European women’s football is entering a new phase and Brighton have decided to accelerate more than anyone. The English club has announced the construction of the first stadium in Europe designed exclusively for a women’s team, an initiative that just a few years ago would have seemed out of scale for even the richest clubs on the continent. The facility will be built on Bennett’s Field, next to the current Amex Stadium where the men’s team plays, and will be connected via a pedestrian walkway.
The expected capacity will be at least 10 thousand seats, with opening set, barring authorization delays, for the 2030-31 season. The project was renamed “Built for Her”, a name that clearly explains the direction chosen by the club. The news is even more striking when looking at Brighton’s size in the English landscape. In fact, we are not talking about Arsenal or Chelsea, but about a club that has grown gradually and has never really been dominant in the Women’s Super League. And this is precisely the most significant detail: today in England even mid-range clubs can afford enormous structural investments in women’s football.
A stadium designed for fans, families and players
Brighton Women currently play their matches at the Broadfield Stadium in Crawley, over 30 kilometers from the city. An impractical logistical solution that the club decided to overcome with a completely new project, without improvised adaptations or temporary transfers. The future stadium will be built to high-level standards: modern changing rooms, recovery areas, services dedicated to families, breastfeeding rooms, changing tables and stroller areas. Also planned are social spaces, commercial areas, entertainment and an underground car park integrated into the structure.
Only the Kansas City Current had a stadium for a women’s team
Brighton Women’s managing director, Zoe Johnson, called the project “a historic moment” for British and European women’s football. It is no coincidence that it will be the second structure in the world dedicated exclusively to a women’s team. Before Brighton, only Kansas City Current in the United States had managed it, having inaugurated the CPKC Stadium in 2024. Behind the operation there is also the vision of owner Tony Bloom, determined to transform the club into an international point of reference.
According to estimates reported by BBCthe overall investment will be between 80 and 90 million euros, to which must be added the approximately ten million already spent to modernize the Lancing sports centre. A very strong signal that shows how English women’s football has now entered a different dimension. And while dedicated stadiums are being planned in England, in other European countries many teams still simply continue to look for a stable pitch to play on.
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