Anfield

Lore & Background

The stadium is named after the surrounding area, Anfield. The word originated in the combination of Old and Middle English words, which mean 'a field on a slope'. Anfield, and its deviations, has been associated with the area since at least 1642. It has been suggested that the name is linked to the influx of Irish people into the spreading city in the 1850s, and was associated with Annefield, outside New Ross, County Wexford, Ireland.

Opened in 1884, Anfield was originally owned by John Orrell. The first match at the ground was between Everton and Earlestown on 28 September 1884, which Everton won 5–0. During Everton's tenure, the ground was considered of international standard, playing host to the British Home Championship match between England and Ireland in 1889. Anfield's first league match was played on 8 September 1888, between Everton and Accrington F.C. Everton became Anfield's first league champions in the 1890–91 season.

In 1892, negotiations to purchase the land from Orrell escalated into a dispute between Houlding and the Everton committee, culminating in Everton's move to Goodison Park. Houlding formed Liverpool F.C., and the club's first match at Anfield was a friendly on 1 September 1892 against Rotherham Town, won 7–1. Liverpool's first Football League match at Anfield was on 9 September 1893 against Lincoln City, won 4–0. The Spion Kop stand was built in 1906 and named by local journalist Ernest Edwards after a hill in South Africa where a local regiment suffered heavy losses during the Boer War.

The Kop was redesigned and extended in 1928 to hold 30,000 spectators. Floodlights were installed in 1957. The Shankly Gates were erected in 1982, a tribute to former manager Bill Shankly. A bronze statue of Bill Shankly was unveiled on 4 December 1997 in front of the Kop.

A statue of Bob Paisley was unveiled in 2020 by the Main Stand. The Hillsborough memorial is situated next to 97 Avenue in front of the redeveloped main stand.

Reader's Guide

The stadium has four stands: the Spion Kop, the Main Stand, the Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand, and the Anfield Road End. The record attendance of 61,905 was set at a match between Liverpool and Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1952. The ground converted to an all-seater stadium in 1994 as a result of the Taylor Report. Two gates at the stadium are named after former Liverpool managers: Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley. The ground is 2 mi from Liverpool Lime Street railway station. The club proposed relocating to a new stadium in the adjacent Stanley Park in 2002; after Fenway Sports Group acquired Liverpool in 2010, the decision was taken to expand Anfield instead. This extension opened to the public on 9 September 2016, increasing the stadium capacity to 54,074. Redevelopments were made to the Anfield Road Stand in 2024, which increased the stadium capacity to over 61,000.

Did You Know?

• The topmast of the Great Britain, one of the first iron ships, was rescued from a ship breaking yard and erected alongside the new Kop in 1928, serving as a flagpole.
• The Shankly Gates were unlocked for the first time by Bill Shankly's widow Nessie on 26 August 1982.
• The Centenary Stand (originally the Kemlyn Road stand) was officially opened on 1 September 1992 by UEFA president Lennart Johansson.