Everton have confirmed they are planning to keep Goodison Park and use their 133-year-old stadium as a new home for the women’s team.
The Athletic revealed in February the club were considering the move and after a feasibility study by the The Friedkin Group (TFG), the owners who bought the club in December, the move has been given the green light.
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In doing so, Goodison will become the UK’s first major standalone stadium dedicated solely to a women’s team.
Before TFG’s takeover the club had been working towards a Goodison legacy project. Original plans for the 3.39-hectare site included affordable and social housing, a community health and medical centre, residential care, an enterprise building, a new education centre, offices, community-focused retail, three residential towers and a park.
The legacy project will be tweaked and the stadium will now be reconfigured with a reduced capacity from 39,500 to house the women’s team with TFG keen to restore the fortunes of both the men’s and women’s teams.
The men will play their final game at Goodison on May 18 before moving to the new 52,888-seater stadium — a £800million ($958m) development including ancillary works — in time for the 2025-26 season.
The physical structure of Goodison will not change in the short-term, the club confirmed.
The reshaping of Goodison will include a “strategic seating plan to create an intimate stadium bowl” and will likely include closing the top tiers of the Main Stand, the Gladwys Street and Bullens Road stands. The future of the Park End is unclear.
The dressing rooms will need to be reconfigured too, also at significant cost to the club, and will be carried out over the summer and into the start of the next WSL season. Investments will also be made to enhance concourse facilities, fan zones and hospitality areas.
The long-term evolution of Goodison will be undertaken in phases, with fanbase growth, league requirements and optimisation of commercial opportunities taken into account.
In addition to hosting Everton Women, Goodison will stage selected Academy matches and expand Everton in the Community’s L4 campus. The site will also support the development of girls’ and women’s football.
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Everton’s women have been playing at Walton Hall Park but TFG were less than impressed with the basic facilities. Its size, location from the city centre, lack of appropriate seating (only 500), lack of shelter from the elements and restricted catering options — however, are not seen as conducive to growing the profile and appeal of the women’s team for potential fans.
The ground is owned by Liverpool Council and rented by the club, meaning any facility enhancement would need to be agreed in conjunction with the council.
On the move, Everton CEO Angus Kinnear said: “We know how treasured Goodison is, not only to every Evertonian, but to the game itself, and being able to keep such an iconic stadium at the heart of the legacy project is something that has been incredibly important to us.
“The women’s game has grown significantly in recent years, and we believe that growth will continue and accelerate. We’re under no illusions; there are obstacles we need to overcome to make this a success both practically and economically, but we’re confident that we will overcome those challenges.
“The value of investing in the women’s game has been demonstrated by our ownership group at AS Roma, with impressive results on the pitch. We believe Everton Women can emulate that success and go even further, with one of the most revered grounds in the history of the game as their permanent home.”
(Photo: Jan Kruger/Getty Images)
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