Man Utd has asked to play their first Premier League game of the 2026-27 season on the road.
The Premier League has agreed to Manchester United’s request to play their first game of the 2026-27 season away from Old Trafford. Michael Carrick’s team will kick off the season against newly-promoted Hull City at the MKM Stadium on August 22. This will be their first opening away game since 2016.
For the first time in 14 years, the pitch at Old Trafford is being completely dug up and rebuilt to make it better for players and improve water drainage. They’re also making the area around the field safer by extending the grass for a smoother surface. Plus, they’ll add extra protection to the brickwork at the bottom of Old Trafford’s famous slope — but the slope itself will stay the same.
Because of this work, United asked to play their first home match of the season somewhere else, according to a report from The Sun. They have ten weeks to finish everything before their first home game against Ipswich Town on August 29.
This will be the last time the pitch is grown from scratch at the current Old Trafford since the club is planning to move to a brand new stadium soon. Back in March last year, United announced plans to build a 100,000-seat stadium near Old Trafford. Sir Jim Ratcliffe described it as a “truly state-of-the-art stadium” that could inspire big changes.
The designs, created by architect Lord Norman Foster, were shown in London. The new stadium and surrounding redevelopment could bring in about £7.3 billion every year to the UK economy and offer great social and economic benefits to the local community. The project could also create 92,000 new jobs, build more than 17,000 new homes, and attract 1.8 million extra visitors each year.
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United aims to finish the new stadium by 2030, with plans to make it the largest covered space in the world and include their own version of Wembley Way, according to a report by the Mail.
Norman Foster shared more about the 100,000-seat stadium, saying, “The stadium will be the heart of a new, sustainable neighborhood that’s easy to walk around, well connected by public transport, and filled with green spaces. It’s like a small city of the future — bringing new growth and creating a global destination that people in Manchester can be proud of.”