Are Premier League Pitches The Same Size?

Soccer stadiums in the English Premier League are some of the best in the world, but not many people stop to think about the pitches of those stadia. Many fans will say while watching a soccer match that the size of the field is bigger or smaller than usual, but are they correct to say so?

The sizes of soccer pitches in the Premier League are not the same. They vary in length and width, although not as much as some soccer fans would believe.

So are there any rules regarding the sizes of soccer fields in the Premier League? And which pitches are the biggest and smallest?

What Are The Pitch Sizes In Premier League 2022-23?

Club	Stadium	Length (Yards)	Width (Yards)	Area (Yards sq)
Arsenal	Emirates Stadium	114.83	74.37	8539.37
Aston Villa	Villa Park	114.83	74.37	8539.37
Bournemouth	Dean Court	114.83	74.37	8539.37
Brentford	Gtech Community Stadium	114.83	74.37	8539.37
Brighton and Hove Albion	Falmer Stadium	114.83	74.37	8539.37
Chelsea	Stamford Bridge	112.97	74.04	8364.05
Crystal Palace	Selhurst Park	110.45	74.37	8214.06
Everton	Goodison Park	109.89	74.37	8171.77
Fulham	Craven Cottage	109.36	71.08	7773.94
Leeds United	Elland Road	114.83	74.37	8539.37
Leicester City	King Power Stadium	114.83	74.37	8539.37
Liverpool	Anfield	110.45	74.37	8214.06
Manchester City	City of Manchester Stadium	114.83	74.37	8539.37
Manchester United	Old Trafford	114.83	74.37	8539.37
Newcastle United	St. James’ Park	114.83	74.37	8539.37
Nottingham Forest	City Ground	115.05	77.97	8970.83
Southampton	St Mary’s Stadium	114.83	74.37	8539.37
Tottenham Hotspur	Tottenham Hotspur Stadium	114.83	74.37	8539.37
West Ham United	London Stadium	114.83	74.37	8539.37
Wolverhampton Wanderers	Molineux Stadium	114.83	74.37	8539.37

The soccer pitch sizes in the Premier League differ, but it is interesting to see which are the smaller and which are the bigger ones. It could be the case that some of these sizes vary due to historical trends.

What Is The Biggest Pitch In The Premier League?

We can safely say that most Premier League pitches are almost identical in sizes and we will explain why that is the case. But first, let’s take a look at stadiums with the biggest area of their fields.

The biggest pitch in the Premier League is Nottingham Forest. The newly promoted team plays at City Ground in Nottingham and their field is both the longest and the widest of all 20. It is 115.05 yards long and 77.97 yards wide, which translates to 105.2 and 71.3 meters respectively. This gives it the area of 8,970.83 yards squared, more than any other pitch in the Premier League.

Behind Nottingham Forest’s City Ground field, the majority of the Premier League fields follow the same length and width. But there are five pitches smaller than that.

What Are The Smallest Pitches In The Premier League?

There are five soccer pitches in the Premier League we could describe as the smallest ones. The smallest is Fulham’s Craven Cottage, which is only 109.36 yards long and 71.08 yards wide, making it by far the tiniest in comparison to other pitches. For example, the pitch at Craven Cottage is around 1,200 yards squared smaller than Nottingham Forest’s pitch at City Ground.

Here is the list of the five of the smallest Premier League fields:

1. Fulham (Craven Cottage) – 7,773.94 yards sq.
2. Everton (Goodison Park) – 8,171.77 yards sq.
3. Liverpool (Anfield) – 8,214.06 yards sq.
4. Crystal Palace (Selhurst Park) – 8,214.06 yards sq.
5. Chelsea (Stamford Bridge) – 8,364.05 yards sq.

It is worth noting that all of these five stadiums were built a long time ago. Fulham’s Craven Cottage was opened as a soccer specific stadium all the way back in 1896. The two Liverpool-based stadiums are even older – Everton’s Goodison Park was opened in 1892, while Anfield started its journey in 1884. With Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge built in 1877 and Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park opened in 1924, it is probable it’s not a coincidence all of these stadia have the smallest pitches.

At the time when they were built, no one could have imagined the heights soccer would reach and that they would become sporting arenas worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Also, not many could have predicted there would be a governing body putting guidelines for all soccer pitches to be (almost) the same sizes.

Should Soccer Field Dimensions Be The Same?

This is a question that doesn’t have the correct answer. The European governing body UEFA, however, have created the guidelines that the professional leagues around Europe are expected to follow as much as possible.

Therefore, the recommended dimensions of a soccer pitch in the Premier League are 105 meters (115 yards) long and 68 meters (74 yards) wide. But, according to Football Association regulations, soccer fields can be anywhere from 90 to 120 meters long (100 to 130 yards). This bigger span is made to allow clubs from lower leagues to more easily follow the regulations for domestic competitions.

But whether the pitch dimensions should be the same is something fans have differing opinions about. 

Does The Size of a Soccer Field Matter?

To some extent, the different sizes of soccer pitches can make a difference.

The importance of the size of the soccer field can depend on numerous factors and the biggest one can be the style of play a team likes to play.

Teams that prefer defending and playing a long-ball style of soccer, often tend to prefer playing on smaller pitches. This makes it easier for them to defend. This was the case with Stoke City back in the day when Tony Pulis was their manager and they played in the Premier League.

Stoke were known as a team eager to defend and play a long-ball brand of soccer. They also had a long-throw specialist in Rory Delap, who could launch the throw-ins deep into the opposition’s penalty area and thus create goal-scoring opportunities. It is no wonder then that Stoke City always played on a pitch that met the minimum possible dimensions.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the Premier League pitches are not the same size, but they don’t vary much either. The Premier League guidelines are for pitches to be 115 yards long and 74 yards wide, where possible, to create similar conditions in every stadium in the league. But as long as there are possibilities to make your pitch bigger or smaller, there will be teams to try and use that to their advantage.