Anfield is a football stadium in Liverpool, England. And it is the home stadium of Liverpool FC. It has a capacity of 53,394 and it opened in 1884.
Anfield was originally owned by John Orrell who lent the pitch to Everton FC who were in need of a new venue. The first match at the ground was between Everton and Earlestown on 28 September 1884, which Everton won 5–0.
In 1892, negotiations to purchase the land at Anfield from Orrell escalated into a dispute between Houlding and the Everton committee which culminated in Everton’s move to Goodison Park. That left Houlding with an empty stadium, so he decided to form a new club to occupy it. The new team was Liverpool FC and the club’s first match was a friendly against Rotherham Town on 1 September 1892, which Liverpool won 7-1.
In 1895 a new main stand designed by architect Archibald Leitch was construced capable of holding 3,000 spectators. Another stand was constructed at the Anfield Road end in 1903. In 1906, a new stand named the Spion Kop was built along the Walton Breck Road. Around the same period a stand was also built along Kemlyn Road.
The ground remained pretty much the same until 1928, when the Kop was redesigned and extended to hold 30,000 spectators, all standing. A roof was erected as well.
The highest attendance recorded at Anfield is 61,905 in the FA Cup fifth round between Liverpool and Wolverhampton on 2 February 1952.
In 1957 the floodlights were installed and in 1963 the old Kemlyn Road stand was replaced. Two years later alterations were made at the Anfield Road end.
The biggest redevelopment came in 1973, when the old Main Stand was partially demolished and extended backwards with new roof and new lights.
In the 1980s the paddock in front of the Main Stand was turned into seating and seats were introduced at the Anfield Road end. The Shankly Gates were erected in 1982, a tribute to former manager Bill Shankly.
A second tier was added to the Kemlyn Road stand in 1992 with 11,000 seats and the stand was re-named the Centenary Stand. The Kop was rebuilt in 1994 and became all seated.
In 1996 Anfield hosted three group games and a quarter-final at the UEFA Euro 1996.
On 4 December 1997, a statue of Bill Shankly was unveiled at the visitors’ centre in front of the Kop and the Hillsborough memorial was situated alongside the Shankly Gates.
In 1998 a new two-tier Anfield Road end was opened. The Paisley Gateway was erected outside the Kop in 1999 in tribute to former manager Bob Paisley.
In 2002 the plans to replace Anfield were started by Liverpool FC. In the coming years there were many different plans including groundshare with Everton, the stadium would be built in Stanley Park just 300 yards away from Anfield. In 2010 after Fenway Sports Group acquired Liverpool FC those plans were abandoned as the new owners prefered to redevelop Anfield.
In December 2014 the work started on the expansion of the Main Stand, which added 8,500 seats and took capacity to 54,742. The changing rooms, tunnel and media facilities were also redeveloped. The new stand opened in September 2016.
Anfield comprises of four stands: the Anfield Road end, the Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand, the Kop, and the Main Stand.
The second phase of Anfield’s redevelopment is to redevelop the Anfield Road stand by 2023. The redevelopment will add around 7,000 seats increasing the capacity of the stadium to 61,000.
