Cobham Training Centre

Last updated

Cobham Training Centre
Cobham
Cobham Training Centre
Location Cobham, Surrey
Coordinates 51°19′0.84″N0°23′10.30″W / 51.3169000°N 0.3861944°W / 51.3169000; -0.3861944
Owner Chelsea F.C.
TypeSports facility
Construction
Built2004
Opened2007

The Cobham Training Centre, is the training ground of Chelsea Football Club located in the village of Stoke d'Abernon near the village of Cobham, Surrey. The Chelsea first team have trained at Stoke D'Abernon since 2005, but it was not officially opened until 2007. [1]

Contents

History

When Roman Abramovich purchased Chelsea FC in July 2003, the club's training facilities were identified as an important area for new investment. Chelsea had used the Harlington training ground since the 1970s, but it was owned by Imperial College, and its facilities were regarded as outdated in comparison to those of clubs such as Manchester United (Trafford Training Centre) and Arsenal (Arsenal Training Centre). [2] [3] Then-Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho regarded the move to a new, modern, training ground as "significant step forward" in the club's ambitions. Planning permission for a new state-of-the-art complex in Cobham was granted by Elmbridge Borough Council in 2004. [4] Chelsea began training at Cobham in 2005, while construction was still ongoing, and the facility was officially unveiled in July 2007. [1] In 2008, the final phase of the complex, an Academy and Community Pavilion for Chelsea's youth teams and Football in the Community department, was opened. [5]

Facilities

Costing a reported £20 million, [6] the training ground is on a 140-acre site and, like a campus, it houses all of the club's football activities, from the first team to the academy, reserve and women's teams. It features "the latest in training, rehabilitation, medical, pitch and media technology" [7] and its facilities include nine football pitches (three with undersoil heating and six to Premier League standard), an indoor artificial pitch, a media centre, gyms, cold immersion pools, a sauna, a steam room and a 56 ft HydroWorx hydrotherapy pool. [8] [9]

As a condition for receiving planning permission, none of the buildings in the complex were permitted to be taller than others in the surrounding area. Thus, approximately a third of the facility is underground; a moat was installed to reflect light into the basement rooms and to reduce energy usage. [10] The main building also has a turf roof in order to help it blend into its surroundings and to improve air quality. Water from the surrounding area is collected in a reservoir for use on the pitch irrigation system. [11]

Academy Graduates

Players who have graduated from the Cobham academy include:

Other uses

Cobham has hosted the Surrey Positive Mental Awareness League, a football league for people with mental health problems. [13] It also hosts the Cobham Cup, a tournament for under-16 teams from around the world, including River Plate and Bayern Munich. [14] In 2007, the Chinese Olympic football team trained at Cobham for two weeks in preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics. [15] Old Malvernians play their home matches at Cobham. [16] The training facilities are also used by Cobham Rugby Football Club. [17]

Notes

  1. 1 2 "New Chelsea training HQ unveiled". BBC. 5 July 2007. Archived from the original on 21 September 2007. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  2. Simons, Raoul (27 September 2004). "Chelsea's £20million 'bunker'". London Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 29 April 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  3. "True blue Cobham delighted to welcome the Chelsea set". The Times. 18 December 2004. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  4. "Go-ahead for Chelsea plan". BBC. 27 September 2004. Archived from the original on 10 November 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  5. "New Cobham Building Unveiled". Chelsea F.C. 23 August 2008. Archived from the original on 6 June 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  6. "Ancelotti uses his guile to thrive where Scolari failed". The Independent. 9 February 2010. Archived from the original on 25 June 2010. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  7. "Chelsea's New Training Ground for the Future". BBC. 5 July 2007. Archived from the original on 4 February 2009. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  8. "Cobham in Depth: the Medical and the Media". Chelsea F.C. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  9. "Cobham in Depth: a Building to Meet all Needs". Chelsea F.C. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  10. "Revealing a Training Ground for the Future". Chelsea F.C. 7 July 2007. Archived from the original on 6 June 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  11. "Chelsea FC Full Environmental Policy". Chelsea F.C. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 "Cobham calling: Chelsea's academy is colonising the Premier League | Jonathan Liew". the Guardian. 27 November 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  13. "Mental health league kicked off". BBC. 5 December 2008. Archived from the original on 10 November 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  14. "Blues Beaten". Chelsea F.C. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  15. "Chelsea reveal all to China's Olympic team". Reuters. 1 February 2007. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  16. "OM Football". Malvernian Society. Archived from the original on 12 August 2020. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  17. "Use of Chelsea's Pitches". cobhamrfc.com. Archived from the original on 30 September 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2011.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chelsea F.C.</span> Association football club in London, England

Chelsea Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, West London. Founded in 1905, they play their home games at Stamford Bridge. The club competes in the Premier League, the top division of English football. They won their first major honour, the League championship, in 1955. The club won the FA Cup for the first time in 1970, their first European honour, the Cup Winners' Cup, in 1971, and became the third English club to win the Club World Cup in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tottenham Hotspur F.C.</span> Association football club in London, England

Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has played its home matches in the 62,850-capacity Tottenham Hotspur Stadium since April 2019, replacing their former home of White Hart Lane, which had been demolished to make way for the new stadium on the same site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wrexham A.F.C.</span> Association football club in Wrexham, Wales

Wrexham Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wrexham, Wales. Formed in 1864, it is the oldest club in Wales and the third-oldest professional association football team in the world. They compete in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Terry</span> English footballer (born 1980)

John George Terry is an English professional football coach and former player who played as a centre-back. He was previously captain of Chelsea, the England national team and Aston Villa. Regarded as one of the greatest defenders of his generation, as well as one of the best English and Premier League defenders ever.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stevenage F.C.</span> Association football club in Stevenage, England

Stevenage Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. The club competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system, having earned promotion during the 2022–23 season. They play their home games at Broadhall Way in Stevenage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stamford Bridge (stadium)</span> Association football stadium in London

Stamford Bridge is a football stadium in Fulham, adjacent to the borough of Chelsea in West London. It is the home of Premier League club Chelsea. With a capacity of 40,343, it is the ninth largest venue of the 2023–24 Premier League season and the eleventh largest football stadium in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Lampard</span> English football manager (born 1978)

Frank James Lampard is an English professional football manager and former player who was most recently caretaker manager of Premier League club Chelsea. He is widely regarded as one of Chelsea's greatest players ever, and one of the greatest midfielders of his generation. He has the record of the most goals by a midfielder in the Premier League and of scoring the most goals from outside the box (41). He ranked highly on a number of statistics for Premier League players for the ten years from 1 December 2000, including most games and most wins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Didier Drogba</span> Ivorian footballer (born 1978)

Didier Yves Drogba Tébily is an Ivorian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is the all-time top scorer and former captain of the Ivory Coast national team. He is best known for his career at Chelsea, for whom he has scored more goals than any other foreign player and is currently the club's fourth highest goal scorer of all time. Drogba was named Chelsea's greatest ever player in a poll of 20,000 fans conducted by Chelsea FC Magazine in 2012, and he was also named in the Chelsea team of the 2010–2020 decade by Chelsea's fans in 2020. He is regarded as one of the greatest African players of all time and was noted for his physical strength, speed, ability in the air, powerful and accurate strikes, and ball retention. Drogba was named African Footballer of the Year twice, winning the award in 2006 and 2009. He is also the player with the most runner-up appearances (4), most third-place finishes (3), and most times in the top three (9).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chelsea TV</span> Television channel

Chelsea TV was a British subscription based sports television channel, dedicated to the fans of the English Premier League football club, Chelsea. The channel first launched in August 2001 on Sky Digital. The station was registered with Ofcom as Chelsea Digital Media Ltd. It was broadcast daily from 10:00am to midnight. Until it was removed in early 2010, it used to be broadcast in Channel 427 on UPC Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stoke d'Abernon</span> Human settlement in England

Stoke d'Abernon is a village and former civil parish in the borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England. It is on the right bank of the River Mole contiguously south of Cobham, a larger settlement which is a post town and is east-southeast of Oxshott a large village founded in the 19th century from the higher, sandy forested part of its formerly expansive area. It shares a railway station with Cobham and is inside the M25 motorway. Cobham Training Centre, the training ground of Chelsea F.C., is within its traditional boundaries.

ACS International Schools is a group of four independent schools catering for local and international families - three in England and one in Qatar. Until 2005, the organisation was known as American Community Schools. The four campuses are in Cobham and Egham in Surrey, the London Borough of Hillingdon, and the city of Doha in Qatar, the latter of which opened in September 2011. Full boarding fees including tuition are from £45,060 per year for children aged 12–14 years.

Old Malvernians F.C. is a football club based at Chelsea Training Centre in Cobham, Surrey, England. The members of the club are old boys of Malvern College, in Malvern, Worcestershire, England. They play in the Arthurian League. The team has reached the final of the Arthur Dunn Cup a record 31 times and won the cup 15 times, second only to the Old Carthusians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The New Lawn</span> Sports venue in Gloucestershire, UK

The New Lawn, also known as The Bolt New Lawn for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire. It has been the home stadium of League Two club Forest Green Rovers since 2006. During the 2007–08 season the stadium was shared with Gloucester City. The stadium has a capacity of 5,147, of which 2,000 is seated. It replaced The Lawn Ground as Forest Green Rovers' home stadium and is expected to be replaced by a new stadium development located near the M5 motorway. In 2020 the ground was renamed The Innocent New Lawn Stadium due to a sponsorship deal with Innocent Drinks. In 2021, the stadium was renamed after the YouTube channel Fully Charged.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chelsea F.C. Women</span> Womens association football club based in Kingston upon Thames, England

Chelsea Football Club Women, formerly known as Chelsea Ladies Football Club, are an English women's football club based in Kingston upon Thames, London. Founded in 1992, they compete in the Women's Super League, the top flight of women's football in England, and plays their home games at the Kingsmeadow with some select games at Stamford Bridge. Since 2004, the club has been affiliated with Chelsea F.C., the men's team in the Premier League. Chelsea Women were a founding member of the Super League in 2010. From 2005 to 2010, the side competed in the Premier League National Division, the top tier of women's football in England at the time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mineiro (footballer, born 1975)</span> Brazilian footballer

Carlos Luciano da Silva, nicknamed Mineiro, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solihull Moors F.C.</span> Association football club in Solihull, England

Solihull Moors Football Club is a professional football club based in Solihull, England. The club currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system, after achieving promotion from the National League North in the 2015–16 season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">César Azpilicueta</span> Spanish footballer (born 1989)

César Azpilicueta Tanco is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a defender for La Liga club Atlético Madrid and the Spain national team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Magnay</span> Footballer (born 1989)

Carl Ronald Joseph Magnay is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for Gateshead. Due to having Northern Irish grandparents, English-born Magnay is eligible to represent Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland. He made his international debut the Northern Ireland U-21 team on Tuesday 11 August 2009, in an away friendly against Portugal's U-21 team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob Mellis</span> English association footballer

Jacob Alexander Mellis is an English former professional footballer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Clifford (footballer)</span> English footballer

Billy Clifford is an English footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ebbsfleet United. He played in the Football League for Colchester United, Walsall and Crawley Town, in the Belgian Second Division for Royal Antwerp and National League South for Wealdstone.