Everton’s 53,000-capacity stadium

24 Jul 2025 - FourFourTwo

On a dark February evening, teenage midfielder Harrison Rimmer swivelled inside the penalty area and fired low into the bottom corner, to score the first goal at Everton’s new home.

If that seemed like a feelgood story, there was some bad news: the goal was against the Toffees, for Wigan U18s, by a boyhood Liverpool fan who promptly held up six fingers in reference to his beloved Reds’ six European Cups.

Around 10,000 people were inside the Toffees’ new home at Bramley-Moore Dock that night, the first test event for a 53,000-capacity venue since renamed the Hill Dickinson Stadium, after a local commercial law firm. A second test event followed in March, in front of 25,000 against Bolton’s B team.

This season, the competitive era begins. Goodison Park’s final Premier League game took place in May, but the venerable 133-year-old stadium has avoided demolition and will instead host Everton Women matches in the WSL.

Men’s fixtures will take place two miles to the west, on the banks of the River Mersey, in a stadium built for about £750m. It will also host matches at Euro 2028, chosen instead of Anfield. The imposing South Stand holds 14,000 and bears ‘The Blue Wall’, nickname because of its intended similarities to Borussia Dortmund’s own yellow version. Goodison at its most raucous was a uniquely intimidating prospect and recreating that atmosphere at a new venue may take time. Of the previous five clubs to move home while an established Premier League side, Spurs dropped four places in their first full season at their new gaff compared with their final (unbeaten) White Hart Lane campaign, West Ham also slipped four spots, Arsenal finished in the same position, Manchester City sank seven and Southampton went down one.

Nevertheless, Everton seem to have the right man at the helm, in what’s also their first full campaign under the Friedkin Group. David Moyes returned in January with the Toffees one point above the relegation zone – by the end of the campaign, they’d climbed to 13th, fully 23 points clear of the drop.

Everton’s first full-capacity game at the ground is against Roma on August 9, before they welcome Brighton for its first competitive match on the second weekend of the Premier League season. They’ll be keen to avoid another player with Liverpool connections opening the scoring in that fixture – be warned though, 39-year-old James Milner has signed a new one-year deal at the Amex.