Everton will move into their new stadium at the start of the 2025/26 season, although work on the Bramley Moore Dock project is due to be completed by the end of next year.
The club made the decision to move from Goodison Park in the close season rather than mid-season after consultation with fans. Everton insist the timing is not due to problems with the construction of the new 52,888-seat stadium, although funds still need to be allocated to complete the construction. Completion remains on track for the end of 2024.
This means Everton’s historic home ground at Goodison Park will be in operation for one final, full season in 2024/25.
Everton interim chief executive Colin Chong confirmed: “Our senior team’s first football competitions will take place at our new stadium at the start of the 2025/26 season.
“To be clear, our decision not to move in the middle of the season is not due to a construction delay. It is a club decision based on a combination of commercial insights, a comprehensive review of the logistics required, an analysis of the potential impact on our football operations and, importantly, fan feedback as part of our recently completed stadium migration survey of almost 10,000 Evertonians.
“Everton Stadium remains on track as planned and will be completed in the final weeks of 2024,” added Chong, who also revealed that the Premier League club will host a series of test events in the first half of 2025 will be held in its new stadium to prepare for the move.
“We need to conduct test events in our new home that will allow us to stress test the stadium in various ways to obtain our safety certificate,” he added. “It will also give Evertonians the opportunity to view and try out 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.”
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Everton are planning a series of events to mark the end of their time at Goodison Park, which will have been the club’s home ground for almost 134 years before hosting their final game. The details will be announced in due course.
