The Amex Community Stadium is the home of Brighton and Hove Albion, a modern 31,876-seat ground tucked into a gap in the South Downs at Falmer, just outside the city. Demand for Amex Community Stadium tickets has grown sharply since Brighton reached the Premier League in 2017 and then broke into Europe, and the club's rise means the ground now sells out for almost every league fixture. Membership and season tickets soak up most of the supply, which is why the big visitors are hard to reach on general sale. 1BoxOffice is a verified secondary marketplace established in 2006, with seat-level detail at checkout and a 150% money-back guarantee if a ticket fails to grant entry on matchday.
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This guide is written for the supporter making the trip, not the browser. It covers the free matchday travel that comes with your ticket, how the four stands are arranged, where away fans sit, the bag rules and digital tickets, the pubs near Brighton station and the fan zone at the ground, and the long, hard-won story of how Brighton finally got a home of their own. By the end you should know exactly how your day will run.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full Name | American Express Community Stadium (Falmer Stadium) |
| Address | Village Way, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9BL |
| Capacity | 31,876 |
| Opened | July 2011 |
| Architect | KSS Design Group |
| Surface | Natural grass |
| Home Club | Brighton and Hove Albion |
| Construction Cost | Around 93 million pounds |
| Record Attendance | 31,872 (Brighton v Luton Town, August 2023) |
| Nearest Station | Falmer, next to the ground |
| Previous Grounds | Goldstone Ground, then Withdean Stadium |
The single most useful thing to know about the Amex is that travel to the match is built into your ticket. Brighton run a Free Travel Zone, so a Premier League matchday ticket, including a season ticket, gives free travel on Southern trains and Brighton and Hove Buses within the zone, from three and a half hours before kick-off until three and a half hours after the final whistle. The scheme may not apply to cup or friendly fixtures, so check before you travel. This makes the train the obvious way in, since there is no public parking at the ground.
Falmer railway station sits right next to the stadium, a couple of minutes' walk from the turnstiles, and it is the way most supporters arrive. Trains run from Brighton in well under fifteen minutes and also serve Lewes on the other side, with extra services and longer trains laid on for matchdays to move the crowd. Coming from London, you can change at Brighton or Lewes onto the same line, which makes the ground reachable on a day trip from the capital. The station has step-free access to both platforms. Expect the platforms to be busy straight after the final whistle, when the crowd heads back at once, so be ready to queue in an orderly way for the return train.
Brighton and Hove Buses serve Falmer, with route 25 from the city centre the most useful, running to the University of Sussex campus beside the ground. Bus travel is covered by the same Free Travel Zone on a Premier League matchday, so it is a good alternative if the train is full. Journey times from the centre are longer than the train but the buses are frequent.
There is no general parking at the stadium, so drivers use the designated park-and-ride sites at Mithras House and Mill Road, which run a coach service to the ground on matchdays. These must be used rather than parking in the streets around Falmer and the university, where restrictions apply and are enforced. If you are coming by car, plan for the park-and-ride rather than expecting to park nearby.
Brighton city centre and the seafront are more than four miles from the ground, too far to walk, so the train from Brighton station is the natural link. If you are staying on the coast for a weekend around the match, base yourself near Brighton station or in the centre and let the short train ride out to Falmer do the work on matchday.
There is no public car parking at the Amex, which is a deliberate part of the travel plan agreed when the ground was built. The park-and-ride sites at Mithras House and Mill Road are the sanctioned option for drivers, with a coach shuttle to and from the stadium. Parking in the residential streets and university areas around Falmer is restricted on matchdays and actively enforced, so it is not a workaround. For nearly everyone, the free train or bus travel that comes with the ticket is easier and cheaper than driving.
The Amex is a smart, curved bowl with an arched roof, built into the Downs so that its exterior sits low against the hills. The seating is close to the pitch and the sightlines are strong from every stand, with no pillars to block the view. The four stands each have their own character.
The North Stand is the vocal home end, where Brighton's most passionate supporters gather and the singing comes from. It is the section to target for the fullest atmosphere, and it drives the noise on a big Premier League night. It suits supporters who want to be in the thick of the home crowd.
The West Stand is the main stand and the largest, a three-tier structure holding the premium and hospitality seating, the luxury boxes, the 1901 Club and Tunnel Club, the media positions and the tunnel. The higher-priced seats sit here, and it gives an excellent elevated view across the pitch from the upper tier.
The East Stand runs the length of the pitch opposite the main side and houses the family area, making it the choice for supporters bringing children. It gives a clear, balanced view of the game in a calmer setting than the North Stand, and its family sections come with their own facilities.
Away supporters are housed in the South Stand, in the lower tier and into the south-eastern corner for the biggest followings, with an allocation of roughly 3,000 seats that are padded and have good legroom and a clear view. The family area sits in the East Stand, with age rules set for each fixture. Accessibility at the Amex is among the best in the league, with 202 wheelchair-user spaces, 727 easy-access seats, 37 accessible toilets, a Changing Places facility, audio-descriptive commentary and a sensory room. Because block layouts, family rules and accessible seating are arranged per fixture and sell-outs are the norm, confirm the detail through the ticketing channel before you travel.
The table below matches a section to what you want from the day.
| Priority | Recommended Sections |
|---|---|
| Atmosphere | North Stand, behind the goal |
| Tactical overview | West Stand upper tier, central rows |
| Close to pitch | Front rows of the East and West lower tiers |
| Families | East Stand family area (confirm age rule at purchase) |
| Budget-friendly | Corners and upper rows of the end stands |
| Away fans | South Stand and south-eastern corner |
| Accessibility | Designated wheelchair-user bays with companion spaces (request at purchase) |
Although Brighton is a coastal city, the Amex sits inland in a gap in the South Downs and can be noticeably breezy and cooler than the seafront, so do not assume mild seaside weather. The arched roof covers the seating well, but wind can still carry rain into the front rows on an exposed side in bad weather. For an autumn or winter fixture a warm layer and a waterproof are sensible, since the wind off the Downs sharpens the cold. Summer and early-season matches are usually comfortable.
Like other Premier League grounds, the Amex runs a firm bag policy and searches on entry. The guidance is to travel without a bag where possible, and bags larger than A4 size are not permitted, so a small bag is fine but a rucksack or holdall is not. There is no large-bag store at the ground, so anything oversized has to be left elsewhere. Prohibited items include bottles, cans, alcohol brought from outside, pyrotechnics and flares, and any object judged dangerous. Note that there are no betting facilities inside the ground, a condition of the American Express sponsorship. Check the club's matchday guidance for the current bag rules and arrive early to clear the search.
Falmer is a small place with little around the ground, so the drinking splits between a fan zone at the stadium and the pubs of Brighton nearer the station. The free travel makes it easy to have a drink in the city and ride out for kick-off.
A fan zone operates outside the north-eastern corner of the ground with mobile bars serving real ales brewed locally in nearby Lewes, which is the handiest option right by the stadium. The historic Swan Inn in Falmer village is the nearest traditional pub, though it is small and gets very busy. Bear in mind that if you drink in the external fan zone you may not be able to re-enter it after going into the ground, so plan your timings.
Most supporters drink in Brighton before catching the train. The pubs around Brighton station, including the Grand Central, the Railway Bell and the Queens Head, are popular with home fans and handy for the platforms. Away supporters commonly use the city-centre bars and the larger chain pubs before travelling out, and the relaxed Brighton scene means mixing beforehand is normal.
The concourses take card and contactless payment, and the catering has a good reputation by football standards, with the homemade pies in particular well regarded alongside the usual burgers and hot dogs. Prices are in line with a Premier League ground, and the ground has offered fuller matchday options such as a Sunday roast served in a Yorkshire pudding on the concourses. If you want a proper sit-down meal, eat in Brighton beforehand, where the Lanes and the seafront cover every budget from fish and chips to a smart restaurant, then travel out on the train.
Brighton use digital ticketing, so for most fixtures the barcode sits in your phone wallet or the club's app and is scanned at the turnstile. Load the ticket, charge your phone and turn the screen brightness up before you reach the entrance, since a saved screenshot can fail to scan when a barcode refreshes. Turnstiles usually open around an hour and a half before kick-off. With a bag search and a sell-out crowd arriving by train at once, the entrances get busy in the last half hour, so aim to be at the ground in good time rather than joining the final rush from the station.
Leaving the Amex means moving a large crowd through a single railway station, so a little patience and planning helps.
Falmer station handles the bulk of departures, with a managed queuing system on the concourse after a sell-out to load the trains safely back towards Brighton and Lewes. It is orderly but takes time, so either move quickly with the first wave or wait a few minutes in the ground before joining the queue. Your matchday ticket covers the return journey within the travel window.
Buses run back into the city on the same free-travel basis, and the park-and-ride coaches return drivers to Mithras House and Mill Road. Both spread the load away from the station, so if the rail queue looks long the bus is a good alternative back into Brighton.
With little around the ground, the simplest way to avoid the worst of the station queue is to stay in your seat or on the concourse for a few minutes after the whistle, or have a drink in the fan zone, and let the first wave clear. A short wait usually means a far more comfortable journey back into Brighton.
The Amex was the end of one of the longest and most painful sagas in English football. Brighton lost their historic Goldstone Ground in 1997, sold by the board of the day against furious fan opposition, and spent two seasons in exile groundsharing at Gillingham, a 140-mile round trip for home games. They then spent more than a decade at the Withdean Stadium, a converted athletics track with temporary stands and tight capacity that was never meant for league football, while a long supporter campaign and two public inquiries fought for permission to build a permanent home at Falmer. The fight to save and rehouse the club, including the famous Fans United show of solidarity, became one of the defining supporter movements in English football and a lesson in what an organised fanbase can achieve.
That home finally opened in July 2011, designed by KSS Design Group and built at a cost of around 93 million pounds, with an arched roof that settles the ground gently into the surrounding Downs. It began with a capacity of about 22,500 and was expanded in stages to its current 31,876 as the club climbed the divisions. For supporters who had endured the years of exile, the Amex was more than a stadium; it was proof the club had survived.
What followed was a remarkable rise. Brighton won promotion to the Premier League for the first time at the Amex in 2017 and established themselves in the top flight, then qualified for European football for the first time in the club's history in 2023, reaching the Europa League. The ground's record attendance of 31,872 was set against Luton Town in August 2023, a full house for a club that had once faced extinction.
The stadium's defining night came in April 2017, when Brighton sealed a first-ever promotion to the Premier League at the Amex, ending decades of near misses and hardship. The record crowd of 31,872 packed in for the visit of Luton Town in August 2023, a fixture that pitted two clubs with long roads back to the top against each other. The 2023 European qualification gave the ground its first taste of continental football, with Brighton hosting Europa League nights under the Falmer lights for the first time, adding a new chapter to a stadium that only opened in 2011.
Brighton have spoken about the possibility of expanding the Amex beyond its current capacity as demand continues to outstrip supply, but no firm scheme has been confirmed. Any figures reported for a larger capacity should be treated as aspirations rather than settled plans until the club sets out concrete proposals. For now the 31,876-seat ground remains the settled home of Premier League football at Falmer, with long waiting lists for season tickets underlining just how far the club has come and how consistently the demand now outstrips the seats available.
The Amex is widely regarded as one of the most accessible grounds in English football. It provides 202 wheelchair-user spaces, 727 easy-access seats, 37 accessible toilets and a Changing Places facility, along with audio-descriptive commentary and a sensory room for supporters who need a quieter environment. Falmer station has step-free access to both platforms, and the level approach from the station to the turnstiles makes the ground easy to reach. Accessible parking and drop-off are available and should be arranged in advance. Because accessible seating is allocated per fixture and demand is high, supporters with access requirements should book directly through the club's disability ticketing channel well ahead of the match.
Almost every Brighton home fixture sells out, but the biggest visitors drive resale demand hardest. Matches against Manchester United and the other traditional heavyweights are the standout draws, and you can follow them on the Brighton vs Manchester United tickets and Brighton vs Arsenal tickets pages, while the full home programme sits on the Brighton and Hove Albion tickets and Premier League tickets listings. When Brighton reach Europe, the Europa League tickets and Champions League tickets calendars bring their own demand for a club still new to continental nights. Early-season fixtures against mid-table sides are the most accessible and sometimes available closer to kick-off. Secondary-market prices move with demand, so treat any figure as indicative rather than fixed and buy early for the marquee matches.
1BoxOffice is a verified secondary marketplace that has operated since 2006, showing seat-level detail before you pay and backing every order with a 150% money-back guarantee if a ticket fails to grant entry on matchday. The eight steps below cover the process from finding a fixture to tracking your order.
Step1
Find the fixture
Go to the Amex Community Stadium listing on 1BoxOffice and select the match you want. Each fixture shows the available stands, rows and current pricing before you commit to a seat.
Step2
Check the seat detail
Use the stand and price filters to compare sections. Seat location and row are shown against the venue layout, so you can weigh the North Stand atmosphere against a calmer East Stand seat before deciding.
Step3
Confirm the supporter section
Make sure the block matches who you are travelling with. Home, family and visiting-supporter areas are listed separately, and away fans are routed to the South Stand.
Step4
Review before checkout
Check the delivery method and the kick-off time against your travel plans. Premier League kick-off times often change after broadcast selections, so verify the date and time before you book travel or a hotel.
Step5
Create your account
First-time buyers should create an account to complete checkout and receive the ticket. Returning customers simply log in. An account keeps your order and delivery details in one place.
Step6
Complete payment
All major credit and debit cards are accepted. The 150% money-back guarantee applies automatically to every order if the ticket fails to grant entry on matchday.
Step7
Receive your ticket
Tickets for Brighton fixtures are typically issued digitally. Keep the live ticket in your wallet or the club's app ready to scan, and avoid relying on a saved screenshot that may fail at the turnstile.
Step8
Track your order
Follow delivery status and manage your booking through track order. Digital tickets arrive ahead of the match so you can travel with everything ready.
Brighton is one of the most enjoyable places in England for a football weekend, a lively seaside city with a famous pier, the Royal Pavilion and the maze of independent shops in the Lanes. Fly into London Gatwick, which is only about half an hour from Brighton by direct train, and base yourself near Brighton station or in the centre for easy access to the seafront and the matchday train out to Falmer. Remember that your matchday ticket includes free local train and bus travel, so you rarely need to pay separately to reach the ground. Card and contactless payment are standard everywhere.
With London and the south coast close by, many supporters build a longer trip around the match. If you are lining up other fixtures, the football tickets hub, the wider football tournaments calendar and the venues tickets directory show what else is on, while tournament travellers follow the World Cup tickets hub. In Brighton itself, the seafront, the Palace Pier, the Royal Pavilion and the i360 viewing tower all make good use of a matchday morning before the short train ride to the ground.
The Amex holds 31,876, having grown from an opening capacity of around 22,500 through expansions as Brighton climbed the divisions. It is an all-seater ground. Its record attendance is 31,872, set against Luton Town in August 2023.
Take the train from Brighton station to Falmer, which is right next to the ground and under fifteen minutes away, or the number 25 bus from the city centre. Both are covered free by your matchday ticket within the Free Travel Zone. The city centre is over four miles from the ground, so the train is the standard way in.
Yes. A Premier League matchday ticket or season ticket gives free travel on Southern trains and Brighton and Hove Buses within the Travel Zone, from three and a half hours before kick-off to three and a half hours after the final whistle. The scheme may not apply to cup or friendly fixtures, so check before you travel.
There is no public parking at the ground. Drivers use the park-and-ride sites at Mithras House and Mill Road, which run a coach to the stadium on matchdays. Parking in the streets around Falmer and the university is restricted and enforced, so the park-and-ride or the free train travel are the options.
It is difficult on general sale, as members and season-ticket holders get first access and most fixtures sell out. Public sales for remaining tickets are limited, which is why a verified secondary marketplace is often the realistic route for visitors, with seat detail shown before you pay.
Travel light. Bags larger than A4 size are not permitted, so a small bag is fine but a rucksack is not, and there is no large-bag store. Bottles, cans, outside alcohol, pyrotechnics and flares are prohibited, and every bag is searched. Check the club's matchday guidance for the current rules before you travel.
The North Stand is the vocal home end, where Brighton's most passionate supporters gather and the singing comes from. Target it for the fullest atmosphere. The West Stand upper tier gives the best elevated view, while the East Stand is the calmer family side.
Away supporters are housed in the South Stand, extending into the south-eastern corner for the biggest followings, with an allocation of around 3,000 seats. The seats are padded with good legroom and a clear, pillar-free view. The exact size of the allocation is set for each fixture.
Yes, and it is one of the most accessible grounds in the league. It has 202 wheelchair-user spaces, 727 easy-access seats, 37 accessible toilets, a Changing Places facility, audio-descriptive commentary and a sensory room. Falmer station has step-free access. Arrange accessible seating through the club's disability ticketing channel well in advance.
Turnstiles usually open around an hour and a half before kick-off. With a bag search and a sell-out crowd arriving by train at once, the entrances get busy in the last half hour, so aim to arrive in good time. The precise opening time is confirmed with your ticket for each fixture.
The concourses take card and contactless payment and have a good reputation for football catering, with the homemade pies particularly well regarded alongside burgers and hot dogs. A fan zone outside the north-eastern corner serves real ales from nearby Lewes. Note there are no betting facilities inside the ground.
Yes, the family area is in the East Stand and comes with its own facilities. Age accompaniment rules for children are set by the club for each fixture, so confirm the exact requirement and any child pricing at the point of purchase rather than assuming a fixed rule.
Yes. Public tours take in the dressing rooms, the tunnel, the pitchside and the hospitality areas, with adult tickets around 25 pounds and discounts for season-ticket holders, children and concessions. Tours should be booked in advance and do not run on matchdays. Confirm the current schedule and price with the club before you visit.
Face-value Premier League prices vary by category of fixture, but most matches sell out, so resale prices depend heavily on the opponent. Games against the traditional heavyweights command the highest prices, while early-season fixtures against mid-table sides are more accessible. Secondary-market prices move with demand, so treat any figure as indicative rather than a promise.
Stay near Brighton station or in the city centre for the best mix of pubs, restaurants, the seafront and a short train ride out to Falmer. The station area is ideal on matchday given the free train travel included with your ticket, and it keeps you close to the Lanes and the beach.
Brighton issue tickets digitally, so the barcode sits in your phone wallet or the club's app and is scanned at the turnstile. Charge your phone, turn up the screen brightness and load the ticket before you arrive. A saved screenshot can fail to scan when a barcode refreshes, so rely on the live ticket.
It is known as the hard-won home that ended Brighton's years of exile, and for its arched roof settled into the South Downs. On the pitch it is where Brighton reached the Premier League and then European football for the first time, and it is one of the most accessible grounds in England.
Falmer itself is small, with the University of Sussex and the South Downs around it, so the attractions are in Brighton, a short train ride away: the seafront, the Palace Pier, the Royal Pavilion, the Lanes and the i360 tower all make good use of a matchday morning or afternoon.
The ground opened in July 2011 to a design by KSS Design Group, ending Brighton's years at the Withdean Stadium. It is the home of Brighton and Hove Albion, whose men's and women's teams play there, and it cost around 93 million pounds to build.
They are as safe as the marketplace you use. A verified marketplace shows seat details before checkout, confirms sellers and offers a money-back policy if the ticket fails to admit you. 1BoxOffice has operated since 2006 and applies a 150% money-back guarantee. Avoid anonymous sellers who will not show seat details before payment.
Sources: Brighton and Hove Albion (brightonandhovealbion.com), Southern Railway and Brighton and Hove Buses, Premier League and stadium reference records. Information was gathered in July 2026 and may change; check sources for the latest details. 1BoxOffice is not affiliated with Brighton and Hove Albion or the American Express Community Stadium. All trademarks belong to their respective owners.