Anfield Bound/Guides

What’s Actually Happening at Anfield (And Why)

The songs, the scarves, the silences and the rituals. What each one means, so you can be part of the day instead of watching it happen around you.

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The Short Version

If you only remember three things: be in your seat before kick-off, hold your scarf up when the song starts, and follow the crowd’s lead during any tribute or silence.

You’ll Never Walk Alone The Kop This Is Anfield The team bus European nights Diogo Jota memorial Remembering Hillsborough What not to do

The Rituals

Seven Things You’ll Notice

You’ll Never Walk Alone

The song before every home game

The song comes from the 1945 musical Carousel, and Gerry and the Pacemakers took it to number one in 1963. Anfield made it its own.

When the ground sings it, it is emotional and the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. It is iconic, and nothing else in football matches it.

Hear the Kop sing it (25-second video, opens YouTube)

What you’ll seeScarves held high across the ground as the song plays, and the whole crowd singing. The words are also on the Shankly Gates outside.

Why it happensIt has been sung at Anfield since the 1960s and became the club’s anthem.

What to doBe in your seat before it starts. Bring a scarf if you have one, and join in. Nobody minds if you don’t know the words.

The Kop

The most famous stand in English football

The name comes from the Spion Kop, a hill in South Africa where a battle was fought in January 1900. Liverpool Echo sports editor Ernest Edwards gave the steeply banked end of Anfield that name in 1906, in memory of the soldiers who fell. The Kop became all-seater after the last standing match in April 1994.

The atmosphere builds early for the big games, and the biggest are usually the Sunday ones against Everton and Manchester United. Those are the days the Kop is at its loudest.

The Kop at Anfield full of supporters with flags and banners raised before a home game — The Kop with flags and banners before a home game.

What you’ll seeFlags, banners and the loudest singing in the ground. A large share of the songs begin here.

Why it happensIt has been the home of the club’s most committed supporters for over a century.

What to doJoin in if you are in the Kop, and listen out for it if you are not. Standing is only licensed in rail-seating areas, so follow the stewards. See the Stand Guide.

“This Is Anfield”

The sign in the players’ tunnel

The sign above the tunnel is the last thing home players pass before they walk out, and Bill Shankly put it up in 1971. The one in the tunnel today is not the original, and since Jürgen Klopp arrived the rule has been that players only touch it if they have won something for the club.

What you’ll seePlayers walk past it on the way out, and only those who have won something for the club touch it.

Why it happensIt is a reminder of what the ground means to the players and to the opposition.

What to doWatch for it as the teams emerge. If you are on a stadium tour, you can see it up close.

The Team Bus Arrival

Supporters lining the street before kick-off

Before the match, supporters line the route to welcome the players’ coach. It is one of the best free parts of matchday, and the route is marked on the Matchday Map.

Anywhere along the route is good. If you can get there, the elevated Main Stand concourse gives a great view of the coach arriving.

The Liverpool team bus arriving at Anfield through a crowd of supporters, with red smoke rising behind it — The team bus arriving on a matchday. Flares and smoke are banned inside the stadium and can get you ejected or arrested.

What you’ll seeFlags, singing and a lot of phones in the air as the coach arrives. For the bigger games, expect flares and smoke outside the ground. They are not allowed inside, so do not bring any.

Why it happensA tradition for supporters to show the players what the game means before they step off the coach.

What to doGet there early and pick your spot well before the coach is due.

European Nights

Different from a league match

Anfield under the lights on a European night is a different feeling. It is history and pedigree, and on these nights the ground is an unstoppable force.

The proof is Barcelona in May 2019. Liverpool lost the first leg 3-0, then won the second 4-0 at Anfield to go through, which many call the greatest comeback in Champions League history.

A European night at Anfield seen from the Kop, with flags and banners raised under the floodlights and the rebuilt Anfield Road stand at the far end — A European night under the lights, from the Kop.

What you’ll seeMore flags, more noise, and the Champions League anthem before kick-off.

Why it happensAnfield’s record on European nights is unrivalled, and the crowd plays its part.

What to doArrive earlier than for a league game. Travel is busier, and everyone wants to be in early.

The Shankly Gates & the Statues

Where visitors take their photos

The Shankly Gates, the Bill Shankly statue and the other tributes outside the ground are where most visitors take their matchday photos.

All of the spots can be visited on matchday if you are there early enough.

The Shankly Gates at Anfield, with the words You'll Never Walk Alone in gold lettering across the top — The Shankly Gates.

The bronze statue of Bill Shankly with his arms raised, outside Anfield — The Bill Shankly statue.

What you’ll seeQueues for photos, particularly before big games.

Why it happensThey honour the people who built the club.

What to doTake your photos early, before the crowds.

The Jota and Silva Memorial

“Forever 20” on 97 Avenue

Diogo Jota, Liverpool’s number 20, died in July 2025 along with his brother, André Silva. In July 2026, on the eve of the first anniversary, the club unveiled a permanent memorial to them on 97 Avenue, close to the Main Stand.

What you’ll seeA heart-shaped sculpture inspired by Jota’s trademark celebration. From different angles it shows the numbers 20 and 30, the shirt numbers the brothers wore. It carries lyrics from the chant the Kop sings for him, on a base of stone from their hometown of Gondomar in Portugal.

Why it’s thereSupporters left tributes outside the ground after the brothers died, and some of those items are now part of the memorial.

What to doVisit quietly and take your time, as you would at the Hillsborough Memorial. Go early on matchday, before the crowds build.

Remembering

Hillsborough

On 15 April 1989, 97 Liverpool supporters lost their lives at Hillsborough. At Anfield, you will see how the club and its supporters remember them. The Hillsborough Memorial is at the base of the Main Stand, on the outer concourse, and carries an eternal flame and the names of those who died.

Every year, the match closest to the anniversary is marked by a minute’s silence before kick-off. If you are at Anfield then, the ground goes completely quiet. Please stay silent and follow the crowd’s lead.

An unimaginable tragedy. The families and campaigners fought for justice, and continue to do so. The 97 will never be forgotten.

If you want to pay your respects at the memorial, go quietly and early, and do not treat it as a photo spot.

Matchday Manners

What Not to Do

Small things that make a visit go better.

Don’t arrive at the last minute

The build-up is part of the day. The song, the scarves and the noise all happen before kick-off.

Don’t treat the tributes as photo ops

Put the phone down during silences and remembrance moments.

Don’t bring flares or smoke

You may see them outside on big days, but they are banned inside the ground and can get you ejected or arrested.

Don’t leave early

The ground empties fast, and you miss the end of the song and the reaction. Plan your way home before you go: see Getting There.

Keep Planning

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