Goodison Park could host football matches again

Goodison Park stadium may host football games again as a new home for Everton's women's side after the men's first team moves out at the end of the season.

The men's team is due to move to a brand new 52,888 capacity stadium in Bramley Moore Dock for the start of the 2025/26 season.

But it is understood that the club's new owners, American firm the Friedkin Group, have commissioned a "feasibility study" to look at using the Goodison Park site for the women's team.

The Everton women's team currently play at Walton Hall Park, which will soon be too small for Women's Super League (WSL) requirements.

Everton had promised that Goodison Park would be preserved for community use as part of the Goodison Legacy Project, and it is understood that would remain the case regardless of whether the women's side moved in.

If the women's side do make it their new home ground, its capacity of just under 40,000 would be reduced.

Goodison Park held the record attendance for a women's match for 90 years after hosting Dick, Kerr Ladies vs St Helens Ladies on Boxing Day 1920 in front of 53,000 people.

The game was actually a charity match, raising money for wounded soldiers, and a year later women's football was banned by the Football Association due to fears it was "quite unsuitable for females".

The record was beaten during the London Olympic Games in 2012 when Great Britain faced Brazil at Wembley Stadium in front of 70,584 fans.

That was beaten again in 2019, when England played Germany again at Wembley with a 77,768-strong crowd.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram, and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.