FFF

April 8, 2016, the new clairefontaine is born

Wednesday 8 April 2020 - 08:30 - Communication
Nouveau clairefontaine 2016

Two months before the Euro in France, the FFF presents its new facility: a 5200 m2 building that is as modern as it is functional.

Even the rain did not affect their good mood. This Friday April 8, 2016, many football personalities gathered in Clairefontaine alongside Noël Le Graët, the President of the FFF, and Thierry Braillard, the Secretary of State for Sport. Among them, Didier Deschamps, the national coach, François Blaquart, the National Technical Director, members of the FFF Executive Committee, league, and district presidents. All of them came to attend the inauguration of the training and conference centre.

This new 5,200 m2 building was constructed in place of the old one, which was more than four times smaller (1,200 m2). After the demolition in spring 2014 and the clean-up which required the equivalent of 700 trucks, construction began. With 3,000 m3 of concrete to be poured, 90 tonnes of steel to be installed, and hundreds of metres of flooring to be laid, the site occupied between 30 and 80 building professionals on a permanent basis for two years. Cost: 17 million euros.

The result has lived up to expectations. Three floors were raised from the ground:

  • two amphitheatres (250 and 110 seats each)
  • a 300 m2 museum dedicated to the history of the French team
  • a modular space of 600 m2 for seminars or internal events at the FFF
  • 900 m2 of meeting rooms and offices for the Clairefontaine administration, the audio-visual centre, the National Technical Department and also for the trainees who come every year to take part in workshops provided by the Football Training Institute, referees and national teams for their preparation or activities with the media.

From Sastre to Le Graët...

The construction of this new building is part of a much broader plan to renovate Clairefontaine decided by Noël Le Graët, at a cost of €6 million. Since May 2014, recovering an area directly linked to the French team residence was made available to players and staff who needed to carry out treatments (massage, balneotherapy), stretching and weight training without having to go outside. A year earlier, the medical centre, which had been expanded and modernised, was awarded the FIFA label. 

“We redid the pitches, they are very efficient and the players appreciate it," says the FFF president. We renovated the rooms, which is important, the kitchens (...) If Fernand Sastre could have been here for a few minutes to see the evolution of Clairefontaine, I think he would be proud of us.” It was indeed under the presidency of Fernand Sastre that the FFF became the owner of the Domaine de Montjoie on December 19, 1983. The first shovels shovelled the dirt in 1985. And on June 11, 1988 the National Technical Football Centre was inaugurated in the presence of François Mitterrand, the President of the Republic. A centre which has forged its soul with the "Sacres des Bleus" has become an exceptional facility for French football and those who play it.

 

See the video in French :