Manchester City owners construct first training facility in 120 years for Italian club

The City Football Group – the parent company behind Manchester City – have ended their Italian side’s 120-year wait for their own training facility, it has been revealed.

It was announced in July 2022, in the presence of Manchester City CEO Ferran Soriano, that Palermo had been acquired by the City Football Group while outgoing owner Dario Mirri – confirmed as club chairman – would retain 20% of the share structure.

Alongside Manchester City, Palermo became a sister club of a number of CFG sides across the globe, including Melbourne City, Mumbai City, and New York City, while the Serie B side became the first club in Italy to fall under the City Group umbrella.

While results and on-field success may take a little longer to come by for Palermo, the foundations for future triumphs both on and off the pitch have now been built by the City Football Group in a literal sense.

As confirmed earlier this week, Serie B side Palermo inaugurated the ‘City Football Academy Palermo’ in Torretta, Sicily on Sunday – the first training ground the institution has owned in more than 120 years of history.

Managing Director of Global Football for the City Group, Brian Marwood reacted to the announcement, “Today marks an extremely proud moment for both Palermo FC and our City Football Group family. The new CFA Palermo is much more than a building.”

Marwood continued, “It is a home for our players and staff to grow and develop as we work to take Palermo to the next level and start the next chapter in the Club’s great history. This new training facility is another example of our commitment to Palermo as we continue to bring world-class football infrastructure to this incredibly special community.

“We welcome the Rosanero family to their new home here in Torretta and look forward to what’s to come.”

The ‘CFA Palermo’ boasts two natural grass pitches of the same dimensions as the pitch at their Renzo Barbera stadium, a smaller natural grass pitch dedicated to goalkeeper training, a main building and a club house.

Over in Manchester, Pep Guardiola and his side are part of the working group within the City Football Academy, which features 16.5 football pitches in total, with 12.5 pitches dedicated to youth development.

That same hub for footballing and overall sporting excellence also features the Academy Stadium, which has a capacity of 7,000 for the women’s first-team, Elite Development Squad, and community use.

Highlighting the vast use of the CFA in Manchester, the Club also estimates over 450 players train at the facility each week from under-6 level right through to the first-team squad, while 75 per cent of players in the Football Academy are drawn from the Greater Manchester region.