Liverpool were founded following a dispute between the Everton committee and John Houlding, club president and owner of the land at Anfield.

The team Liverpool fielded against Rotherham was composed entirely of Scottish players—the players who came from Scotland to play in England in those days were known as the Scotch Professors.

[23] Under his leadership Liverpool won the 1992 FA Cup Final, but their league performances slumped, with two consecutive sixth-place finishes, eventually resulting in his dismissal in January 1994.

Despite finishing fifth in Benítez's first season, Liverpool won the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League, beating A.C. Milan 3–2 in a penalty shootout after the match ended with a score of 3–3.

John W. Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox and of Fenway Sports Group, bid successfully for the club and took ownership in October 2010.

[37] Poor results during the start of that season led to Hodgson leaving the club by mutual consent and former player and manager Kenny Dalglish taking over.

[42][43] Following a disappointing 2014–15 season, where Liverpool finished sixth in the league, and a poor start to the following campaign, Rodgers was sacked in October 2015.

Liverpool continued to wear red shirts and white shorts until 1964 when manager Bill Shankly decided to change to an all-red strip.

[68] Following the death of Andrew Devine and the subsequent ruling by a coroner that he was unlawfully killed, the number 97 has been worn in this place since the beginning of the 2022-23 season.

Situated 2 miles (3 km) from Liverpool city centre, it was originally used by Everton before the latter moved to Goodison Park after a dispute over rent with Anfield owner John Houlding.

[73] Historically, the Kop was a terraced stand before it was converted to seating, and it has long been recognized as the heart of Anfield's fan base.

[75] The hill was the site of the Battle of Spion Kop in the Second Boer War, where over 300 men of the Lancashire Regiment died, many of them from Liverpool.

Many stadiums in England had stands named after Spion Kop, but Anfield's was the largest of them at the time; it could hold more supporters than some entire football grounds.

An extra tier was added to the Anfield Road end in 1998, which further increased the capacity of the ground but gave rise to problems when it was opened.

[79] Because of restrictions on expanding the capacity at Anfield, Liverpool announced plans to move to the proposed Stanley Park Stadium in May 2002.

The expansion, which is estimated to cost £60m, was described as "a huge milestone" by managing director Andy Hughes, and would also see rail seating being trialled in the Kop for the 2021–22 Premier League season.

[91] The club takes advantage of this support through its worldwide summer tours,[92] which has included playing in front of 101,000 in Michigan, U.S., and 95,000 in Melbourne, Australia.

[98] The song "You'll Never Walk Alone", originally from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel and later recorded by Liverpool musicians Gerry and the Pacemakers, is the club's anthem and has been sung by the Anfield crowd since the early 1960s.

[99] Simon Hart of The Independent wrote: "The pre-match, scarfs-raised, sing-it-loud ritual is as much a part of Liverpool's fabric as their red shirts.

UEFA laid the blame for the incident solely on the Liverpool supporters,[101] and banned all English clubs from European competition for five years.

[103] In 1989, after a five-month trial in Belgium, 14 Liverpool fans were given three-year sentences for involuntary manslaughter;[104] half of the terms were suspended.

[105] The second disaster took place during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield, on 15 April 1989.

In the following days, The Sun's coverage of the event spread falsehoods, particularly an article entitled "The Truth" that claimed that Liverpool fans had robbed the dead and had urinated on and attacked the police.

[106] Subsequent investigations proved the allegations false, leading to a boycott of the newspaper by Liverpool fans across the city and elsewhere; many still refuse to buy The Sun 30 years later.

[131] In May 2010, accounts were released showing the holding company of the club to be £350m in debt (due to leveraged takeover) with losses of £55m, causing auditor KPMG to qualify its audit opinion.

[132] The group's creditors, including the Royal Bank of Scotland, took Gillett and Hicks to court to force them to allow the board to proceed with the sale of the club, the major asset of the holding company.

[134] Liverpool has been described as a global brand; a 2010 report valued the club's trademarks and associated intellectual property at £141m, an increase of £5m on the previous year.

[135] In April 2010, business magazine Forbes ranked Liverpool as the sixth most valuable football team in the world, behind Manchester United, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Barcelona and Bayern Munich; they valued the club at $822m (£532m), excluding debt.

[148] To mark the club's appearance in the 1988 FA Cup Final, Liverpool released the "Anfield Rap", a song featuring John Barnes and other members of the squad.

It featured Christopher Eccleston as Trevor Hicks, who lost two teenage daughters in the disaster, went on to campaign for safer stadiums, and helped to form the Hillsborough Families Support Group.