New Anfield Road stand will not be fully open for Liverpool's first home match of the season

Anfield is preparing for the opening of its new stand for Liverpool’s first home game of the Premier League campaign against Bournemouth on Saturday August 19.

Work started on the new Anfield Road Stand in September 2021 to increase the stadium’s capacity to 61,000. Since then, the ambitious project has been building at pace, with not one seat lost during the 2022-23 season.

Once complete, the new stand will also directly create 400 additional jobs, growing the average matchday workforce to 2,800 people, with 95 per cent of those directly employed locally.

Buckingham Group, the main contractor of the new Anfield Road Stand, has confirmed that although the existing stand will be open and operational for the Reds’ first home game of the season, the new upper tier will remain closed for the time being. It is anticipated that the additional capacity will be incrementally phased in during the course of future home fixtures.

Following the Bournemouth game, Buckingham plans to increase the capacity, using the upper tier as part of the phased opening process which it expects to be completed in October 2023.

Andy Hughes, managing director, Liverpool FC, said: “This has been a hugely ambitious and complex construction project right from the start and I would like to thank everyone who has played a part.

“Unfortunately, the upper tier of the Anfield Road Stand is not quite ready for the Bournemouth game. The main contractor, Buckingham, will therefore work with Liverpool City Council’s licensing team to deliver a phased opening process.

“As with any complex major construction project of this scale, there are always so many variables and challenges along the way.

“We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding while we work through the next few weeks with Buckingham to complete this programme and we can’t wait to have this great new Anfield Road Stand fully open for supporters.”

This is a similar process to when the club opened its new Main Stand in September 2016. LFC played their first three games of that season away from home and opened parts of the stand in phases.

Tickets for the fixture against Bournemouth will be available to Members with 13+ credits only. There will not be a Members’ ballot for this game. The Members’ sales will commence on August 8 with further details on other sales for Bournemouth and all home fixtures before Christmas to follow next week.

This is the fourth major capital build project undertaken by LFC in recent years, following the build of the new Main Stand in 2016, the Anfield Megastore in 2017 and the opening of its state-of-the-art AXA Training Centre in 2020. A fifth capital project was recently announced with the repurchase of Melwood, which will be the new state-of-the-art training centre for Liverpool FC Women.