It was all the way back in June 1996, that Anfield hosted a European Championship quarter-final between France and the Netherlands.
The game, which featured the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Laurent Blanc, Patrick Kluivert and Dennis Bergkamp, finished 0-0 in normal time. The French would ultimately win 5-4 on penalties, with Clarence Seedorf the only player to miss.
It is also hard to believe - even harder when you are shoehorned into one of the most cramped and restrictive press boxes in England - that Goodison Park was once a World Cup stadium.
But almost 30 years after that game at Anfield, Merseyside remains starved of hosting major football matches or tournaments that don’t involve either Everton or Liverpool.
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Now, however, is the time for that to change. Since 2000, Glasgow has hosted a Champions League final; so has Wembley; and so has Cardiff. Dublin has hosted a Europa League final and is set to do so again next summer.
Just down the road, Manchester United’s Old Trafford has also had the privilege of hosting a Champions League final, while neighbouring Manchester City held the Europa League final back in 2008 - the same year Liverpool was the European Capital of Culture.
Understandably, Merseyside was deprived of hosting major finals due to both Goodison Park and Anfield not being in the same league as some of the modern stadia that exists in the UK.
However, that argument can no longer be made. On Thursday morning, Liverpool confirmed they had passed a major checkpoint in their Anfield Road expansion project after lifting the 282-tonne roof off this week.
The £80m development work started in late September 2021 following a 'groundbreaking' ceremony on the site when Jurgen Klopp put the first spade in the turf to officially begin the project. And having developed at pace during that time, Liverpool have now entered the final weeks of the rebuild as they get set to open the new stand in time for the start of the new Premier League season in August.
The work on the Anfield Road end comes less than 10 years after the club officially opened their new Main Stand. The £100m expansion added a third tier for supporters, and the expansion work was part of a wider £260m regeneration of the Anfield area of the city.
And while UEFA rules have previously prevented Liverpool from holding international matches due to the size of the pitch, that now seems outdated with the Reds playing host to Europe's leading lights in some of the most memorable matches of the past 20 years.
While across Stanley Park, Everton are preparing for the biggest move in their history. The club’s new location on the banks of the Mersey is taking shape.
Everton confirmed their £500m stadium plans back in July 2021 as they prepare to wave goodbye to Goodison Park, their home for the last 130 years. Building started on the site at Bramley-Moore Dock the following month, and everything remains on track for the club to be in their new home next year.
So with stadiums no longer being an issue, thoughts will instead turn to whether Liverpool has the ability to stage a major event. But what transpired during two weeks back in May put those questions and concerns firmly to bed.
Liverpool’s staging of the Eurovision Song Contest won praise from across the world. Around half a million people descended on the city during the spectacular two weeks of music and events coinciding with the hosting of the continental music event.
As reported by the ECHO following the conclusion of the event, Liverpool Council said it had surpassed its initial targets of 100,000 visitors and is now turning its focus on how it can maximise the legacy of having the eyes of the world on the city.
The Eurovision Village, located on the Pier Head, played host to nine days of events, which included concerts that were attended by thousands of people. And during the course of the action, no complaints were made, and the way the staff handled the running of the village was commended by those who attended.
Which brings us to now. As West Ham United celebrated winning the Europa League, Everton supporters were left with a huge feeling of what if.
What if that competition had been around during the club’s time in Europe under David Moyes? What if the Scot had returned to the club following the departures of either Marco Silva, Carlo Ancelotti and Frank Lampard?
And while those questions are now unfortunately irrelevant for Blues supporters, what happens next is not. Everton already know that should the UK and Ireland secure the right to host EURO 2028, their new ground will play host to some of the games.
But there is no reason to stop there. UEFA now has three club competitions, with each final being played in a different venue each year, and then, of course, there are the European Championships.
The UEFA Conference League feels like the perfect competition in which Everton or Liverpool could test the waters in terms of hosting a major final. Liverpool is a city that has football in its DNA and is used to giving a massive welcome to supporters from across Europe and beyond.
There is nowhere more qualified or experienced than Liverpool to host a major event - and now it is time to show the rest of the world why.
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