Liverpool’s Women’s team have moved into the club’s famous Melwood Training Ground, as it was officially opened on Friday. 

Officially called the AXA Melwood Training Ground, it will be home to the club’s women’s team ahead of the new Barclay’s WSL season that kicks off this weekend, moving from their current base at Tranmere on the Wirral. 

The state-of-the art facility is the new day-to-day base of Matt Beard’s team and Reds skipper believes Niamh Fahey the move is a massive step for the women’s side. 

‘It’s an elite facility and I think it’s going to do wonders for the club. Obviously for us to be in this environment now, it’s going to make a massive difference. Everyone is absolutely buzzing.

The Liverpool women’s team train at the new training ground for the first time on Friday 

Liverpool bought back the famous site which will be now known as the AXA Melwood Training centre 

Reds skipper Niamh Fahey gets a look around the famous venue and is excited to be there 

‘The pitches are exceptional as well – we don’t have any excuses now. It’s top-class.

‘We needed an elite facility to be able to grow, progress and obviously attract the best talent, and it’s just fantastic for us as players to be in this environment day in, day out.’

Liverpool’s men’s side first trained at Melwood in the 1950s and it was their famous first-team training ground until November 2020, when they moved to a new £50m facility in Kirby. 

Despite local protests planning permission was granted on the site in 2017 for a new housing development, with a proposed plan of 170 new properties approved to be built. 

However, once the Robbie Fowler-Jamie Carragher academy moved in to train Liverpool’s young stars, plans started to change and earlier this year the club bought back the site with a view to making it the home of their women’s team. 

Manager Matt Beard takes a training session at the new Melwood training ground 

Over the summer the facilities have been upgraded ready for the women’s side to move in 

Having been refurbished, redevelopment and upgraded over the summer, Melwood will now host both the women’s first-team, youth teams as well as continue to run the the Robbie Fowler Education and Football Academy. 

Liverpool kick-off the new WSL campaign with a tough trip to Arsenal on Sunday, having added seven new faces to Beard’s squad as they look to improve on last season’s seventh place finish, and captain Fahey is exited about the season ahead.

Adding: ‘We have had a really good transfer window and the girls that have come in have been exceptional, have slotted in seamlessly and have really good talent as well.

‘We’ve got a lot of competition now and that’s what we need to push ourselves forward, and I think it’s going to be a really good year for us.’