"Why is the Preston vs. Huddersfield Carabao Cup Match Taking Place at Goodison Park?"

IT has been 15 months since Goodison Park hosted a competitive men’s football match – but Everton’s former ground will be in use this weekend for Preston’s Carabao Cup first round match against Huddersfield.

The iconic stadium has been the before the men’s side relocated to the Hill Dickinson Stadium during the 2025/26 campaign.

Goodison Park will host its first men’s competitive football match in 15 months Credit: Reuters

Since then, has become the primary residence to the women’s team who finished 8th in the Women’s Super League last season.

But this weekend will be like no other as Preston are hosting Huddersfield at the 39,000-seater venue, meaning that there shouldn’t be any Toffees persuasion in the crowd.

And SunSport can reveal the reason why this is happening.

Why is Preston vs Huddersfield at Goodison Park?

Preston have spent £1.5million on a new hybrid pitch at Deepdale – their own historic home turf.

And ground staff want to wait until their first home game of the campaign against Wolves on August 22 before exposing it to match action.

So the club have managed to strike a deal with the Merseyside giants which allows them to host their Carabao Cup first round fixture at Goodison Park.

The club said in a statement: “Preston North End have agreed a deal with Everton to host the club’s first round Carabao Cup tie against .

“The Lilywhites applied to the EFL for permission to play at the alternative venue due to the installation of the new hybrid pitch at Deepdale.

“The pitch will be complete in time for the club’s first home league game against on Saturday 22nd August, but to ensure no issues after a significant £1.5m-plus investment, the decision was made to ask permission to play away from PR1 in round one.”

Preston vs Huddersfield will take place TODAY – Saturday, August 8 and it will get underway at 3pm BST.

When was the last men’s football match played at Goodison Park?

Goodison has not hosted men’s since May last year, when Everton beat Southampton 2-0 in an emotional farewell.

Hill Dickinson Stadium, which cost £800m and took three and a half years to build, sits in a picturesque location at Bramley-Moore Dock and can hold 13,000 more fans.

On August 24, 2025, Everton won the first competitive match that was hosted at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Goals from Iliman Ndiaye and Jack Grealish were enough to seal a 2-0 win over Brighton.

And fans were treated to seeing the first-ever penalty save when Toffees keeper Jordan Pickford saved Danny Welbeck’s effort from the spot.