Liverpool plan to make Anfield even bigger
Liverpool plan to make further development to their Anfield home, taking the stadium’s capacity over 60,000.
Having originally planned to redevelop Anfield completely, the club’s owners have abandoned those in favour of rebuilding the Anfield Road end.
The recent Main Stand development provided 9,000 new seats, but at a cost of £110 million. Within the plans submitted as part of that development, the club could add 4,000 seats to the Anfield Road stand, bringing the total capacity to 58,000, but that planning permission expires next month.
The current proposal from Fenway Sports Group, the club’s owners, involves allowing that to expire and subsequently presenting a new planning application.
Andy Hughes, Liverpool’s chief operating officer, said: “The progress that has been made during ongoing feasibility studies has resulted in us being in a position to allow the outline planning permission to lapse. We are committed to working with local residents, planning officials and others as we now focus on the detail behind any proposed redevelopment for Anfield Road.”
A poll conducted by the Liverpool Echo, asking “How big do you think Anfield's overall stadium capacity needs to be?”, showed fans believe that a 90,000 stadium is required, something impossible without relocation.
The club currently have the sixth largest stadium in the Premier League. Raising the capacity past the 60,000 mark would lift them around the same figure as Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium (60,260).
The greater size would leapfrog the City of Manchester Stadium and West Ham’s London Stadium, with 55,097 and 57,000, respectively.
Old Trafford comfortably remains the league’s biggest with over 75,000 seats, while the recently reopened Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at White Hart Lane boasts 62,062. Both still fall well short of Wembley, Spurs’ temporary home last year, and its 90,000 capacity.
Incredibly, among the huge stadia of the Premier League giants, League One Sunderland sit just inside the country’s top ten, despite playing in football’s third tier.
None of England’s offerings, however, compare to the Rungrado 1st of May Stadium, in Pyongyang, North Korea, the largest football stadium in the world with an official capacity of 114,000.
Slightly below that is the MCG in Melbourne, home to the Australian national team, Barcelona’s Camp Nou, the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg and the Rose Bowl in Padedena, California.
Top 10 largest English football stadiums
Wembley, 90,000
Old Trafford, 75,653
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, 62,062
Emirates Stadium, 60,260
London Stadium, 57,000
City of Manchester Stadium, 55,097
Anfield, 54,074
St James’ Park, 52,338
Stadium of Light, 48,707
Villa Park, 42,660
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