What are the oldest football stadiums in the Premier League?

Today has been one full of emotions for Everton FC and residents in and around the L4 district of Liverpool. A 2-0 victory for David Moyes’ team in the penultimate game of the campaign against Southampton - the perfect send-off for the Grand Old Lady - a stadium that has been the club’s home for the last 133 years.

Everton bid Goodison farewell

This afternoon’s match was the last to be played at Goodison (by the men’s team, the women’s team will move in from next season), the last time the Z-Cars theme will be heard blaring through the PA.

Everton’s men’s team will be moving to a brand new, state-of-the-art stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock on the banks of the River Mersey. So it’s farewell to Goodison which, until today was the second oldest stadium still operating in the top tier of English football.

Let’s take a look at the ones that remain.

Moving with the times

In a rapidly-changing world, it’s necessary to move with the times and football is no exception. The game has become far more commercialized, and that, along with health and safety requirements and the basic need to upgrade stadiums which have been subjected to wear and tear has meant that clubs are obliged to provide a safe and secure environment for spectators. Today, very few clubs remain at their original grounds - the ones that are still based at their first homes have undergone extensive renovation and refurbishment work, modernized with state-of-the art facilities to make watching the game a more comfortable experience.

It wasn’t so long ago that you could practically just turn up on the afternoon of a game, pay to go through the turnstiles and join thousands of other supporters on the terrace. Not anymore.

Half-time refreshment was nothing sophisticated - probably a basic pie or hot dog. And trips to the toilets at halftime don’t even bear thinking about. The modern day ‘matchday experience’ is another world entirely.

Tragic football events prompt changes

Everything changed after a series of tragedies which cost the lives of many football fans at the end of the 1980s. Events at Bradford, Hillsborough and Heysel - old, crumbling, decaying grounds, made it clear that many stadiums were way past their sell-by date.

In the summer of 1989, the British government ordered all grounds to undergo rigourous structural testing, particularly on the terraces behind the goals and crash barriers - several of them failed. Following the Taylor Report in 1990, terraces became all-seated and perimeter fences were removed.

During the next two decades, a few clubs decided that it would be more economical to completely rebuild a new stadium from scratch, so they sold off the land to developers and moved to a cheap site where they could construct a modern, all-purpose stadium. Other clubs revamped their stadiums in compliance with UEFA’s infrastructure regulations - the standard required to be able to host European games.

A number of classic English clubs have moved to new premises over the past 10-20 years - historic grounds like Highbury, White Hart Lane, Maine Road, Filbert Street, Roker Park, the Dell, and the Baseball Ground have all disappeared, demolished as clubs relocated to plush, new stadiums.

We take a look at the oldest surviving stadiums still in activity in the Premier League.

1. Molineux: Wolves. 1889

Wolves set up home at Molineux in 1889, playing their inaugural match on 7 September 1889 against Notts County in front of a 4,000-strong crowd. They bought the stadium outright in 1923 and the first-ever floodlit game was held at Molineux on 30 September 1953 when Wolves took on South Africa.

Like all English stadiums, it has undergone numerous redevelopment programs and refurbishing and currently has a capacity of 32,000.

2. Craven Cottage: Fulham. 1896

Craven Cottage, on the banks of the River Thames, has been home to Fulham since 1896 and is the oldest football stadium in London. After buying the land in 1894, it took the club two years to prepare the site to stage regular matches. The Cottage hosted its first game on 10 October 1896 when Fulham beat Minerva 4-0 and its first international game on 18 March 1907 - a home international between England and Wales which ended 1-1. The Stevenage Road Stand, with its distinctive gabled roof, was renamed The Johnny Haynes Stand in 2005, in honour of Fulham’s greatest-ever player Johnny Haynes, who passed away aged 71 in October 2005. In November 2019, the Riverside stand was demolished to make way for a new stand, Fulham Pier, which will increase the seating capacity.

3. Villa Park: Aston Villa. 1897

Villa Park is home to Aston Villa, the Prince of Wales’ team. It is the largest football stadium in the English Midlands, and the eighth largest stadium in England.

The first game to be played at Villa Park was a friendly against Blackburn Rovers on 17 April 1897 with the hosts running out 3-0 winners in front of a crowd of 15,000. Over the years it has regularly been used as a neutral ground to host international and domestic cup games - it has staged more FA Cup semi-finals than any other stadium in England.

England’s national team have played there 11 times from their first appearance in 1899 to the most recent, a friendly against the Netherlands in 2005. The Three Lions are due to play their 2026 World Cup qualifier against Andorra at Villa Park on 6 September.

Villa Park was also one of the grounds selected for the 1966 World Cup finals, staging games between Germany, Spain and Argentina.

4. City Ground: Nottingham Forest. 1898

The City Ground has been Forest’s base for most of the club’s life. Founded in 1865, Forest is one of the oldest association football (soccer) clubs in existence. Initially without a permanent home, the team even played some of its early games at Trent Bridge Cricket Ground before settling half a mile away.

Forest officially moved to the City Ground in September 1898 but had already played a handful of games there in the previous months. It has undergone countless makeovers during the past century and plans to expand the stadium, increasing capacity from to 30,445 to 35,000 were rubber-stamped earlier this year.

The City Ground boasts four stands, two of which are named after iconic managerial masterminds Brian Clough and Peter Taylor, along with the Trent End and Bridgford Stands.

5. St James Park: Newcastle United, 1892

Newcastle’s ground takes it’s name from a hospital and chapel, St. Mary’s and St. James, who leased the plot of land. The first football matches played there in 1880 when facilities were basic to say the least - until 1892 it was basically a grass pitch with spectators watching from the sidelines.

The stadium came to being in 1892 when Newcastle East End and West End FC, merged to form Newcastle United. By the turn of the century, following redevelopment of the Gallowgate end stand, St James Park had a capacity of 30,000. Within the first five years of the 20th Century, the stadium would be able to house double that figure.

The first game to be played under floodlights was a friendly against Celtic on February 25 1953 - three years before the first league floodlit match (curiously, also involving the Magpies but as guests of Portsmouth).

Numerous international games have been hosted by Newcastle. The first was a British Home Championship match between England and Wales on 18 March 1901 - a 6-0 rout watched by an ecstatic crowd of 11,000.

More recently, St James Park was one of the eight stadiums selected for Euro 96, and one of the 10 which host the 2028 tournament. In total, eight international games have been played on Tyneside.

The stadium has undergone many, major redevelopments and facelifts over the years - the Edwardian-era the main West Stand was demolished in 1986 to make way for the modern, two-tiered Milburn Stand. The Sir John Hall Stand was constructed at the Leazes End and the Milburn Stand modified in 1993.

Today, St James Park is able to seat a maximum crowd of 52,305 although more work is in the pipeline to bring it up to date for Euro 2028.

Related stories

PREMIER LEAGUE

The Premier League's all-time best net botherers

PREMIER LEAGUE

Premier League kings

Get your game on! Whether you’re into NFL touchdowns, NBA buzzer-beaters, world-class soccer goals, or MLB home runs, our app has it all.

Dive into live coverage, expert insights, breaking news, exclusive videos, and more – plus, stay updated on the latest in current affairs and entertainment. Download now for all-access coverage, right at your fingertips – anytime, anywhere.