Everton U18s 0 – 1 Wigan Athletic U18s
It took four years and £800m but Everton’s new stadium is finally here and it’s glorious! On a dark, chilly Monday evening, the club opened the doors of the new stadium at Bramley Moore to 10,000 lucky Evertonians successful in a ballot to watch their club’s U18 side take on Wigan Athletic.
History was in the making as Everton’s Demi Akarakiri was the first to kick a ball and Wigan’s Harrison Rimmer will be the answer to ‘who scored the first goal’ at pub quizzes decades down the line. Yes, Rimmer is a boyhood Liverpool fan who decided to milk the occasion and yes, the Blues lost 2-1 with 16-year-old Ray Robert scoring for the hosts from 12 yards but last night was hardly about the result. It was about shaking hands with the future.
Even as the Toffees hope to march into it relentlessly, it’s hard to miss the history all around the majestic venue. Situated on the banks of the river Mersey, Bramley Moore was a dock that still housed anti-aircraft shells from World War II when construction began nearly four years ago.
£55m of the stadium’s budget was spent on preserving and restoring Bramley Moore’s heritage. The old railway tracks that carried coal to steamships on the Mersey are still here and the original dock walls remain under the stadium. There’s also the Grade II-listed hydraulic tower that works itself into the plaza.
480,000 cubic metres of sand from the Irish Sea was used to fill the space at the dock over a period of three months. The entire project cost nearly £800m and the 52,888-seater is going to be the seventh largest stadium in the Premier League, something that can be said comfortably now thanks to the margin of safety ushered in by David Moyes.
Making our way up in the South Stand! pic.twitter.com/ND63Lfb0l8
— Everton Stadium (@EvertonStadium) February 17, 2025 “>
Only the South Stand – a steep bank of 14,000 seats – had been opened to accommodate the Toffees for this game. The gradient of this stand is as steep as it is permissible in order to have the fans feel closer to the pitch.
Last night was the first of three test events required for licence and certification. The second and third test events will have all four stands open, although not at full capacity. The Everton Stadium has already been selected to host matches at Euro 2028 and it is expected to attract 1.4 million visitors to the city annually, create 15,000 jobs and contribute £1.3bn to the UK economy over its lifetime.
While bidding goodbye to Goodison over the next few months is going to be nothing less than gut-wrenching, that grief can be offset with the knowledge that the new home for Everton is right up there with the best in the world. Majestic and glorious, a new era awaits and it starts at Bramley Moore.