The Kop

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This article deals with the standing room stands called Kop ; for further meanings see LAD .

The Kop in the stadium on Anfield Road

" The Kop " is the name for the standing room in some English football stadiums, named after the South African mountain Spion Kop , where many British soldiers, especially from Liverpool , were killed in the Battle of Spion Kop during the Boer War .

Usually, however, "The Kop" refers to the grandstand behind the south-west gate on Anfield Road , home of Liverpool FC (LFC). "The Kop", still the official name of the grandstand, is the home of the most loyal fans of the "Reds" and is located directly on Walton Breck Road. To this day, the derived name "Kopites" is used for the visitors of this grandstand, but also as a synonym for all supporters of the LFC.

She became known worldwide in 1964 through a broadcast on the BBC, in which recordings were shown by Liverpool fans who celebrated the championship loudly with Beatles songs and the anthem You'll Never Walk Alone .

A full Anfield Kop in 1983, before the conversion to a pure seating grandstand

The 1967/68 season saw the birth of classical catch singing in the Kop. Before, it was customary to sing before and after the games, but not during the 90 minutes. In a foggy match it was not possible for the spectators in the Kop behind the Liverpool goal to see the opposing goal. When the home team returned to their own half after an attack and the opposing striker put the ball in the kick-off circle, a goal for Liverpool seemed to have been scored; however, all details were swallowed up in the fog. The head began to chant: “Who scored the goal, who scored the goal?” The other side replied in the same way that Tony Hateley was the goal scorer. The first, albeit simple, fan chants were born.

In 1994 - also to take into account the recommendations of the Taylor Report - "The Kop" was torn down and replaced by a grandstand with 12,390 seats. Today it houses the main ticketing point and a large fan shop, the entrance of which is adorned with a statue of the Liverpool coach legend Bill Shankly . Until then, "The Kop" was the largest standing room in Europe with 30,000 seats. Among the grandstands in Europe, only the south grandstand in Dortmund's Signal Iduna Park has such a capacity today . The capacity at that time, which alone corresponded to today's Millerntor Stadium , underlines the uniqueness of the atmosphere that emanated from this grandstand.