England's Football Association gave the go-ahead on Thursday for a national soccer center to be built following a board meeting.
The FA said its "preferred" option was for the center to be built in Burton, central England -- a scheme that has already been on the drawing board for several years -- but stressed a "detailed exploration of the business and funding plans" would have to be carried out before final approval was given.
Some FA chiefs have questioned the viability of the Burton project and there have been calls for any new center to be based nearer England's Wembley home ground in north London.
"I'm delighted that the board has given the green light for a national football center," FA chief executive Brian Barwick said.
"This is a major step forward for the project. There was general agreement within the board that a national football center would be a major asset in the development of players, coaches and referees in this country," he said.
The plan is to develop a complex similar to the successful French academy at Clarefontaine, south of Paris.
However, Premier League chairman Sir Dave Richards is among those who have questioned the feasibility of the Burton project, believing the proposed £60 million (US$120 million) cost represents a waste of money.
But Sir Trevor Brooking, the FA's director of soccer development said a new center, wherever it was based, had a role to play in restoring the fortunes of the national side.
"Everyone involved in the FA's coaching and player development structures believes that a national football center is vital to the long-term health of English football," Brooking said on Thursday.
"We were hugely encouraged by the extremely positive reception from both the professional and grassroots game," he said.
"It would act as a catalyst -- a hub site, for interaction between coaches and players and would raise the level, as it has done in a lot of the other big European countries," Brooking said.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
RSS