From glorified sheds to sleek sci-fi palaces: how architecture put the zing into football grounds

<p>A new exhibition in Liverpool tells the story of the grassy arenas, from churning tribal terraces to hyper-modern, wedding-cake-like structures with retractable pitches. And let’s hear it for the world’s first all-timber stadium!</p><p>Bill Shankly, a man so beloved by Liverpool that there is now a hotel in the city named after him, once famously observed: “Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”</p><p>Inevitably, Shankly pops up in <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-liverpool/display/home-ground-the-architecture-of-football">Home Ground,</a> a punchy new exhibition on the architecture and social culture of football stadiums. The legendary manager is pictured savouring the acclaim of an adoring crowd, part of a tableau on the farewell to the Kop prior to its metamorphosis from churning tribal terrace into a more sedate, all-seater stand.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/oct/15/glorified-sheds-sleek-sci-fi-palaces-architecture-football-stadiums-home-ground">Continue reading...</a>