Power Ranking the 20 EPL Stadiums

Every English Premier League fan knows that the stadium of a team plays a big role in the team's success. A bigger, louder stadium can fill the team's players with great confidence, while at the same time intimidating the opposition.

In this slideshow, we power rank the stadiums of the clubs currently in the English Premier League, from 20 all the way to No. 1.

Attendance will be used as the primary ranking tool, but in cases where attendance is close, history and reputation will also come into play.

20: Loftus Road

Capacity: 18,360

Opened: 1904

Location: Sheperd's Bush, London

Home of English Premier League newboys Queens Park Rangers, Loftus Road has the honor of being the smallest stadium in the English Premier League.

Queens Park Rangers actually played at 13 different locations before moving to Loftus Road. After moving to Loftus Road in 1917, QPR attempted to move to White City Stadium on two seperate occasions in order to bring in larger crowds, but both moves failed and the club has been at Loftus Road since 1963. 

The stadium was home to both Fulham and Queens Park Rangers from 2002-04, when Craven Cottage was closed for reconstruction.

19: Liberty Stadium

Capacity: 20,520

Opened: 2005

Location: Swansea (Wales)

From 1912 to 2005, Swansea City played at Vetch Field, but a desire to play at a more up-to-date, purpose-built stadium led to the creation of Liberty Stadium.

The stadium was jointly funded by Swansea City and the Ospreys, a Welsh rugby team, since neither team had the funds to individually fund the building of the stadium.

Both teams currently play their games at the stadium.

18: DW Stadium

Capacity: 25,133

Opened: 1999

Location: Wigan, Greater Manchester

Like Swansea City, Wigan Athletic only started playing at the DW Stadium recently, in 1999.

Before that, the club played at Springfield Park, but the desire for a more up-to-date, purpose-specific stadium (Springfield Park was multipurpose; used for horse trotting, cycling, and athletics) led to the creation of the DW Stadium (formerly the JJB Stadium, after the club's first stadium sponsers, JJB Sports).

Like the Liberty Stadium, the DW Stadium is shared by Wigan Athletic and the Wigan Warriors, Wigan's professional rugby team. The stadium is officially owned by Wigan Athletic however.

17: Craven Cottage

Capacity: 25,700

Opened: 1896

Location: Fulham, London

An old stadium for an old club. Fulham, the oldest professional club in London, have been playing at the Craven Cottage for over 100 years, and the team have become so associated with their stadium that they are frequently referred to collectively as "the Cottagers."

Fulham were forced to leave Craven Cottage for a period of two years, as stadiums with standing areas are not permitted for use in the top two divisions of English football, and at the time of promotion to the Championship, Craven Cottage still had standing areas.

Though it seemed that at first Fulham's board had no plans of moving back to Craven Cottage, intense pressure from Fulham supporters forced the club to reconsider.

In December 2003, plans were unveiled for £8 million worth of major refurbishment work to bring it in line with Premier League requirements, and in the 2004-05 season, the team were able to move back to Craven Cottage.

Since then, the club has gradually increased the capacity of Craven Cottage from 22,000 to the 25,700 capacity the stadium has today. 

16: The Hawthorns

Capacity: 26,500

Opened: 1900

Location: West Bromwich, Sandwell

The Hawthorns is the sixth home of West Bromwich Albion but has been the home of the club for over a century now, since 1900.

In its earlier years, The Hawthorns could pack in many more spectators than it does today. The official record attendance for The Hawthorns is 64,815, when the club defeat Arsenal 3-1 in an FA Cup quarterfinal in March 1937.

It is rumored that this total was exceeded in 1954 with over 80,000 spectators in attendance for a fifth-round FA Cup tie against Newcastle, but the official total for that game was only 61,088.

Over time, renovations and the conversion of the stadium to an all-seater stadium have cut capacity significantly to the 26,500 capacity the stadium has today. However, the club has announced plans to increase capacity back up to 30,000 by 2014. 

15: Carrow Road

Capacity: 27,033

Opened: 1935

Location: Norwich

For most of Norwich City's history, Carrow Road has been the home of the Canaries. The club played at two grounds, Newmarket Road and The Nest, before moving to Carrow Road.

Like most other grounds on this list, Carrow Road's capacity prior to its conversion to an all-seater stadium was much higher; crowds of 40,000 were often packed into the stadium when standing was permissible.

In January 2011, the club announced an interest to expand the capacity of the club by up to 8,000 seats, but no plans have yet been made due to the fact that one of the stands of the stadium would likely have to be taken down and reconstructed, which could alienate current fans and result in up to two years with reduced revenue.

14: Britannia Stadium

Capacity: 27,740

Opened: 1997

Location: Stoke-On-Trent

The third "new" stadium on this list, the Britannia Stadium has been the home of Stoke City for 13 years now.

Prior to their move to the Britannia, Stoke City had played at Victoria Ground for an unbroken period of 119 years, since 1878. At the time of its demolition, Victoria Ground was thought to be the oldest operational football league ground in the world.

The stadium cost Stoke City £15 million to build and brought the club up to the standards of the Taylor Report.

13: Reebok Stadium

Capacity: 28,723

Opened: 1997

Location: Bolton, Greater Manchester

Bolton Wanderers played at Burnden Park from 1895 to 1997 and drew crowds of up to 70,000 in their heydey at the stadium.

The stadium is remembered for the Burnden Park disaster, which saw 33 fans die and hundreds get injured in a human crush caused by the stadium being well over capacity, with estimates claiming that the stadium was packed with over 85,000 fans at the time.

The club's directors decided that it would too difficult to convert Burnden Park to an all-seater stadium with a capacity of 25,000, and so the Reebok Stadium was created.

The move was initially unpopular with the fans due to the history of Burden Park and the distance of stadium from the actual town, but opposition has slowly died down over the years.

12: Molineux Stadium

Capacity: 24,259

Opened: 1889

Location: Wolverhampton

Molineux is the third-oldest football stadium in the Premier League, belonging to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The stadium is currently undergoing a multi-million pound redevelopment, which will raise the capacity of Molineux up to as much as 50,000. Many new facilities, such as video screens, a museum, cafes, etc, will also be added to the stadium.

Currently however, the capacity of the stadium has been reduced to 24,259 and will rise to 27,258 later in the season.

Molineux has always been one of the more impressive football stadiums in English history. Molineux was one of the first stadiums to install floodlights and hosted clubs from all over the world before the days of European club competitions in the '40s and '50s.

This was the most successful period of Wolves' history, and during this time, the club regularly brought in crowds of 40,000, peaking at 61,315 in a First Division game against Liverpool in 1939.

11: Ewood Park

Capacity: 31,154

Opened: 1882

Location: Blackburn, Lancashire

The second-oldest stadium in the English Premier League belongs to Blackburn Rovers.

Though Ewood Park is now used almost solely by Blackburn Rovers, it was a multi-sport facility at the time of its creation and was used in 2002 for a rugby test match between Great Britain and New Zealand.

Like many of the other still-active "old" stadiums on this list, Ewood Park has great history. It drew in massive crowds in the club's heyday and hosted a number of international fixtures for England.

The stadium's record attendance was 62,522 in 1929 vs Bolton Wanderers.

10: White Hart Lane

Capacity: 36,230

Opened: 1899

Location: Tottenham, London

White Hart Lane starts off the top 10, as the current home of Tottenham Hotspurs.

As the club has experienced a resurgence in popularity and success, the club's board of directors have been trying to move to a larger stadium in order to bring in more revenue.

Various potential plans have been suggested since 2001, but the club currently appear likely to stick with the plan proposed in 2008 to move to a new 56,250 capacity stadium.

The conflict with West Ham over which team will earn the right to move to Olympic Park after the 2012 Summer Olympics has delayed construction on the new stadium however, and it's unclear when construction will begin and how much the delays will affect the previous estimate of a move by the 2012-13 season to the new stadium. 

9: Goodison Park

Capacity: 40,157

Opened: 1892

Location: Walton, Liverpool

Goodison Park is the home of Everton and one of the oldest purpose-built football grounds in the world. It has hosted more top-flight games than any other stadium in England.

Goodison has hosted the maximum number of league games since the Premier League was formed in 1992, as Everton have remained in the top tier of English football since 1954.

Goodison Park was conceived in unusual circumstances. Two factions of politicians on the Everton board grappled to control the destiny of the club. A split emerged with the members with the majority leaving their home at Anfield forming Goodison Park.

Everton F.C.'s relocation to Goodison Park was one of the earliest cases of a team moving to a new stadium for monetary benefit. 

8: Villa Park

Capacity: 42,786

Opened: 1897

Location: Witton, Birmingham

Aston Villa's home since 1897 comes in at eighth on this list.

Villa Park has hosted 16 different England international matches and has hosted more FA Cup semifinals than any other stadium (55).

The club has initial planning permission to redevelop the North Stand, which will increase the capacity of Villa Park from 42,786 to approximately 50,000, but there has not yet been an established date for construction to begin or end.

7: Stamford Bridge

Capacity: 41,841

Opened: 1876

Location: Fulham, London

Stamford Bridge has the honor of being the oldest stadium in the Premier League. It is currently the home of Chelsea.

Chelsea, since being taken over by Roman Abramovich, have long discussed the idea of moving away from the bridge to a bigger stadium or increasing the capacity of the current stadium.

However, both ideas face major roadblocks. Chelsea's location in Inner London make expansion of the stadium hard, and likely to create congestion and conflict.

Meanwhile, under the Chelsea Pitch Owners articles of association, a move from Stamford Bridge would require the club to relinquish the club name of "Chelsea Football Club" unless 75 percent of CPO shareholders agree to the move.

Thus, there are no major plans for relocation currently being discussed within the club.

6: Stadium of Light

Capacity: 49,000

Opened: 1997

Location: Sunderland

The Stadium of Light has been the home of Sunderland since 1997. Before that, the club had played at Roker Park for a century, since 1897.

The stadium has was originally built with a capacity of 42,000, before being expanded to 49,000 in 2002, and is expected to be redeveloped with a capacity of 64,000 in the future.

Along with hosting football matches, the stadium has played host to performers such as Oasis, Take That and Pink.

The ground also holds conference and banqueting suites, the Black Cats Bar and a club shop selling Sunderland merchandise.

5: Etihad Stadium

Capacity: 47,805

Opened: 1999

Location: Manchester

Etihad Stadium, formerly known as the City of Manchester Stadium and also frequently referred to as Eastlands, is home to Manchester City.

The stadium was originally built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games at a cost of £110 million. Following the games, it was decided that Manchester City F.C. would inherit the stadium which would also replace Maine Road, the club's old football stadium.

Manchester City signed an agreement with the Manchester City Council in March 2010 to allow a £1 billion redevelopment of land around the stadium and is considering possible stadium expansion to over 60,000.

 

4: Anfield

Capacity: 45,276

Opened: 1884

Location: Anfield, Liverpool

Originally the home of Everton from 1884 to 1892, Anfield has been the home of Liverpool FC since its creation in 1892.

As the one and only stadium Liverpool has ever played in, Anfield has a very rich history. The record attendance at Anfield is 61,905, for Liverpool's match against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup fifth round, on Feb. 2, 1952.

Also, Liverpool did not lose a match at Anfield during the 1893-94, 1970-71, 1976-77, 1978-79, 1979-80, 1987-88 and 2008-09 seasons. They won all their home games during the 1893-94 season and have never lost more than three games in a row at Anfield.

Plans to replace Anfield with a new 60,000-capacity stadium in adjacent Stanley Park were initiated in 2002, with a provisional opening date of August 2005.

Subsequent problems with securing funding for the project and the state of the financial market since 2008 make it certain as of 2011 that football will continue to be played at Anfield for at least a few more years.

Fenway Sports Group's acquisition of Liverpool in 2010 has made the construction of a new stadium doubtful, as they have hinted at a preference to redevelop Anfield.

3: St. James' Park

Capacity: 52,409

Opened: 1892

Location: Newcastle Upon Tyne

Being just under 120 years old, St. James' Park is the oldest stadium in the Northeast of England and home to Newcastle United.

Occupied by the Toon Army fanbase in the Milburn Stand, the East Stand, the Leazes End and the Gallowgate End, the ground has been the home ground of Newcastle United since 1892 and been used for football since 1880. 

Throughout its history, the desire for expansion has caused conflict with local residents and the local council. This has led to proposals to move at least twice in the late 1960s and a controversial 1995 proposed move to nearby Leazes Park.

Reluctance to move has led to the distinctive lop-sided appearance of the present-day stadium's asymmetrical stands.

2: Emirates Stadium

Capacity: 60,355

Opened: 2006

Location: London

With the second greatest seating capacity in the Premier League, the brand-new Emirates stadium is the home of Arsenal FC.

Arsenal FC decided in the 1990s that a move from Highbury was needed, as the 38,419 seating capacity of the stadium left the club with a 20,000-person season ticket waiting list year after year and thus missing out on a huge amount of potential revenue.

Eventually, Ashburton Grove was chosen, and the Emirates was built.

Remarkably however, there is still talk of further expansion, with a whopping 40,000 club supporters still being on the club's season ticket waiting list despite the expansion in seating capacity from Highbury to the Emirates. 

1: Old Trafford

Capacity: 75,957

Opened: 1910

Location: Manchester

We finish the list with the mother of all English Premier League Stadiums, Old Trafford, home to Manchester United.

The highest attendance recorded at Old Trafford was 76,962 for an FA Cup semifinal between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Grimsby Town on March 25, 1939. 

Old Trafford's record attendance as an all-seater stadium currently stands at 76,098, set at a Premier League game between Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers on March 31, 2007. This is also the Premier League's record attendance.

United continue to harbour plans to increase the capacity of the stadium further, with the next stage pointing to a redevelopment of the South Stand, which, unlike the rest of the stadium, remains single tier.

A replication of the North Stand development and North-East and West Quadrants would see the stadium's capacity rise to an estimated 95,000, which would give it a greater capacity than Wembley Stadium.