A New Way Through the Turnstile: Are the 2025–26 Ticketing Changes What's Needed?

Liverpool’s 2025–26 ticketing changes will reshape the matchday experience for thousands. Here’s what it means for the ordinary fan.

They say no two matchdays at Anfield are ever the same, but for years, trying to get a ticket has felt like repeating a cruel version of Groundhog Day. Wake up, log on, hold your breath, spin the wheel. Sometimes you win, often you lose. But, Liverpool have acted.

Announced with less fanfare than a new signing but far more impact for most fans, the club has detailed sweeping changes to its ticketing operation for the 2025–26 season. It is, in every sense, a shake-up. For some, it will be a godsend. For others, a source of frustration. But make no mistake, this has been a long time coming.

The club says these changes are rooted in fan feedback. Three surveys, almost 100,000 responses, and years of complaints finally boiled over. Supporters demanded more fairness, more security, and less of the chaos that had defined the modern ticket sale. The club, to its credit, has listened. Now it is up to us to make sense of it all.

Goodbye to the Queue: A More Modern All Red Sale

For those who hold 13 or more Premier League home credits, life just became simpler. No more panic on sale day. No more juggling shifts or skipping school runs to beat the bots. These supporters will now be automatically included in sales, skipping the registration process entirely.

It is a welcome nod to loyalty. Those who show up most often now get the least hassle. That is fair.

For the rest, the ballot system has been overhauled. Preferences for seating and pricing can be set when registering, and successful fans will have tickets allocated to them automatically. No frantic clicks, no heartbreak as your basket empties while payment loads.

It also closes a major door on bots and scalpers. With payments taken automatically, using pre-registered cards or mobile wallet options like Apple Pay and Google Pay, the process is tighter, cleaner, and far less open to abuse.

Of course, this will feel strange at first. The ritual of the ticket sale has long been a part of fan culture, stressful as it was. But the chance of real improvement is there.

One Forward, No Backsies: Changing How We Share

From next season, a ticket can only be forwarded once. That is a hard line, and one the club believes is vital to stamp out misuse. No more endless chains of swaps, no more tickets passed from account to account like a hot potato.

It will catch out those who play games with the system, creating ghost accounts and shadow networks. But it might also catch the odd honest fan trying to help a mate at the last minute. The club has left some room for discretion. In exceptional circumstances, forwarded tickets can be returned to the original owner, but this is clearly intended to be rare.

On the plus side, the window for forwarding now stays open until kick-off. That gives us time. If something crops up unexpectedly, you can still sort someone else to go, legally and transparently. There is balance there, even if it is not perfect.

Friends and Family? Choose Them Well

In years gone by, Friends and Family lists were treated like dressing room playlists, constantly changing, sometimes bloated, often abused. That ends now.

From next season, you can still add people throughout the campaign, up to a cap of 18. But from 1 September, you will not be able to remove anyone. Your list is locked in for the season. And that changes things.

It makes us more accountable. It forces a bit of forethought. No more tactical rotating or seasonal shake-ups. If someone is on your list, they stay there. If they are not, they do not get a look in. In truth, this is how it probably should have always been. A proper circle of trust

European Away A Small Revolution

One of the more intriguing updates is that ticket forwarding will now be trialled for European away matches. For a club that takes thousands across the continent, this could be huge.

The requirement that the person receiving a forwarded ticket must be on your Friends and Family list adds a layer of control. It also builds consistency with how home tickets are handled.

If it works, this could become the blueprint for domestic aways too. That is something many fans have been crying out for

Farewell to Ticket Distribution and to a Certain Kind of Loyalty?

Perhaps the most divisive change is the end of the ticket distribution option. From 2025–26, supporters with 13+ home credits can no longer distribute their ticket to someone else and keep the credit for themselves.

Instead, the credit goes to the person who actually attends the match. On the surface, that is hard to argue with. You should earn the credit by being in the ground, not by simply holding the right to a seat.

But there will be stories. Parents buying tickets for children. Friends covering each other. Families making sacrifices to help someone else get to Anfield. Those moments of generosity, of shared commitment, will now come at a cost.

It is hard not to feel a pang for what we might lose. But it also forces us to reconsider what loyalty looks like. Presence, not paperwork.

Why Now? And What Is This Really About?

There is no doubt these changes are aimed at cleaning up the system. The club has been crystal clear on that. The target is misuse and specifically the bots, touts, fake accounts, banned supporters getting back in through loopholes.

For too long, these problems have damaged the matchday experience. Genuine fans were squeezed out, cheated, priced up. This overhaul feels like a reset. Not just of process, but of principle.

The emphasis is on access, fairness, and transparency. These words have been used before, often without teeth. But the new policies suggest a seriousness we have not always seen.

It is also telling that so much of this comes from fan feedback. The Supporters Board has had a voice. That matters. It makes the reforms harder to dismiss as corporate tinkering.

The Bigger Picture and What It Means for Us All

If this works, we could be on the verge of a more equal Anfield. One where the person in the Main Stand and the lad in the Annie Road have the same chance of securing a seat. Where loyalty still counts, but gaming the system no longer does.

It will not be smooth. There will be confusion. There will be anger. There will be threads on forums picking apart every hiccup. But there is hope too.

As Arne Slot prepares to lead his title winning side into a new season, Anfield is evolving. On the pitch, off it, and now in the stands.

This club has never been afraid of bold change. It was bold when it brought in Shankly. Bold when it appointed Klopp. Bold when it handed the reins to a rising Dutchman with a vision of pressing and purpose.

So this is another moment. Maybe not quite as romantic, but no less important.

A new way through the turnstile. A new era of watching our Reds. And maybe, just maybe, a bit more justice in the game we love most.