Manchester City unveil new plans for expanded Etihad Stadium including alcohol-free zone and religious rooms | OneFootball

Premier League champions Manchester City have unveiled new features to be included in their expanded North Stand within the Etihad Stadium.

It is the latest in a growing list of development and improvement projects being plotted for the Etihad Stadium, the wider campus, and the surrounding areas of the east Manchester region, with the club’s ownership insistent on leaving a positive stamp on the community.

Manchester City have already completed an existing expansion project on the Etihad Stadium, increasing capacity in the South Stand of the arena several seasons ago, and taking ensuring that three stands are now three-tiered.

But that left the current North Stand as an outlier, and Manchester City have been working on increasing the capacity of that section of the stadium which would take the overall seating within the Etihad Stadium to around 60,000.

The increasing of capacity will also be matched with a number of staggering plans integrated into a new area of the stadium too, with Manchester City confirming this week that they intend on including a brand new food hall amongst other offerings to supporters.

As confirmed by the club on Thursday, Manchester City will introduce a minimum of 3,000 rail seats as part of the expansion project on the Etihad Stadium, with the option of increasing this allocation should there be further demand.

As part of the project and changes made to the North Stand, Manchester City have also announced that they will ‘ringfence’ a significant number of tickets specifically for fans aged 21 or under, as well as catering for a diverse fan base with a range of new facilities.

Such facilities will include new ‘breakout spaces’, religious rooms and alcohol-free areas on Level One of the new North Stand, while a new premium seated area will feature a 500-seat food hall and a premium bar accommodating around a further 300 fans.

In the final new feature to be installed into the new and improved North Stand of the Etihad Stadium, Manchester City have revealed that at the rear of the stand there will be a new ‘sky bar’ with seats ‘overlooking the pitch’.

The expanded North Stand of the Etihad Stadium is expected to be completed and opened during the 2025/26 season, which would also see the new version of the arena available in time for the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland’s European Championships hosting.

The Etihad was successfully put forward as one of the host arenas as matches are expected to take place in England, Scotland, Wales, and the Republic of Ireland, while there are doubts over whether Northern Ireland will receive the necessary funding themselves to be involved.