A new chapter at Goodison: Everton women make groundbreaking move

Goodison Park, the historic home of Everton Football Club, has been given a new lease of life. First opened on August 24 1892 at a cost of £3,500, it was the first major football ground in England to feature changing rooms, offices and a referee’s room, holding a plethora of footballing legacy within.

Over its 130-year history, the stadium has witnessed some of football’s most iconic moments. It was in Goodison that Dixie Dean set his still-unbroken record of 60 league goals in a single season, and where the Toffees won eight of their nine top-flight titles. The all-conquering side of the mid-1980s made Goodison their stage, and in 2002, a 16 year old Wayne Rooney burst onto the Premier League scene.

Originally, the plan was to demolish Goodison after the men’s team moved to the new Hill Dickinson stadium, as retail and office spaces were to take up the old space, under a scheme called ‘The Goodison Project.’ But those plans have now been scrapped after Everton’s new owners, The Friedkin Group (TFG), have pledged to preserve the stadium, insisting that “football must be kept at the heart of Everton’s community.” This ensures that Goodison’s past will live on, and its future will be shaped in that historic ground.

The decision indicates a full-time commitment to equity, visibility, and long-term ambition

This future belongs to Everton Women, after the announcement that the female team will have Goodison Park as their new home in the 25/26 season. This is a major step forward in women’s football in Britain. Other clubs in the Women’s Super League have occasionally opened their main stadiums for women’s fixtures, but these have often been during the Premier League international break, and it is clear that the men’s teams come first.

While some may say this is how it should be (because the men’s teams generate the most income for the clubs), by continually pushing the women’s teams to the side, it only creates a cycle of injustice.

As WSL teams are forced into tiny stadiums in comparison, they simply cannot attract the same attendance, meaning the level of revenue is smaller. Therefore, TFG’s decision indicates a full-time commitment to equity, visibility, and long-term ambition for Everton’s women’s side.

Goodison Park has always been a site of interest in the history of women’s football

The relocation is a timely step forward, as in 2023, Everton Women hosted the Merseyside Derby at the stadium and drew a crowd of over 22,000, clearly showing that the team has outgrown their current home of Walton Hall Park, which holds just 2200. A permanent move to Goodison is well deserved for the Toffees, and they will hope that such attendances can become the standard.

Goodison Park has always been a site of interest in the history of women’s football. On Boxing Day 1920, it hosted one of the sport’s most iconic matches in Dick, Kerr Ladies versus St Helens Ladies. The fixture drew an extraordinary crowd of 53,000, with thousands more locked out for safety. That attendance figure remained a record for women’s club football for 98 years, showing how women’s football has always had a high level of interest, but has been limited by barriers outside of their control.

Now, over a century after that historic match at Goodison, the stadium will once again stand at the forefront of the women’s game, as it becomes the largest capacity stadium in the WSL. Preserved rather than demolished, it will no longer just be a monument to footballing history, but also part of its future. For Everton Women, this represents a new era of appreciation, and for the sport as a whole, it’s a bold statement. The women’s game is no longer on the sidelines; it is firmly in the big leagues.