- Leicester City set to move into new training ground in Seagrave, north Leicestershire
- First team players will train at the new world-class facility for the first time on 24 December
- LCFC Chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha hails ‘most significant investment’
- First Team’s former training facility at Belvoir Drive to become the home of LCFC Women
The First Team squad will take part in their landmark first training session at the new Seagrave site on Christmas Eve, following the completion of a spectacular facility that signifies a significant step forward for the Club under the ownership of King Power International.
Under construction since the spring of 2019, the Leicester City Football Club Training Ground, Seagrave, is the latest in a series of transformational investments made by King Power and the Srivaddhanaprabha family since acquiring Leicester City in 2010. The 180-acre site features:
- 21 playing surfaces, including 14 full-size pitches
- 499-seater, floodlit show pitch
- The Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha Building – the site’s primary training, medical, and administrative hub for the First Team and Academy
- Elite-standard sports science and medical facilities
- Customised gym and hydrotherapy facilities
- The King Power Centre – the site’s central point, housing an indoor pitch and media centre
- Sports Turf Academy for the education and development of industry-leading grounds staff
- Private nine-hole golf course
Following the First Team’s transition to the site, Seagrave will become home to the Club’s entire men’s professional and academy football operation in the coming weeks.
The Club is also delighted to announce that its current facility at Belvoir Drive – Leicester City’s training ground for nearly 60 years – will now become home to LCFC Women. The Club’s women’s team, which was acquired by LCFC last August, turned professional this past summer and currently leads the FA Women’s Championship, will move into Belvoir Drive before the turn of the year.
Leicester City Chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha said: “The Club has taken some enormous strides forward in the last 10 years. In terms of our long-term future, this is perhaps the biggest.
“A new training ground has been a dream many years in the making, so it is with great pride that we have been able to deliver this. Seagrave will be a pivotal part of the Club’s operation for generations to come.
“Of all the investments we have made in the Club, this has been our most significant. It is an investment in our players of today and our players of tomorrow, putting some of the very best facilities in the world at the heart of their everyday environment. It elevates the Club’s offering to its players and staff to an entirely new level and is a key component in making our progress of recent years sustainable.
“Belvoir Drive has served the Club wonderfully and been a spiritual home for Leicester City teams through several generations. For it to become the home of LCFC Women is a fine legacy for an historic location. The investments we have made in the last 10 years have made it an outstanding, professional training ground from which their considerable development can continue.”
Leicester City first revealed plans for a new training ground in early 2018, two years after winning the Premier League title in one of the biggest stories in the history of professional sport. The project was intended to be part of a legacy for the most successful period in the Club’s history, ensuring the Foxes could realise the dream of their late owner, Khun Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, to be a consistently competitive force in the upper reaches of English football.
Work in Seagrave began in the spring of 2019, transforming the site of the former Park Hill golf course into one of the world’s most advanced sports facilities.
City’s First Team squad will train at Belvoir Drive for the final time on Wednesday, before operations transfer to Seagrave from Christmas Eve. The Foxes, second in the Premier League, host Manchester United at King Power Stadium on Boxing Day.
LEICESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB TRAINING GROUND, SEAGRAVE
Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha Building
The primary hub of the Seagrave site, the building is named after the Club’s late Chairman and patriarch. An elite-standard training facility was a central feature of Khun Vichai’s vision for the Club, now being realised under the guidance of his son, Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha.
The building includes all facilities for the Club’s professional men’s teams, football operations, offices, private accommodation, restaurant and First Team recreation. Its balconies overlook the First Team training pitches.
King Power Centre
The King Power Centre is the site’s most prominent structure. Its spectacular dome, built into the landscape, houses an air conditioned, artificial pitch and a media centre including press conference room, broadcast facilities and hospitality space.
Match Pitch 1
A 499-seater show pitch for limited use, including selected FA Youth Cup, PL2 and LCFC Women’s matches, serviced by designated changing facilities and broadcast compound.
Sports Turf Academy
A first-of-its-kind facility for the education and development of elite grounds staff and grounds services. The STA will aim to train future generations of grounds professionals for deployment in sporting settings around the world, while creating a research and development hub for innovations in turf management.