MANCHESTER -- Manchester City have formally opened their 200 million-pound training complex, the City Football Academy (CFA), which they hope is the best in world sport.
The CFA, which has been built across the road from the Etihad Stadium on a brownfield site in east Manchester, contains 16.5 football pitches, including the biggest artificial indoor pitch in the United Kingdom.
CFA: Read the official press release for today's opening: http://t.co/7cCeB6oOBZ #WelcometoCFA pic.twitter.com/Ps94tpvzpn
- Manchester City FC (@MCFC) December 8, 2014
At the opening, City Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said: "At the outset of his ownership, back in Autumn 2008, His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, set out his vision for the future of Manchester City Football Club. He pledged to bring success on the field and to nurture young talent whilst at the same time remaining proudly rooted to the community in which it resided.
"The cornerstone of the future, was a vision for youth development and sustainability; a vision to educate talented young footballers on and off the pitch and to do so in a facility supported by the best coaches and coaching programmes. The vision was underpinned by an unwavering commitment to the regeneration of the local area in both economic and environmental terms.
"Today marks the end of six years of extensive research, development and construction involving many, many people. It also marks the beginning of a responsibility to deliver against the opportunities that this Academy now creates for us."
Ten of those pitches have undersoil heating, eight are floodlit and one, the Academy Stadium where the Elite Development Squad and the women's team will play, has a capacity of 7,000.
City examined 70 different training facilities in various sports across Australia, Europe and the United States and considered 19 design options before settling on their final plan.
More than 450 players will train at the CFA every week, from the under-six age group through to Manuel Pellegrini's first team.
The first-team building includes four-star hotel accommodation for the players, who stay at the CFA the night before games, and besides bedrooms, it incorporates a players' lounge with a big-screen television and a pool table.
There is also a 56-seat auditorium where they can watch clips from training, which are recorded on a weatherproof mobile cart that gives Pellegrini the chance to use instant video analysis.
There are three gyms, allowing for strength-and-conditioning work, pilates and technical skills and a hydro-therapy area featuring six different pools of water at temperatures ranging from four degrees to 36 degrees.
The Academy Building also includes accommodation to house scholars, while there is a timeline with a commemorative disk to mark each player who has come through City's youth system to play for the first team.
A 190-metre bridge has been built over Alan Turing Way to connect the CFA to the Etihad Stadium
City used an 80-acre site, of which 5.5 acres were donated to the local community for a sixth-form college, leisure centre and swimming pool, while 29 hours a week on the pitches have been allocated to college, community and disability teams.