Cash boost for Birmingham Sports Quarter

Article posted by Coliseum, June 16^th, 2025

Image: Birmingham City

Plans for Birmingham City FC’s new home have been given a boost after the UK Government pledged funding for the transport link between the site and the city centre.

The BBC said the funding will go towards extending the Metro to the new Birmingham Sports Quarter that is expected to have Birmingham City’s new stadium at the heart of it.

A tram-line connecting high-speed rail at Curzon Street Station to the Sports Quarter will now be built and the hope of City’s owner Tom Wagner is that it will open in 2030.

Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England (UK). Formed in 1875, it plays in the English Football League (EFL) Championship, the second tier of English football, following promotion in 2025.

The club currently plays at the 29,409-capacity St Andrew’s Stadium known for sponsorship reasons as St. Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park, is an association football stadium in the Bordesley district of Birmingham, England (UK). It has been the home ground of Birmingham City Football Club for more than a century.

Knighthead, which acquired the club in 2023, and Birmingham City are developing plans for a vibrant Sports Quarter, with the intention to build a new multiuse stadium, high-performance training facilities and other mixed-use real estate development including a range of entertainment options.

This is to be the new home of the Birmingham City Football Club and a world-class venue to bring international sporting events to the region.

With plans afoot to move to a new stadium, the world’s leading stadium architects will now compete for the contract to design the 62,000-seater stadium that will be the centerpiece of the Sports Quarter.

Designs are expected to include a retractable pitch, like the one at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, to allow for non-sporting events to take place easily.

It is likely that the west stand will be the main stand and it will overlook the city centre’s impressive skyline. The west stand will have restaurants that are used all-year round, not just on match days.

The full plan will be submitted for approval in January and by the end of 2026, Birmingham should have the green light to start digging at their site in the east of the city.

The development will also include a smaller stadium that will be the home of Blues Women and used by the academy teams. The ‘show pitch’ is expected to have seating for around 10,000 people.

There will be an indoor arena for concerts and events that will house between 15-20,000 and it could be used to host the Birmingham Panthers – a netball team Knighthead acquired earlier this year.

A training complex with separate spaces for the men, women and academy will also be created in the Sports Quarter.

Knighthead plans to have 19 pitches in total. Wast Hills, now known as the Knighthead Performance Centre, is a large training ground but it only has 13 pitches.

It is hoped planning permission can be secured by 2027 so that building can commence late that year or in early 2028.

Should the stadium be completed after the 2030/31 season has started, Birmingham would move into their new home in the summer of 2031. But the hope is that everything is completed in time for Blues to begin 2030/31 in the Sports Quarter.

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