Reds to start Anfield expansion

Liverpool - Liverpool have confirmed on Thursday that work to expand the Main Stand at their Anfield home will begin next year and be completed during the 2016-17 season.

The club will add 8 500 seats to the stand at a reported cost of £100 million, taking its capacity to over 20 000 and raising the overall capacity of the stadium from 45 276 to around 54 000.

The five-time European champions will continue to play their matches at Anfield -- the club's home since 1892 -- while the work is carried out.

"Today is an important milestone in the history of Liverpool Football Club," chief executive officer Ian Ayre said in a statement.

"Since we embarked upon this journey we have always said that we need certainty; we now have that certainty and will progress with the expansion of the Main Stand."

Liverpool have also secured outline planning permission to add around 4 800 seats to the stadium's Anfield Road Stand, but no timeframe has yet been established for that element of the ground's redevelopment.

In its current state, Anfield is dwarfed by the stadiums of some of Liverpool's main rivals, such as Manchester United's Old Trafford (75 731 capacity) and Arsenal's Emirates Stadium (60 338).

As a result, whereas United generated £127 million in match-day revenue during the 2012-13 season, Liverpool's equivalent income was £52 million, according to financial analysts Deloitte.