Everton’s women’s team will play at Goodison Park from next season after the club scrapped plans to demolish it.
The famous ground, which was the first major football stadium built in England, has been home to the club’s men’s side since it opened in 1892.
The Toffees are moving to a newly-built stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock from the start of the 2025-26 season and the club has been deciding what to do with Goodison Park.
Plans, referred to as the Goodison Legacy project, to demolish Goodison Park and develop the site into a mix of new homes, retail, leisure and office space had previously been submitted to Liverpool Council.
The move to save the stadium comes after The Friedkin Group (TFG), the club’s owners since December, assessed the project.
The club said in a statement that after an “in-depth review”, TFG decided that “football must be kept at the heart of Everton’s community”.
The statement said the move “addresses Everton Women’s rapid growth and need for a larger, more suitable venue than Walton Hall Park”.
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It also means the ground will “remain a central part of Liverpool’s sporting and cultural identity”.
The women’s side currently play at nearby Walton Hall Park, a little over a mile away.
Everton captain Megan Finnigan said the move to a stadium that has hosted Premier League football showed “where the women’s game is right now and, more importantly, where it is heading”.
She said Goodison Park was “a magical stadium with a deep heritage and close ties to the local community”.
“Leading the team out for that first home match of next season will be nothing short of a career highlight – and the prospect of what Everton Women can become with such an iconic ground to call our home is hugely exciting.”
Everton chief executive 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.”
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Julie Makin, secretary of the Everton Women Supporters’ Club, said it was “a real statement of intent, which shows just how committed they are to backing the women’s team and making Everton a force at the very top of the women’s game in this country, once again”.
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Goodison Park will also stage some academy matches, while there will be a programme of stadium upgrades ahead of the new season.
