FA finds site for training centre

The centre will include research laboratories

The English Football Association has revealed plans for a new £40m national training centre in the East Midlands.

All England teams, including the under-21s, junior and women's sides, will use the new complex, which is to be situated near to the Staffordshire town of Burton-on-Trent.

It will also include a treatment centre for injured footballers and laboratories for research.

England teams currently use Bisham Abbey to prepare for matches, but the FA wants a purpose-built, state-of-the-art complex reserved solely for football.

The French built a centre of football excellence 15 years ago

As for Lilleshall, which has provided coaching for England's best young players in the past, that has been superceded by a crop of youth academies opened by the top clubs.

"The centre will not be about developing skills but preparing for games," said an FA spokesman.

The FA decided that a centre of excellence was important after looking at other successful football countries, such as France, who have a purpose-built site south of Paris at Clarefontaine.

Confidentiality agreement

The new centre will be built on a 360-acre swathe of green-belt land that used to be part of the Bass family's Byrkley Park Estate.

A spokesman for the Forte Hotel Group, part of Granada Leisure, said: "Contracts have been exchanged with a party.

"It is up to the purchaser what use they put the site to. We are both tied to confidentiality agreements."

The FA is planning to reveal details of the scheme on Thursday.