Brighton & Hove Albion have confirmed plans for what they say will be the first purpose-built women’s football stadium in the UK and Europe.
The club have announced proposals for a new 10,000-capacity stadium at Bennett’s Field, next to the Amex Stadium. The project is expected to cost between £75m and £80m. Subject to planning approval, Brighton want the stadium open no later than the start of the 2030-31 season.
A statement of intent
This is a serious move from a club that has made women’s football central to its long-term plans.
Not a temporary ground-share. Not a women’s team squeezed into a men’s stadium calendar. A permanent home, designed specifically around the women’s game.
The proposed ground would be connected to the Amex by a new bridge link. That creates a joined-up football campus, while still giving Brighton’s women’s team their own identity.
The team currently plays most of its WSL matches at Crawley Town’s Broadfield Stadium, around 20 miles away from Brighton. The Amex has hosted women’s football before, including England’s Euro 2022 quarter-final win over Spain. But the club believes a purpose-built stadium is the right long-term answer. And we couldn’t agree more.
Brighton chief executive Paul Barber has described the stadium size as “ambitious, but not overly ambitious” — and that might be the smartest part of the whole plan.
With the men’s Amex Stadium set to expand to around 33,000 seats, Brighton believe a smaller, dedicated women’s stadium can create a stronger atmosphere and support sustainable growth.
Built around the women’s game
Women’s football does not need to copy the men’s game to prove its value.
A full, loud, well-designed 10,000-capacity stadium can do more for the matchday experience than a half-empty larger ground. It can feel sharper, closer and more connected.
The stadium is expected to include facilities designed specifically around elite female players. That includes purpose-built changing rooms, recovery areas and high-performance spaces.
Brighton have also highlighted the fan experience, with plans for wider concourses, social areas, family-friendly facilities, breastfeeding rooms, baby-changing areas and buggy parks.
Not just detail but strategy designed specifically for the fan base.
Women’s football is growing fast, but long-term growth depends on more than big one-off crowds. Clubs need repeat attendance, better broadcast environments, stable foundations, stronger local connection and matchdays that feel built around the audience actually turning up.
The benchmark is being set
If delivered, Brighton’s stadium would place the club in rare company.
Kansas City Current opened CPKC Stadium, the world’s first purpose-built stadium for a professional women’s sports team, in March 2024. Denver Summit FC are also developing a purpose-built women’s football stadium, with opening planned for spring 2028.
Brighton’s plan would make them one of only a small number of clubs globally building a stadium specifically for women’s football.
It could also support academy and development fixtures. That would give younger players experience in a professional environment created for the women’s game from the start.
There is still a long way to go. Planning approval, construction and delivery all sit between the announcement and the first matchday.
But the direction is clear: Brighton’s investment shows how seriously major clubs are now valuing women’s football. Not as a side project, but as a growing part of the game with its own audience, commercial potential and long-term future.
If this stadium happens, it will be more than a new ground next to the Amex. It will be a marker, a statement to the rest of the WSL and, almost certainly, a serious pull for fans and players alike.
For more women’s football matchday news, check out our hub here.
