Training facilities always have played an important role in building,
disciplining and educating the youth and future stars of the club. Training facilities
are the baby steps for any footballer who seeks to do it professionally. There are many
beautiful and luxurious training facilities in the world equipped with the best coaching staff,
professional trainers and everything related to football you need to know and to have at
the professional level. The clubs are also investing in their training grounds a lot
so they can have the best youngster who will play for their club in the future.
FC Barcelona’s magical and heroic team of 2009 which was consisting of players like Andres
Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez, Sergio Busquets and Lionel Messi – all of these names were promoted
from their academy – La Masia and the feats they achieved with Barcelona are impossible
to match again so improving training facilities can pay off well for the future of the club.
Today we will talk about the 10 training facilities in Europe.
Real Madrid – Ciudad Real Madrid has one of the best training grounds and their training facility
is called Ciudad Real Madrid. It is also called Valdebebas because of the name of the district
where this facility is located. This facility also hosts Real Madrid’s youth academy – La
Fabrica’s matches. It was opened in 2005 and its construction cost was €100M. Before the new
Ciudad, Real Madrid has another facility known as Ciudad Deportiva which was used by the club until
2003 and was later sold by Florentino Perez – president of Real Madrid for €480 Million.
This facility covers 1.2 million square meters in total and has 57 individual bedrooms, rehab
centers, examination rooms, treatment rooms, and hydrotherapy centers including hot and cool pools.
The Alfredo Di Stefano stadium of Real Madrid’s reserve team is also located in this facility.
Manchester City – City Football Academy
Manchester City Academy has played a very great role in the club’s history.
Albert Alexander in the 1920s first set up the youth team. This team was called “A” Team.
The club built a new academy in 2014 which cost the club around £200 Million.
This facility is located just 200 meters away from Etihad Stadium. This amazing
and luxurious facility is equipped with the best doctors, trainers and youth coaches.
This facility also offers sports science study, and education and also assists the parents.
This academy is the reason behind the club’s amazing performance in recent years.
City’s Phil Foden and Zinchenko joined the first team after graduating from the academy.
FC Barcelona – Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper FC Barcelona is always known for its academy
graduates. Most of the players of Barcelona that joined the LEGENDS group were from their academy
known as La Masia. It was opened in 2006 and was named after Joan Gamper – the club’s founder. This
facility offers its assistance not only to the football youth player but also to youth players
of basketball, handball and futsal. This facility has everything a player needs from a professional
level gym and machines to check the health of the players to the amazing staff who teaches the
young blood the culture of Barcelona’s football style. A stadium called “Johan Cruyff Stadium”
is built near this facility that serves as the home stadium for Barcelona’s B team and Femini
team. Its cost is €77.5 million and offers 5 natural grass pitches, 4 field turf pitches,
4 first aid areas and 3 gymnasiums along with pools.
FC Barcelona’s main team moved there in 2009 which ended their 30 years of training in a
small portion of Camp Nou. Arsenal – London Colney Centre
Arsenal’s football academy was opened in 1999 for £10 million. This facility has 10 full-sized
pitches and they are divided for different purposes – 3 pitches are for youth team training
sessions, 3 are for reserves and 3 are for the training of the main team and the remaining one
is for friendly matches. A medical center and a rehabilitation center are also there
and cover around 143-acre land. This facility was also used by American football teams.
Bayern Munich – Bayern Campus
The best facility in the whole of Germany was built in 2015 and cost around $77.3 million.
This academy has 35 apartments and a stadium that can hold 2500 people. This facility isn’t just for
football but also basketball, handball teams, and also for women’s teams. It has 5 grass pitches,
2 artificial pitches and a sports hall. It covers around 80,000 metres square. It is equipped with
all the modern technology and systems which makes it the best facility in Germany.
Ajax - Sportpark De Toekomst
This football facility belongs to the Netherlands club Ajax. It is located near Johan Cruyff Arena.
It has nine football fields and there is also a field that has 2000 capacity to host people.
This facility also serves as the home ground for Ajax Women, Jong Ajax and Ajax Amateurs.
After the reconstruction in 2011, Adidas miCoach performance center was built,
this is the place where the sports science center is located.
This facility has produced many great names like Johan Cruyff and Edgar Davids.
Manchester United – Aon Training Complex Manchester United’s Aon Complex is one of the best
facilities in England. This facility was not of the professional level until 2013. It has 2 floors
in which there is an indoor playing ground. There is an outdoor ground too with a Physio office,
rehab center, dressing rooms, kit room and player treatment rooms. There are also rooms
where the coaches assist the youth through charts. This facility cost was £60M.
Chelsea – Cobham The Cobham training ground of Chelsea is unique
as it is mostly built underground because of the rule that doesn’t allow this building to be taller
than the surrounding buildings. It was opened in 2007 and cost around £20 Million. It facilitates
everyone from Chelsea’s main team to reserves and women’s team. It has the latest rehab,
training, medical and media pitch technology. It consists of 30 full-size grass pitches including 6
to PL standard and 3 have underground soil heating along with Media Centre, Indoor artificial ground,
gyms, sauna, steam room and hydrotherapy pool. The roof of the building has turf to blend with
the surroundings and it also helps to improve air quality. The water from the surrounding is also
stored and used later for pitch irrigation. AC Milan - Milanello Sports Centre
Italy’s AC Milan has one of the oldest football facilities. It was opened in 1963 and has served
for Italy’s international team training as well as AC Milan teams. It consists of 6 regular pitches
including the famous “Cage” pitch in which the play never stops because it is covered by a wall
and fencing. It has a forest of pine and a lake in it and covers 160,000 meters of area.
It is a double floor building that offers a TV room, a laundry room, Players Room, Bar, Kitchen,
press room, meeting room and dining room. There is also a guest quarter where foreign
youth players can stay. Everton – Finch Farm
The Finch Farm serves as the training ground for the English side Everton.
It was built in 2006 and its cost is £14-17 Million. This facility offers one of the finest
training facilities in England. This training facility consists of 10 full-size grass pitches.
There is a specific ground just for the training of the goalkeepers. Many professional coaches
monitor the extensive training of the main and youth team players. This facility also has Gym,
Synthetic indoor pitches, Spa, Sauna, Hydrotherapy pools, Physiotherapy room and a Media center.