to Everton’s heritage and is a perfect place for fans to gather and socialise. For an in-depth guide to the best Everton premium experiences available at Seat Unique, you can read our blog post here for the best Everton premium packages.
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Kyle Bonn is a Syracuse University broadcast journalism graduate with over a decade of experience covering soccer globally. Kyle specializes in soccer tactics and betting, with a degree in data analytics. Kyle also does TV broadcasts for Wake Forest soccer, and has had previous stops with NBC Soccer and IMG College. When not covering the game, he has long enjoyed loyalty to the New York Giants, Yankees, and Fulham.
Although the stands form a cohesive whole, each side has its own distinctive features. VIP boxes are located on the west (main stand) and east sides, while the stand behind the north goal is slightly lower, revealing a large glass facade. The project was largely financed through private funds and commercial loans, with relatively modest public support of £15 million allocated for the renovation of historic structures within the dock area. The idea of building a new stadium at a different location was already suggested in October 1996 by the club’s then-owner, Peter Johnson. In May 1997, preliminary plans were presented for a 60,000-seat stadium near a golf course on the outskirts of Kirkby. The so-called New Goodison Park plans became obsolete when Peter Johnson resigned from leading the club at the end of 1998.
The stadium also offers guided tours as part of the Hill Dickinson Stadium Tours experience. Everton FC’s previous stadium, Goodison Park, which had been in use since 1892, was initially planned to be demolished after the opening of the new stadium, with the site intended for development. Earlier, in January 2020, it had been announced that the naming rights would go to Russian company USM Holdings. However, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the partnership was terminated. On 14 August 2023, 26-year-old Michael Jones, operating a scissor lift, was crushed between the lift and a beam above, sustaining severe head injuries. Before the dock was filled, its bed was surveyed, during which 12 World War II shells were discovered.
Stadium tours
Village Street, located in the West Stand, is home to four unique bars offering immersive pre-match atmospheres. Premium experiences at Hill Dickinson Stadium features several fan-friendly, bar-focused areas. Hill Dickinson Stadium’s capacity is 52,888, making it the eighth-largest in England.
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The square also features plantings and small architectural elements, including benches decorated with the distinctive lattice motif found on the balustrade of the east stand at Goodison Park. The brick-clad lower part reflects the character of surrounding buildings, such as the Tobacco Warehouse and the Titanic Hotel. The upper part – sleek, metallic, with large “windows” on the sides – stands out from the historic context, emphasizing the stadium’s contemporary style.
Everton decided to leave much of the club’s history — such as statues and other iconography — at Goodison Park, where such history was made, which still stands and hosts Everton’s women’s team as well as other events. Hill Dickinson Stadium holds just under 53,000 fans, with a listed capacity of 52,786 spectators. The stadium capacity was reduced to 52,769 after a review on seat configuration before officially opening. Apart from Everton matches, the stadium can host other events, not only football matches but also cultural and special occasions.
The first competitive match at the new stadium was played on 24 August 2025, when Everton defeated Brighton & Hove Albion 2–0 in the second round of the Premier League. Exactly one year after his death, a monument dedicated to him – a mooring post painted blue – was unveiled on the plaza in front of the new stadium. The most important projects that shaped the discussion about the Toffees’ future stadium over the years and were likely to be realised, included plans for stadiums in Kirkby, King’s Dock, and Walton Hall Park. The stadium hosts Everton’s home Premier League games from the 2025–26 season. This https://traderoom.info/ninjatrader-broker-review/ makes it the second most-expensive stadium of all time in the Premier League, behind Tottenham’s new venue, which cost over £1 billion to build. Sign up to our daily football newsletter and choose your team to get the latest news, rumours and more about your favourite team.
Join us as we take a deep dive into some of the best Premier League news stories from previous generations, while also keeping you up to date with the recent events making the headlines. We we want to bring you the news stories which gained the Premier League the reputation of the best league in the world. However, the club had a change of heart, with the Everton Women’s team to use the iconic venue for their home games moving forwards. Everton will play their first official game in their brand new stadium today when they take on Brighton in the Premier League.
- For an in-depth guide to the best Everton premium experiences available at Seat Unique, you can read our blog post here for the best Everton premium packages.
- Apart from Everton matches, the stadium can host other events, not only football matches but also cultural and special occasions.
- During the planning stage and throughout most of the construction period, the venue had been referred to as Everton Stadium or Bramley-Moore Dock Stadium.
- The origins of that ground go back to a dispute between the club and the owner of the pitch at Anfield Road, where Everton used to play.
On 16 May 2025, it was announced that the stadium’s naming rights had been acquired by Hill Dickinson, an international law firm headquartered in Liverpool. During the planning stage and throughout most of the construction period, the venue had been referred to as Everton Stadium or Bramley-Moore Dock Stadium. FC Köln’s stadium, and the project was planned in collaboration with Tesco, including the construction of a shopping centre.
The venue branding transitioned from the working title “Everton Stadium” to Hill Dickinson Stadium after a naming‑rights partnership announced in May 2025, aligning with the club’s updated commercial financing model. The stadium includes a 13,000‑seat single‑tier stand inspired by Europe’s steep “home end” traditions and extensive hospitality concepts under the “ALL” experiences banner. Everton entered into talks with the Knowsley Council and Tesco in June 2006 over the possibility of building a new 55,000-seat stadium, expandable to over 60,000, in Kirkby.7 The plan became known as The Kirkby Project. The tower originally stood at the edge of a dock basin, which was filled in during the stadium’s construction. The outline of the former dock has been preserved in the paving of the square – the stones that formed the waterfront edge, and even some mooring posts, remain. The cobbles within this edge are a different colour, indicating where the water once was.
Ultimately, in November 2009, the UK government opposed the plans, and the stadium was never built. The stadium’s skeleton is made up of around 12,500 tonnes of structural steel. Inside, the stands around the pitch are divided into two tiers, with a total capacity of 52,769 spectators, placing the stadium among the ten largest in England.
The new owner helped restructure the stadium-related debt and decided to preserve the old Goodison Park for Everton’s women’s team. Construction began with the demolition of non-listed structures and the filling in of Bramley-Moore Dock, which was filled with 480,000 m³ of sand extracted from the Irish Sea. By summer 2022, 2,776 piles had been driven into the ground, allowing the construction of the stands to proceed at full speed. The stands hold 52,769 spectators, placing the venue among the ten largest stadiums in England.
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It will also be one of 10 venues for Euro 2028, to be played across the UK and Ireland, and has been shortlisted as a host venue for the 2025 Ashes tournament, a major cricket event. Hill Dickinson Stadium is named for the chief naming rights sponsor, Liverpool-based law firm Hill Dickinson. While public funding had initially been agreed upon to help pay for the development, the club eventually went in a different direction. Along with playing regular host to Everton, Hill Dickinson Stadium is set to be a host venue for Euro 2028, and can also host events across multiple other sports, including rugby and cricket, as well as a concert venue.
Everton FC
Since this is a redevelopment area (docklands), local amenities are less established than around older grounds, but this offers both challenges and opportunities. The design mixes modern stadium amenities with nods to Everton’s heritage, and there have been test events already to make sure everything runs smoothly. The possibility of a move to a new stadium was first mentioned around 1996, when then chairman Peter Johnson announced plans to move Everton from Goodison Park to a new 60,000-seater stadium at a different site. By 2001, a site at King’s Dock had been identified as the location for a new 55,000-seater stadium, scheduled for completion around 2005, but these plans were abandoned due to funding difficulties.
Hill Dickinson Stadium is situated less than 2 miles north of Liverpool city centre, on the banks of the River Mersey, on the site of the former Bramley-Moore Dock. The nearest railway station, Sandhills, is located just over half a mile from the stadium. The south stand, with a capacity of over 14,000, has a particularly special character. The division between upper and lower tiers is least pronounced here, and the design – inspired by the famous “Yellow Wall” at Borussia Dortmund’s stadium – is intended to serve as the heart of Everton’s fan support. Moshiri remained the club’s owner until almost the opening of the new stadium.
Previously, Everton’s home ground was Goodison Park, a 39,414-capacity stadium in Walton, Liverpool. Goodison Park is now the permanent home of Everton Women, making it one of the largest dedicated women’s football stadiums in the UK. It is expected that the stadium will host three test events in early 2025 to gain the necessary safety accreditations to host football matches. Everton’s U-18 side will play a match in mid-February, with the U-21 side to play in April or May.