First supporters already paid their visits to the new upper south stand. After successful test event Etihad Stadium will grow to over 55,000 from this Sunday onwards.

Yesterday in the evening there was a special training session at Etihad Stadium. Players on the field were welcomed by several thousand people in the middle and upper south stand as the newly added sections were tested ahead of full opening.  

As the test was announced a success, the upper south section will be inaugurated officially on Sunday, when Manchester City take on Chelsea.

Throughout the 2014/15 season the stadium held 46,708 people. From now on it has capacity set at 55,097, which makes Etihad Stadium the third largest across the Premier League.

The new stand offers a wide variety of seating options as completely new premium facilities were created with it. On the other hand there also was a portion of £299 season tickets, claimed to be the cheapest throughout the league. Needless to say this limited-quantity offer has sold out instantly.

The upper section added over 6,000 seats to the south end. Additional capacity was also created by new three front rows around the entire field.

Eventually the stadium should grow to over 60,000 when new upper north stand is open. City have planning permission for this phase, but no detailed time frame was released so far.