Liverpool Football Club

Liverpool is an English association football club which was founded in 1892 and competes in the FA Premier League. It is England's most successful club, having won one FIFA Club World Cup, six European Cups, three UEFA Cups, 19 Football League titles, eight FA Cups, nine League Cups and numerous additional trophies such as the FA Community Shield and the UEFA Super Cup. The club's home stadium is Anfield, named after the Liverpool suburb in which it is located. In 2023, Anfield has a capacity of 53,394 (all seated), but an ongoing redevelopment is expected to increase that to over 61,000.

The crest of the club has the Liver Bird, the symbol of the city of Liverpool, beneath the words You'll Never Walk Alone, the Rodgers and Hammerstein song which was adopted as the club's anthem in the 1960s after it was recorded by local group Gerry and the Pacemakers. The team plays in an all-red kit and is often nicknamed simply "The Reds", though other, rarer, nicknames exist such as "Super Reds".

Early years

Liverpool was founded after Everton, which was then based at Anfield, was split by a faction fight at board level over the proposed purchase of the freehold at Anfield. One faction, retaining the club's name and players, quit Anfield and moved across Stanley Park to establish a new home at Goodison Park. The other faction, which owned Anfield, decided to establish a new club there and this was called Liverpool FC. The new club joined the Lancashire League prior to the 1892–93 season and was elected to the Football League in 1893. Liverpool began in the Second Division and was promoted to the First Division the following season.

Managers

Liverpool dominated English football for long periods during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, largely through the work of successive outstanding team managers Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish. In the 21st century, Liverpool's managers have included Gerard Houllier, Rafael Benítez and Jürgen Klopp, who all won European trophies.

Players

Among the club's greatest players have been Billy Liddell, Ian St John, Tommy Smith, Ian Callaghan, Ray Clemence, Phil Neal, Kevin Keegan, Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness, Alan Hansen, Ian Rush, Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso, Luis Suárez, Jordan Henderson, Mo Salah, Sadio Mané and Virgil van Dijk.

The club's record signing is Uruguayan forward Darwin Núñez, bought for £85.6m (€100m) from Benfica on 13 June 2022. The highest fee that Liverpool have received for a player is the reported £142m from Barcelona for Philippe Coutinho in 2018.