Legia Warsaw has completed the process of collecting funding for the creation of the most innovative football training center in Poland. The construction works to build Legia Training Center in the Grodzisk Mazowiecki county will start at the beginning of April. Akademia Piłkarska Legii (APL) is a special purpose company responsible for the creation of the center. On Tuesday, March 26, APL officially handed the construction site over to the general contractor (PORR). The launch of the center is planned for June 2020. The value of the project is 80 mln zloty, 11 mln zloty of which came from a grant from the Ministry of Sport and Tourism. The remaining funds come from Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK), the Ministry of Development and Legia’s own budget.

• The construction of Legia Training Center begins at the beginning of April 2019
• The value of investment: 80 mln PLN (grants from the Ministry of Sport and Tourism and the Ministry of Development, funds from Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, Legia Warsaw’s own contribution)
• Legia Training Center will be the most modern football training center in Poland with 6 pitches (5 with a natural surface and one with an artificial surface – covered with a pneumatic hall for the autumn and winter periods)
• The end of construction and the beginning of relocation are planned for June 2020
• The construction of Legia Training Center opens up new opportunities for sponsorship cooperation (among others naming rights of Legia Training Center)

“The construction of Legia Training Center stands as a foundation of Legia’s strategy. Our goal is not only to strengthen the position of the best club in Poland, but also to consistently build the position of Legia in Europe and join Europe’s elite football clubs. As a result of Legia Training Center we would like to create players who will eventually play in the first team of Legia and other Ekstraklasa clubs, as well as in the leading European clubs. In order to achieve this, we need an infrastructure that will allow us to attract and develop the greatest talents in Poland and Central Europe. We will also take advantage of the best training experience and knowledge, as well as create and develop new technologies at LegiaLab,” said Dariusz Mioduski, president and owner of Legia. „The creation of such a training center that will also serve as a second home to Legia has been my dream and one of the priorities for the last 5 years. I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the fact that I can say today: We are building Legia Training Center!” he added.

Legia has undergone a long administrative and investment process that included signing a contract with the Grodzisk Mazowiecki Commune, where Legia Training Center will be based. During the last few years, Legia has received grants from the Ministry of Sport and Tourism and the Ministry of Development, chose a contract engineer (Tremend) and a general contractor (PORR), and most recently, it has signed a loan agreement with Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego.

„A state-of-the-art facility is being created not just for Poland but for the whole region. The greatest Polish and foreign talents will join the Academy at Legia Training Center,” said Tomasz Zahorski, proxy of Legia’s board and CEO of the special-purpose company Akademia Piłkarska Legii (APL), which supervises the project.

„The construction of Legia Training Center means a massive change when it comes to the way Legia’s sports department works and it is a great opportunity to develop the entire club further. All of the club’s main departments will be relocated to the Center, based 30 km from our stadium: the first team, sports director, scouting department, sports administration, the second team and U15-U18 Academy teams.

Moreover, LegiaLab, a special unit dedicated to research and development, will also be moved there. The only departments that will stay at Łazienkowska 3 in Warsaw are the commercial and administrative parts of the club as well as the youngest teams of the Academy. This modern training center also opens up opportunities for us to sell the name of the Center, as it happens in many European clubs,” added Tomasz Zahorski.

Before accepting the final project of Legia Training Center, the representatives of Legia visited around 30 training facilities around Europe (including Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Red Bull Leipzig, Anderlecht Brussels, Ajax Amsterdam, Feyenoord Rotterdam, Sporting Lisbon, FC Porto, Arsenal London, Tottenham London and Chelsea London). In total, Legia analyzed about 80 technical designs.

The architectural concept of the Center was prepared by the Polish studio LAP Studio in cooperation with Estudio Lamela, an international architectural office, which is the author of, among others, project of the Real Madrid training center in Spain – one of the most modern and well-known implementations of this type in Europe.

The Legia Training Center will include, among others:

• First team zone:

✓ locker rooms
✓ fitness
✓ training surfaces
✓ recreation area – player’s lounge
✓ conference rooms
✓ medical offices
✓ hotel with 24 rooms with a 4-star standard

• Football Academy:

✓ locker rooms
✓ fitness
✓ training surfaces
✓ classrooms
✓ dormitory for players aged 13-18 (over 60 beds)
✓ the Center will host the U15-U18 teams and Legia B Team

• Offices of the sports division and other club departments
• LegiaLab Research and Development Center
• Surfaces for sports start-ups
• Recreational infrastructure open for the local residents to promote an active, healthy lifestyle

Throughout the process of financing Legia Training Center, Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego was advised by the CMS law company, while the Crido Legal law firm advised the company of Akademia Piłkarska Legii Sp. z o.o that is responsible for the project. The financial adviser of Akademia Piłkarska Legii was Jan Dziekański Corporate & Project Finance Advisory.

The design of the Center was prepared by LAP Studio. The general contractor of the investment is PORR S.A. and PORR BAU GmbH, and Tremend Sp. z o.o. is the contract engineer.