Sitting alongside the River Soar in Leicester, King Power Stadium is the home ground of Leicester City Football Club. The stadium opened in the summer of 2002, in time for the 2002-03 season, with a capacity of 32,259. It was built in the Freeman’s Wharf area and cost between £35 million and £37 million to construct, designed by architects The Miller Partnership. Leicester City had previously played at Filbert Street, situated less than 300 yards from the current site, from 1891 to 2002.
The Move from Filbert Street
The shift to a new ground was a long time coming. Following the Taylor Report of January 1990, which required clubs in the top two divisions to have all-seater stadiums by August 1994, Leicester’s directors initially chose redevelopment over relocation, converting Filbert Street to an all-seated capacity of 21,500 in time for the 1994-95 season. That conversion coincided with the club’s return to the Premier League after seven years away. Subsequent relegation made the capacity seem sufficient, but success in the late 1990s pushed crowds up and the ground was effectively sold out for every match by the end of the decade. Parts of the stadium, particularly the East and North Stands, were also considered outdated – manager Martin O’Neill once joked that he would lead new signings out of the players’ tunnel backwards to stop them seeing the East Stand. An earlier plan announced in 1998 for a 40,000-seat stadium at Bede Island South was abandoned in January 2000. Plans for the current site were unveiled on 2 November 2000, construction began in summer 2001, and the project was confirmed ahead of schedule by October that year.
Naming and Notable Moments
King Power Stadium originally opened under the name Walkers Stadium in 2002. The ground attracted worldwide attention in 2016 when Leicester City won the Premier League title – an achievement few had predicted at the start of that season. The stadium’s capacity of 32,259 places it among the mid-sized grounds in England’s top flight, reflecting Leicester’s sustained presence in the Premier League since their return to the division.