Everton Football Club has welcomed the first supporters into its new 52,888-seat stadium in Bramley-Moore dock, Liverpool.

The new £555m venue was constructed by engineers Laing O’Rourke. Both on schedule and within budget, nearly 12,000 construction staff were required during the build.

The Toffees are scheduled to kick off the 2025/26 Premier League season at the new arena, relocating from Goodison Park, but first the stadium is playing host to a few test events.

The first of these was an under-18s friendly against Wigan Athletic on Monday (17 February).

In front of 10,000 fans – all packing out the South Stand – the Young Blues were edged out in a 2-1 defeat.

The loss didn’t put a dampener on what was a “fantastic occasion”, according to Everton under-18s head coach Keith Southern.

Southern said: ”[The stadium’s] incredible, it's iconic – the geography of it on the waterfront, but even looking beyond that, when you come inside, it's got a real feel about it.

“I think the worry...