Perhaps beginning with AC Milan’s historic Centro Sportivo Milanello and continuing to this day in previously undreamt of places like Atlanta and Utah, training facilities for the world’s most prestigious clubs have grown in importance as the most ambitious of organizations attempt to align the best in first-team training, sports science and academy development with a physical representation of an overarching ideology.
Let’s dive into some of the game’s best facilities and pray that our invitations to their respective academies will come fluttering down the chimney any moment now.
A Look At The Most Expensive Football Training Grounds
FC Barcelona | Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper
Opened: June, 2006 | Construction cost: $85.5 million
Size: 136,839 m²
Highlights: Located in Sant Joan Despí — 2.8 miles away from the Camp Nou — the complex boasts nine pitches (five natural grass, four Fieldturf), with Pitch 1 now referred to as Camp Tito Vilanova. That pitch has a terrace with capacity for 1,400 people.
The site also houses around 85 of the club’s youth players at the new Masia, which replaced the famed old building that actually looked like a farmhouse.
Photo: Shutterstock
Real Madrid | Ciudad Real Madrid
Opened: September, 2005 | Construction cost: $110.3 million
Size: 1,200,000 m² (270,000 m² has been developed)
Highlights: Located near Madrid’s Barajas Adolfo Suarez International airport, Ciudad Real Madrid — commonly referred to as Valdebebas — boasts 12 grass and astroturf football pitches, as well as the 6,000-seat Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium.
The facility also includes the famed La Fábrica youth academy, and the residence for the first team and academy includes 57 individual bedrooms in a state-of-the-art facility.
Ajax | Sportpark De Toekomst
Opened: August, 1996 (Expanded 2013) | Construction cost: Unknown
Size: 140,000 m²
Highlights: Located in Ouder-Amstel, De Toekomst features nine pitches, including a main field with seating capacity for 2,000 people. In 2011, the indoor dome was constructed — the adidas miCoach Performance Centre — which is where the club’s sports science department is located. De Toekomst serves as the training ground for the first team, the women’s team, the reserve team and the famed Ajax Youth Academy.
The school of Total Football. Photo: @AFCAjax | Twitter
Manchester City | Etihad Campus
Opened: December, 2014 | Construction cost: $244.2 million
Size: 80 acres
Highlights: Linked to the Etihad Stadium by a bridge across Alan Turing Way, the site includes 16 outdoor pitches, 80 bedrooms on site and a 56-seat TV auditorium. The Academy Stadium is also on the campus, which has a capacity of 7,000.
AC Milan | Milanello
Opened: 1963 | Construction cost: Unknown
Size: 160,000 m²
Highlights: Milanello consists of nine pitches, a two-floor building that serves as offices, players’ rooms, the kitchen, dining rooms and medical center and a new, state-of-the-art fitness room with Technogym equipment. There’s also a 1,200-meter-long path through pinewoods that's set out at different gradients for physical training.
Sporting CP | Academia Sporting
Opened: 2002 | Construction cost: $20 million
Size: 250,000 m²
Highlights: Located on the southern outskirts of Lisbon, the Academia Sporting features seven training pitches, a Turkish bath and it’s home to Sporting’s famed academy, which produced the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Luís Figo, João Moutinho, Nani and Ricardo Quaresma.
Arsenal | London Colney Training Centre
Opened: October, 1999 | Construction cost: $12.2 million
Size: 143 acres
Highlights: It features 10 full-size pitches, a new medical and rehabilitation center, and the center is currently undergoing a series of renovations and upgrades to the main building and the educational and media center.
Photo: Shutterstock
Bayern Munich | Säbener Straße
Opened: 1990 (Reconstructed 2008) | Cost: Unknown
Size: 80,000 m²
Highlights: Featuring a ServiceCenter, Performance Center, Head Office and the training ground — featuring five grass pitches, two artificial pitches and a sports hall — Bayern’s facility in Untergiesing-Harlaching is separate from its Bayern Campus, which is where the academy has been located since 2017 at a cost of $77 million.
Photo: Shutterstock
Manchester United | Carrington
Opened: 2002 | Cost: $73.3 million
Size: 100 acres
Highlights: Located less than 10 miles from Old Trafford, the center features 14 pitches, a nature reserve, a medical and sports science department, the club’s famed academy and a main building which houses the first team, equipped with all the amenities you can imagine.
Real Salt Lake | Zions Bank Training Center
Opened: March, 2018 | Cost: $78 million
Size: 42 acres
Highlights: Five full-size grass fields, a STEM charter high school, academy player dormitories, indoor training facilities and a stadium for RSL’s USL affiliate, the Real Monarchs.
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