Etihad Stadium North Stand electric atmosphere

Image: Manchester City

The Premier League team Manchester City F.C. has revealed the seating configuration for the expansion of the North Stand at their home facility – the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England (UK) – which will open during the 2025-2026 seasons.

‘MANCHESTER CITY’ stated that once construction is complete, the expanded North Stand will increase the Etihad Stadium’s capacity to more than 60,000 with the stand itself featuring a broad range of seating options, including a large rail-seating area.

The Manchester City Football Club, commonly referred to as Manchester City, Man City, or simply City, is a professional football club based in Manchester, England (UK). The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football.

The City of Manchester Stadium, currently known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the home of the Premier League club Manchester City with a domestic football capacity of 53,600 making it the seventh-largest football stadium in England and the 11th-largest in the United Kingdom.

Image: Manchester City

‘MANCHESTER CITY’ further stated that the expanded North Stand will also feature the family areas, ringfenced tickets for the younger generations of the City fans and new and redeveloped concourse areas.

The above development follows lengthy consultations with a range of fans throughout the 2023-2024 seasons to understand how the top-flight can create best-in-class experiences that contribute to creating a fantastic atmosphere on matchday.

During these discussions, it was clear that the fans share the Premier League club’s view on the importance of adding rail seating to the expanded North Stand. As such, the club will introduce a minimum of 3,000 rail seats as part of the expansion with the option of increasing this allocation ahead of opening should there be further demand.

In doing so, the noise created by the expanded North Stand will complement the rest of the Etihad Stadium with the rail seating sections at opposite ends of the pitch creating an electric atmosphere.

Image: Manchester City

In addition to the atmosphere, the expanded North Stand will create a legacy by establishing new pathways for the next generation of Manchester City fans to enjoy matches at the Etihad Stadium. To achieve this, the club will ringfence a significant number of tickets, specifically for fans aged 21 or under.

To support more young fans attending matchdays, as well as to cater for the varying needs of the club’s diverse fan base, Man City will introduce a range of facilities in Level One of the North Stand. These facilities include new breakout spaces, religious rooms and alcohol-free areas and they will continue to speak with the fans to understand how they can best make use of these spaces.

Finally, to establish a variety of different matchday experiences for the fans, Man City will also introduce new premium seated areas in the expanded North Stand. This includes a 500-seat food hall, while a premium bar, located where the previous Hospitality Boxes were, will have space for around 300 fans. At the rear of the stand will be a new sky bar with seats overlooking the pitch. Further information about these areas will be released during the 2024-2025 seasons.

The expansion of the North Stand is part of the club’s wider development of an entertainment destination at the Etihad Campus. Once complete, the destination will include a stadium roof walk experience and a new City Square fan zone with capacity for 3,000 people.

It will also boast a wide variety of food and drink outlets, a new club shop, museum experience, commercial office space, and one of the biggest hotels in Manchester. More information on the plans can be found here.

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