FA set to make official St James' Park announcement as Newcastle United install upgrade

England's national football team are set to return to St James' Park for the first time in 19 years this summer.

Newcastle United's home ground will reportedly host an England Euro 2024 warm-up friendly against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Monday, June 3, according to Mail Sport. The friendly is subject to official FA confirmation but will see England play at St James' Park for the first time since a 2-0 World Cup qualifier win over Azerbaijan in March 2005.

David Beckham and Steven Gerrard scored for England that day during a spell where the national side played at various stadia around England prior to the completion of the new Wembley Stadium. St James' Park also hosted England for a 3-0 friendly win over Ukraine in August 2004.

International football did return to St James' Park earlier this season with Saudi Arabia facing Costa Rica and South Korea in friendly matches. Saudi Arabia lost both matches in front of 5,000 and 3,000 crowds respectively.

But England's return to St James' Park is likely to be a sell-out so long after The Three Lions' previous match on Tyneside. Newcastle will be hoping to have the new St James' STACK fan zone completed in time for the friendly match.

Work on the fan zone at Strawberry Place outside St James' Park is under way with the foundations for the site being put in place before the STACK shipping containers are installed. The fan zone will be open seven days a week. An official statement released by Newcastle lastread: "Work on transforming the land on Strawberry Place has begun with construction company,  The Abbey Group, laying the foundations for the site, before the shipping containers which are synonymous with the STACK brand, will be installed in coming months. 

"Built using repurposed shipping containers around a central plaza and main stage area, 'St. James' STACK, presented by Sela' will attract people of all ages, with carefully curated events and attractions designed for families at key dates throughout the year, whilst matchdays will provide supporters with a number of food and drink options and entertainment."

Newcastle chief executive officer Darren Eales told The Gazette that the plan is for the fan zone to be open this summer.

"We're full steam ahead on [the fan zone]," Eales said. "Our plan is to get it open for that Spring, Summer time and we're looking to try and get it open for the end of the season, certainly by the start of next season to have that fully open.

"To be clear it's not just on matchday, St James' Stack will be open seven days a week and we're excited because it gives us more of that footprint. It goes back to our fan base and we've got this amazing fan base which is twice the size of St James' Park.

"The ability for us to have a footprint with St James' Stack to do events there and make fans feel connected without a season ticket is part of how we're thinking about our ability to grow the club and make our supporters feel more connected. It's not just on a match day, it's about what else we can do around the club 365 days a year."