CBS Arena Guide: Coventry City’s Long Road Home to the Premier League

 

Few stadiums in English football have a story as complicated as the 

CBS Arena. Coventry City have played there since 2005, but for much of that time, the club didn't own it, couldn't control it, and was even forced to play elsewhere. Now, with the stadium finally theirs and the Sky Blues back in the Premier League after 25 years, the CBS Arena is entering its most exciting chapter yet.

Where is the CBS Arena?

The CBS Arena sits in the north of Coventry, in the Longford area, close to the M6 motorway. Its location makes it easy to reach by car from much of the Midlands, though match-day traffic can be heavy.

The stadium has its own railway stop, Coventry Arena station, with direct trains from Coventry city centre. Many fans also use buses from the city, especially on busy match days.

Amex Stadium Guide: How Brighton & Hove Albion Fought for Their Seaside Home

 

Few Premier League clubs had to fight harder for a home than 

Brighton & Hove Albion. The Amex Stadium, officially the American Express Stadium, opened in 2011 after more than a decade in which the club had no proper ground of its own. Today, its sweeping curved roof and roughly 31,800 seats stand as a symbol of what a determined fanbase can achieve.

Where is the Amex Stadium?

The stadium sits in Falmer, on the edge of the South Downs just outside Brighton. Its setting is unusual for a Premier League ground, with rolling green hills nearby rather than a tightly packed city neighborhood.

Falmer railway station sits right beside the stadium, making it one of the easiest grounds in the league to reach by train. On match days, extra services run from Brighton and other stations along the coast.

Gtech Community Stadium Guide: How Brentford Built a Modern Home for the Bees

 

Brentford's home is one of the newest grounds in the Premier League, but it carries more than a century of history. The Gtech Community Stadium opened in 2020, replacing the beloved Griffin Park, where the club had played since 1904. Today, the compact 17,250-seat stadium in West London is home to one of the Premier League's great modern success stories.

What is the Gtech Community Stadium?

Vitality Stadium Guide: Inside AFC Bournemouth’s Small but Mighty Home

 

AFC Bournemouth play in the smallest stadium in the Premier League, and their fans wouldn't

 have it any other way. The Vitality Stadium, still called Dean Court by many supporters, holds roughly 11,300 people. Yet it has become one of the most talked-about grounds in English football, thanks to a remarkable rise, a historic first season in Europe, and ambitious plans to nearly double its size.

What makes the Vitality Stadium special?

Villa Park: Aston Villa's Historic Home and the Legendary Holte End

 

Villa Park is the home of Aston Villa in Birmingham, and one of the most 

historic grounds in English football. Opened in 1897, it has hosted more FA Cup semi-finals than any other stadium, plus matches at the 1966 World Cup and Euro 96. Its famous Holte End is the heart of the atmosphere, and a North Stand rebuild is now underway to push capacity past 50,000.

Some stadiums feel modern. Villa Park feels lived in. It has more than a century of football history in its stands, and it's about to enter a new chapter. Here's what makes Aston Villa's home one of the most important grounds in the country.

West Ham United: The Controversial Move to London Stadium

 

Every club on this list so far has a stadium story rooted in decades, sometimes over 

a century, of continuous history at the same site. West Ham's story is different — and more recent. In 2016, the club left its spiritual home of 112 years to move into a repurposed Olympic stadium, a decision that remains one of the most debated stadium transitions in Premier League history, still generating genuine disagreement among fans nearly a decade later.

From Boleyn Ground to an Olympic Legacy Project

Newcastle United: St. James' Park and the Loudest City in Football

 

Few grounds in England carry the kind of raw, city-wide devotion that 

St. James' Park commands. Perched on a hill overlooking Newcastle's city center, visible from almost anywhere downtown, the stadium isn't just where Newcastle United plays — it's a physical landmark the entire city organizes itself around, in a way that goes well beyond how most clubs relate to their home ground.

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium: The Ground Built to Do Everything

 

Most Premier League stadiums are built to do one thing well: 

host football. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was built to do almost everything — and that ambition is baked into its foundations, literally, since part of the pitch itself can slide away to reveal a second field underneath.

Chelsea: The History Packed Into Stamford Bridge

 

Stamford Bridge has hosted football since 1877, making it older than 

Chelsea Football Club itself — the club was actually founded in 1905 specifically to play there, after the stadium's owners failed to convince an existing club to become tenants. Few grounds in English football have that backwards relationship between stadium and club.

The Etihad: How It Became Manchester City’s Premier League Fortress

 

Most Premier League stadiums were built specifically for 

the club that plays in them. The Etihad wasn't. It started life as the centerpiece venue for the 2002 Commonwealth Games — years before Manchester City ever set foot in it — and its entire design still carries the fingerprints of that original purpose.

Stamford Bridge: The Stadium That Existed Before Chelsea Did

 

Most football clubs come first, and the stadium follows. 

Chelsea is the rare exception — Stamford Bridge existed for over a decade before the club that plays there today was even formed, and that backwards order shaped almost everything about how the ground came to exist in the first place.

The Emirates: How Arsenal Built a New Home Without Losing the Old One

 

Arsenal spent 93 years at Highbury before making one of the most significant moves in Premier League history

 — and the way they handled that transition says as much about the club's identity as the stadium itself does.

Why the move happened at all

By the early 2000s, Highbury had become a genuine limiting factor for Arsenal. Its capacity, just under 38,500, was tightly boxed in by the surrounding North London streets and Victorian-era housing, leaving no realistic room for expansion. While rivals were building or upgrading toward 60,000-plus capacities, Arsenal was stuck with a fixed ceiling on matchday revenue — a real competitive disadvantage in an era where television money and matchday income were both climbing fast. The decision to build the Emirates wasn't really a choice between "old charm" and "new stadium." It was a financial necessity dressed up as an architectural project.