The 2024-25 season saw further improvements to matchdays and the marking of two historic moments with fans at the Etihad Stadium.
City trialled a new fanzone experience at Co-op Live across four Premier League and Champions League fixtures.
The ability to utilise the arena, which sits next to the stadium on the Etihad Campus and opened in May 2024, allowed the Club to offer a more diverse range of pre-match entertainment.
Across the trial events, fans enjoyed exclusive interviews with six high-profile boxers who went on to fight in an event at Co-op Live, live performances from Paul Hand Band, DJ’s and the opportunity to watch early kick-off games.
The Manchester City Kids Fanzone continued to score very highly in fan surveys, with families giving it a satisfaction rating of 9.5 out of 10. The fanzone, which is held at City Football Academy, is a free event and is regularly sold out, with around 2,000 fans enjoying the experience at every weekend fixture.
The season also saw special matchday shows to mark two incredibly important moments in Manchester City history – Rodri’s Ballon d’Or win, and the departure of Kevin De Bruyne after a decade with the Club.
The official Ballon d’Or celebration saw Rodri take to the pitch, which was fully covered for the first time in history, to be celebrated by fans, his teammates and Club officials. He displayed the award in front of fire letters spelling out his name, creating an iconic moment which honoured the Club’s first-ever Ballon d’Or winner.
The final home game of the season saw the departure of Kevin De Bruyne, one of City’s greatest ever players.
Ahead of the game, fans unveiled three large-scale banners featuring the affectionate ‘King Kev’ moniker and a memorable image of him lacing up his boots during the comeback against Aston Villa on the final day of the season in 2022.
After the match, heartfelt video messages from teammates past and present were played on the stadium screens, whilst his family and City teammates honoured him with gifts and speeches on the pitch. It was the fan’s highest-rated matchday of the season.
The Etihad Stadium was renamed the “City in the Community Stadium” for a special matchday in support of the Club’s charity. All the matchday graphics were created by City in the Community Premier League Primary Stars participants from local school Barlow Hall, whilst bespoke LEDs and a special centre circle banner added to the awareness generation that the charity deserves.
Local City in the Community participants were also able to take part in once-in-a-lifetime opportunities including being a mascot, taking part in the team photo and shadowing the matchday teams, including City’s content team. One City in the Community participant also had the opportunity to do a post-match interview with Omar Marmoush.
Important improvements were also made for regular home games as City became one of the first Premier League clubs to introduce live captioning on the jumbo screens to ensure fans with hearing impairments could fully enjoy the entertainment.
At the home of Manchester City Women, the matchday experience continued to be rated highly by fans, as did the pre-match fanzone at the Joie that included a new player-greeting experience.
The Club also delivered a special end-of-season show for the last home game of the season. Following the full-time whistle, the players revealed a ‘Thank You’ banner featuring the names of every season ticket holder in recognition of their support throughout the season.
The banner will be displayed at the stadium throughout the 2025-26 season to allow fans to locate their names.
The quality of the matchday experience at the Joie Stadium saw the Club recognised as the Best Club Matchday Experience at the inaugural Women’s Professional Game Awards.
Work on the expansion of the Etihad Stadium and Entertainment Destination continued at pace over the 2024-25 season.
The development ‘topped out’ in spring when the highest point of construction was reached, whilst internal stadium works were carried out over the off season to ensure the new roof was in place for the start of the 2025-26 season.
The North Stand itself will open during the 2025-26 season, with the hotel, workspace and public realm works, including the new fanzone, opening later in 2026.
Once completed, the Club’s new world-class facilities will sit alongside the 23,500-capacity Co-op Live arena – a joint venture between City Football Group and Oak View Group.
Towards the end of the season, the Manchester City Stadium Tour was awarded the Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Best of the Best Award for the third time in four years.
It was ranked as one of the top five experiences in the UK and amongst the top 1% of experiences globally. This season also saw the tour awarded a British Youth Travel Award for Best Experience.
The tour team developed and tested a new Virtual Reality experience which will be available to visitors for the 2025-26 season.
City Matters continued to develop over the season and remained a vital part of Manchester City’s overall approach to fan engagement. The group provided constructive input across a range of important topics, contributing to improvements that impact fans both at home and away.
The Club undertook 16 hours of City Matters engagement through in-person full group meetings with the Nominated Board Level Official in attendance at all meetings. There were also 24 hours of City Matters sub-group meetings with open discussions on topics across matchday experience, ticketing & membership and EDI.
As a result of season-long engagement and ongoing discussion between City Matters and the Club, notable changes were made to ticketing policies and pricing. Representatives provided valuable feedback and offered a broad range of perspectives that led to changes being made to the Flexi-Gold Season Ticket, as well as a reduction in match-by-match prices and a season ticket price freeze for the 2025-26 season.
In addition to ticketing policy, the group made valuable contributions in the area of diversity and inclusion, specifically advocating for the creation of a new role for a Black & Mixed Heritage representative. This was supported by the co-design of an inclusive recruitment strategy which aims to deliver a Fan Engagement Panel that reflects the diversity of Manchester City’s fanbase.
Source: Manchester City
