Anfield: Inside Liverpool's Cathedral of Sound
Anfield, in the Anfield district of Liverpool, has been the home of Liverpool Football Club since 1892. The current ground — 61,276 seats following the 2023 Anfield Road expansion — is famed less for its size, which is below several Premier League peers, and more for its atmosphere, which English commentators routinely describe as the most-affecting sound environment in domestic club football. The combination of the Kop, the pre-kick-off anthem You'll Never Walk Alone, and the steep terraces produces a Champions League ambiance that the club's modern rebuilds have been careful to preserve. The location is on the map.
Origins and the move from Everton
Anfield opened in 1884 as the home of Everton Football Club. A 1892 dispute between Everton and the ground's owner John Houlding led Everton to move to Goodison Park; Houlding then formed a new club to use the empty Anfield ground. That club, Liverpool Football Club, played its first match at Anfield on 1 September 1892. The Merseyside Derby between Liverpool and Everton thus has the unusual lineage of two clubs that once shared the same ground.
The Kop
The Spion Kop — universally just "the Kop" — was built in 1906 and named after a hill in the Second Boer War where many Liverpool men had died in 1900. Originally a single-tier terrace holding 28,000 standing, the Kop was the largest single stand in English football for much of the twentieth century and the focal point of Liverpool's supporting culture. The Taylor Report following the Hillsborough disaster of 1989 required English top-flight grounds to be all-seater by 1994; the Kop was rebuilt as an all-seater stand in 1994, reducing its capacity to 12,390 but preserving its position as the spiritual centre of the ground.
You'll Never Walk Alone
The pre-kick-off rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone — the Rodgers and Hammerstein song from Carousel (1945), adopted from Gerry and the Pacemakers' 1963 version — is one of football's most-imitated and most-associated stadium traditions. The full crowd sings, often with raised scarves, as the players emerge from the tunnel beneath the "This Is Anfield" sign. The ritual is reproduced at other clubs (Borussia Dortmund, Celtic, FC Tokyo) but its identification with Anfield remains primary.
Hillsborough and the 96
The Hillsborough disaster of 15 April 1989 — in which 97 Liverpool supporters were eventually established to have died after a crush in the Leppings Lane terrace at Sheffield Wednesday's ground during an FA Cup semi-final — has shaped Anfield's identity for more than three decades. The Hillsborough memorial outside the Main Stand records the names; the eternal flame burns alongside. The campaign for justice for the families, culminating in the 2016 inquest verdict of unlawful killing, was led from Liverpool and from Anfield, with the supporter group around the campaign continuing to influence English football's approach to ground safety.
The Champions League nights
Anfield's Champions League reputation rests on a series of nights that have entered modern football folklore: the 2005 semi-final comeback against Chelsea, the 2005 final at Istanbul (won by Liverpool after 3-0 down at half time to Milan), the 2018-19 semi-final return leg against Barcelona (Liverpool 4-0 after a 3-0 deficit), the 2019 final win in Madrid, and the recurring rhythm of European nights during the Jürgen Klopp era of 2015-2024. The Anfield atmosphere is regularly cited by visiting Champions League players as among the most-difficult in the European game.
The 2016 Main Stand and 2023 Anfield Road expansion
Liverpool expanded Anfield in two phases under Fenway Sports Group ownership: the Main Stand reconstruction in 2014-2016 raised capacity to 54,074, and the Anfield Road End reconstruction in 2021-2023 lifted the figure to 61,276. Both expansions added single new tiers above the existing stands rather than replacing the ground, preserving the steep terrace geometry and the closeness of supporters to the pitch that underpin Anfield's atmosphere. A long-discussed move to a new stadium at Stanley Park (the original Everton ground site) was abandoned in favour of expanding Anfield in situ.
The Boot Room and the dynasties
Liverpool's most-successful periods — the Shankly era (1959-1974), the Paisley and Fagan years (1974-1985), and the Klopp era (2015-2024) — were anchored at Anfield, with thirteen English titles and six European Cups / Champions Leagues won during these spans. The Boot Room — originally a literal boot store under the Main Stand where the coaching staff met — became a cultural shorthand for the continuity of method that produced the club's success in the 1970s and 1980s.
Plan your next trip
Anfield offers daily stadium tours that include the Kop, the dressing rooms, the player tunnel and the famous "This Is Anfield" sign, and the Liverpool FC Museum with its dedicated Hillsborough memorial section. The ground is reached from Liverpool city centre by the matchday bus services and on foot through the residential streets of the Anfield district. See the location on the map.