see all jobs
Plans for National Football Centre unveiled
The Football Association (FA) has unveiled plans for the country's first National Football Centre. A 350-acre site near Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire will be the home for a development that the FA believes will be the nerve centre of English football.
The centre, which is to be entirely funded by the FA, is intended to act as a development facility for young players with specialist courses in the fields of sports medicine and sports science. It is also scheduled to be the headquarters for England's national teams. The FA says the facilities will be on a scale previously unseen in this country or abroad and that Clairefontaine, the French national academy which has been used, at the French FA's invitation, as a blueprint, will suffer by comparison. Howard Wilkinson, FA Technical Director, says the English centre will be much better than Clairefontaine.
The centre will include a full size indoor pitch, six assorted grass and synthetic full size pitches, a fitness centre with gymnasium and medical treatment area and a Wembley replica pitch with covered seating for spectators. The FA's aim is to secure planning permission in June 2001 with the centre opening in the summer of 2003.
We are looking forward to a facility which will be the best in the world, says Howard Wilkinson: It will enable us to deliver on the potential and expectations of football at every level in England. The local authority is backing the venture: The project will not only mean the creation of jobs in the area but will also bring national and international publicity for Burton and East Staffordshire which can only have benefits for the region, said Cllr Dennis Heptonstall, leader of East Staffordshire Borough Council.
More News
- News by sector (all)
- All news
- Fitness
- Personal trainer
- Sport
- Spa
- Swimming
- Hospitality
- Entertainment & Gaming
- Commercial Leisure
- Property
- Architecture
- Design
- Tourism
- Travel
- Attractions
- Theme & Water Parks
- Arts & Culture
- Heritage & Museums
- Parks & Countryside
- Sales & Marketing
- Public Sector
- Training
- People
- Executive
- Apprenticeships
- Suppliers