The facade of the new United States Soccer Federation National Training Center and headquarters will feature glass and stone, according to a rendering provided Friday.
The first-of-its-kind center will be constructed in Fayette County with an estimated cost of $200 million, $50 million of which will be covered by a pledge from Atlanta United owner Arthur Blank.
Groundbreaking on the center, which will be the home of the USSF’s 27 teams, is scheduled for Monday. USSF hopes it will be completed before the 2026 World Cup, which will include eight matches at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The site, comprising more than 200 acres, is located to the west of Veterans Parkway and north of Trilith Studios.
Preliminary plans for the site will include as many 12 fields, a field for beach soccer, an indoor field, more than 100,000 square feet of indoor courts, and the training center/headquarters, which will cover more than 200,000 square feet. Gensler has been hired to design the center.
The center is expected to be a hub to improve playing, coaching and refereeing through advances in technology, analysis and infrastructure.
“I think it’s really important,” U.S. women’s national team player Emily Sonnett, a Marietta resident, said Tuesday, of the center. “I think you’re seeing that obviously in Europe, not only in the professional teams, but also their federations. So I think it’s a next step to growth. And it’s obviously very, very important for our development.”
The U.S. Soccer Federation was founded in 1913. It moved from Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Chicago in 1991. It opened a national training center in 2003 in Carson, California, for $130 million. It included a stadium now the home of the L.A. Galaxy, four grass fields and a turf field. A national development center opened in Kansas City in 2018. It is more than 50 acres, buildings consisting of 81,000 square feet, and five fields. It cost $75 million to build.
For more content about Atlanta United
Follow me on Twitter/X @DougRobersonAJC
On Facebook at Atlanta United News Now
On Instagram at DouglasDavidRoberson
Atlanta United coverage on The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Southern Fried Soccer podcast can be found
Apple - https://apple.co/3ISD6Ve
Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3L8TN0C
Google podcasts - https://bit.ly/32KlZW3
If you are listening to us for the first time, please follow us on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcast ... and if you like what you hear, please give us a good rating so we can grow the show. If you have questions about the MLS team, you can email Doug Roberson at droberson@ajc.com, DM him on Twitter @dougrobersonajc or call 404-526-2527.
Stay up to date every day on breaking news, in-depth investigations, politics, sports, entertainment, food and dining and so much more by becoming a subscriber to the AJC. Go to AJC.com/start for a very special offer and unlock hundreds of original articles published daily on the refreshed AJC.com and the new AJC mobile app. Plus, access to our news alerts, subscriber-only events, AJC original shows, films and videos, newsletters, and so much more.
About the Author
