Everton's Goodison Park to become biggest women's stadium in the country

Everton's women's football team will play at Goodison Park starting next season, making it the largest women's football stadium in the country.

It comes after the club decided to keep the historic ground instead of demolishing it.

Goodison Park is the first major football stadium ever built in England, and it has been the home of Everton's men's team since it opened in 1892. Now, with 39,572 seats, it will become the biggest dedicated women's football stadium in the UK.

From the 2025-26 season, Everton's men's team will move to a new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock.

The club had planned to knock down the old stadium with the site used for new homes, shops, and offices.

However, the club's new owners, The Friedkin Group, decided to keep the famous football ground, which will also be used for the club's youth team academy matches.

The club's CEO Angus Kinnear added: "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."

Everton's women's team have played at Walton Hall Park since 2020. The stadium is only one mile away from Goodison and has a capacity of 2,200, but only 500 of those places are seats, with the rest standing.

The BBC understands that Everton plan to improve Goodison Park's changing room facilities, and change some of the outside of the stadium to reflect the women's team's history and current squad, while Walton Hall Park is expected to continue to be used for grassroots football in Liverpool, specifically in the girls' game.

Everton will play their final men's first-team match at Goodison Park on Sunday against already-relegated Southampton.