On Sunday, May 18, 2025, English football bid a poignant farewell to one of its most iconic landmarks, Goodison Park.
As Everton played their final Premier League game at the ground after 133 unbroken years, fans gathered in their thousands to say goodbye to the stadium that helped shape the very soul of the sport in England.
Built in 1892, Goodison Park wasn’t just Everton’s home, it was a cathedral of football firsts.
It was the world’s first purpose-built football stadium, the first to feature goal nets, and the first in Britain to be visited by a reigning monarch.
With its revolutionary double and triple-decker stands, Goodison set the blueprint for what a football stadium could be.
No ground has hosted more top-flight matches in English football history, and few can claim to have witnessed so many generations of the game evolve.
In 1966, it welcomed the world, hosting every Brazil match during that year’s World Cup, with legends like Pelé and Garrincha gracing its turf.
For over a century, Goodison Park stood not only as a home for Everton but as a symbol of football’s enduring place in English life.
That legacy came full circle on Sunday, as the streets around Goodison filled with a sea of blue long before kickoff.
There was singing, there were tears, and there was an overwhelming sense of gratitude, a final act of devotion to a ground that had given so much to so many.
The match against Southampton served as a respectful closing chapter. The result, a 2-0 Everton win, mattered far less than the setting.
With emotion thick in the Merseyside air, Goodison Park had its last dance, celebrated in the way it always should have been: loud, proud, and soaked in history.
As of August 2025, Everton will move to the newly built Hill Dickinson Stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, a 53,000-capacity venue that ushers in a new era for the club.
While Everton’s women’s team will continue to play there for now, the final Premier League match marks the end of Goodison’s reign as the club’s spiritual heartbeat.
FKA/MA
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