Welcome to Anfield – home of Liverpool FC

Anfield once belonged to Everton. Built in 1884, Anfield was originally rented by Everton FC. The first game played at the stadium on 28 September 1884 saw Everton beating Earlstown 5-0. After Everton FC moved to Goodison Park in 1891 due to rent related disputes, Anfield became home to Liverpool FC.

After Everton decided to shift to Goodison Park, the club’s then-president John Houlding found himself with the rights to Anfield stadium without a team to play on it. He started looking elsewhere for players. In order to establish Liverpool Football Club in 1892, John Houlding needed a team and he went to Scotland to sign 13 players.

Fans may know Liverpool as The Reds today, but they weren’t always this color. The club’s original stripe was blue and white quarters, while it was in fact Everton that wore red. It was in 1896 that Liverpool wore red shirts for the first time, pairing them with white shorts.

Liverpool FC’s much famed Anfield stadium was named after the Irish town of Annefield in Wexford, by the then Irish mayor of Liverpool who bought the land where the stadium now sits. Created in 1906, The Kop was named after the Spion Kop, a hill in South Africa where many men from Liverpool had died during the Boer War. At its peak, the Kop could hold 30,000 spectators standing. Today it holds just under 12,500 seated.

Liverpool FC has featured in many firsts in football history. On 22 August 1964, the highlights of a match between Liverpool and Arsenal were the first to be shown on the BBC’s Match of the Day. Liverpool’s game against West Ham was the first ever game to be transmitted in color on Match of the Day on 15 November 1969, attracting audiences of nearly 10 million.

For a long time, Liverpool’s Robbie Fowler held the record for quickest hat-trick in Premier League. He scored a hat-trick in 4 minutes and 32 seconds against Arsenal, a Premier League record until it was overtaken by Sadio Mane of Southampton. Interestingly, Mane now plays for Liverpool FC.