National Football Centre

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The National Football Centre (NFC) is a planned centre for association football in England, to be run by the Football Association. It will be located at Byrkley Lodge, near Burton-upon-Trent, and is regarded as England's answer to France's Clairefontaine academy. Once completed, the NFC is intended to be the training base for all England teams - from the U16s to the senior side - and act as the focal point for the FA's coaching and player development work.

FA technical director Howard Wilkinson first began preparations for the Centre, and settled upon the 350-acre Burton site which was purchased by the FA in 2001. However, work was halted on the project in 2004 as the FA focussed its financial efforts on the building of the new Wembley Stadium. In early 2008, the plans were resurrected, with Trevor Brooking calling for the project to be finished by 2010, stating that without the NFC "the England coach's job will get that much harder."

The NFC will boast a state-of-the-art indoor pitch, offices for the FA's technical experts, accommodation for 300 and sports science facilities, as well as world-class training pitches, both grass and artificial surfaces.^[1]