New Move-In Date Confirmed For Everton Stadium At Bramley-Moore Dock

Everton issued a club statement on Friday to confirm that all men's first-team home matches next season will continue to be played at Goodison Park - and not the new stadium that is being built at Bramley-Moore Dock.

It had previously been planned for the Toffees to move into the new venue - which will have a capacity of 52,888 - during the 2024/25 campaign.

But the club said in Friday's statement that Bramley-Moore Dock will instead officially become home at the start of the 2025/26 season.

Therefore, the first league game at the new stadium will take place in August 2025 - even though construction is anticipated to be completed by the end of 2024.

The decision not to move midway through next season was motivated by commercial and logistical factors, as well as feedback from fans.

An aerial photo taken this week showing the construction site where Everton Football Club's new stadium is being built at Bramley-Moore Dock in Liverpool

IMAGO/PA Images/Peter Byrne

Everton's interim CEO Colin Chong said in a statement on Friday: "Firstly, and to be absolutely clear, our decision to not move in mid-season is not because of a construction delay.

"It is a Club decision driven by a combination of commercial insight, a comprehensive review of the logistics required, an analysis of the potential impact upon our football operations and, importantly, fan feedback sourced as part of our recent stadium migration survey, which was completed by almost 10,000 Evertonians.

"Everton Stadium remains firmly on track, as scheduled, to be completed in the final weeks of 2024. 

"We will need to conduct test events at our new home, which will allow us to stress test the stadium in a number of different ways in order to obtain our Safety Certificate. It will also give Evertonians a chance to see and sample the new facilities.

"Some of our test events will involve crowds of varying capacities, while others will need to be operationally focused and only involve our own staff.

"We will, of course, provide more details on how Evertonians can get involved and register for those events in due course."

Goodison Park has been the official home of Everton since 1892.