Everton's new stadium will look spectacular, says former star

After more than six decades, Everton is hosting matches at its stadium during a major international tournament with Euro 2028.

The United Kingdom and Ireland won hosting duties for the European Championships in 2028. Matches are at a total of ten venues in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Turkey withdrew to launch a combined bid with Italy for the next finals in 2032. Therefore, the UK and Ireland ran unopposed for 2028.

Everton to host Euro 2028 games at new stadium

Everton’s brand-new stadium is one of the host locations for Euro 2028. Currently, the ground remains under construction at Bramley-Moore Dock on the Mersey. The Toffees’ prospective home is one of two unfinished venues on the list; the other being Belfast’s Casement Park. It has been closed for some years but would be renovated in time for the finals.

The new venue in Liverpool will be Merseyside’s only venue for Euro 2028. For the Toffees, the ground does not open until 2024. UEFA passed on Anfield because Liverpool’s ground did not meet UEFA’s pitch dimension specifications. The new stadium does.

What did Kevin Ratcliffe say about the new venue?

Now, in an interview with BBC Radio Wales, former Everton defender Kevin Ratcliffe has confirmed the magnificent appearance of the club’s new stadium.

“Spectacular, the way that the home end looks out to the sea. I believe it’ll be finished sometime next season. So now I’m hoping that they leave it to the end of the season maybe to move in. I’m not too sure how they’ll do it. There was talk about it at the end of this season that they’d be moving but I’m not quite sure because once the stadium’s up it’s not finished.

“It’s everything else that goes inside it, isn’t it? It’s a humongous thing and it’s going to stretch the city out because it’s literally walking distance from the city center. There’s a bus, there’s a train track past it literally about 200 yards away so they’re going to put a station there for people to come from the city center to get off there. I believe that they’ll be looking at something like a ferry across the Mersey onto the dock there. It’s just unbelievable.

“They’ve had a Canadian in to do it and they were looking at the baseball backgrounds that he’s done on the edges of lakes and things like that and how he’s adapted it to where you can get the best view.”

Experiencing the stadium

“The home end is looking out towards the Mersey estuary so you’re looking over the Mersey estuary. Whereas behind you when you go back on the concourse is all glass and you’re looking out onto the city. So, there’s been a little bit of thought gone into this because of obviously the grounds are coming up you know, especially Tottenham’s grounds.

“Looking at that how fabulous that is and you know you go to Anfield now and what they’ve done at Anfield is just unbelievable and we’ve been left behind.

“I’m quite envious of Liverpool in the way that they’ve actually constructed their ground within and the hospitality they’ve got within without actually moving grounds. So, it’s yeah you get a bit envious of Liverpool once again.”

PHOTO: IMAGO / PA Images