Manchester United have announced plans to build the biggest stadium in the UK – an “iconic” new £2bn 100,000-seater ground close to Old Trafford.
Once construction is complete, the club’s existing home will be demolished.
Co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe said he wanted to build the “world’s greatest football stadium”, which the club hopes could be finished in five years.
United’s announcement comes after an extensive consultation process around whether to develop the existing stadium or build a new one.
Old Trafford has been Manchester United’s home since 1910.
The club would continue to play at Old Trafford until the new stadium was ready.
Senior club sources have previously said it would not be cost effective to shrink it for use as a home for United’s women’s and youth teams.
Architects at Foster and Partners, who will design the project, said the new stadium would feature an umbrella design and a new public plaza that is “twice the size of Trafalgar Square”.
The design will feature three masts described as “the trident”, which the architects say will be 200 metres high and visible from 25 miles away.
Manchester United, currently £1bn in debt, are yet to say how they plan to pay for the stadium. Club chief executive Omar Berrada said it was “a very attractive investment opportunity” and he was “quite confident we’ll find a way to finance the stadium”.
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire said the development can be financed because income from a “multi-functional stadium will more than outweigh the additional interest costs”.
United say the entire project has the potential to create 92,000 new jobs, will involve the construction of 17,000 homes and bring an additional 1.8 million visitors to the area annually. They add the project will be worth an additional £7.3bn per year to the UK economy.
“Today marks the start of an incredibly exciting journey to the delivery of what will be the world’s greatest stadium,” said Ratcliffe.
“Our current stadium has served us brilliantly for the past 115 years but it has fallen behind the arenas in world sport.
“I think we may well finish up with the most iconic football stadium in the world.”
He said there was no date in place for when building work on the stadium would begin, adding: “It depends how quickly the Government gets going with the regeneration programme. I think they want to get going quite quickly.”
The stadium will be built using pre-fabrication, shipped in 160 components along the neighbouring Manchester Ship Canal.
