Sydney FC unveil plans for Centre of Excellence

A-League club Sydney FC will move into a brand-new $20 million facility at Macquarie University Sports Fields in Sydney’s north next year, while Macarthur FC has also unveiled plans for their new headquarters.

The elite training base and community precinct, which will be called Sky Park, will bring together all of the club’s operations under one roof for the first time.

The deal was made possible through an arrangement with Macquarie University for the club to secure a 25-year lease on the site where the facility will be built, along with funding from the NSW Government. North Ryde was selected as the location of the site, picked over options in Tempe, Moore Park, Leichhardt and St George.

Sydney FC’s A-League and W-League squads, and the club’s Academy and administration team will all be based at the new facility.

The elite and community development will feature high-tech training and medical facilities, with gender inclusive change rooms, adjoining hot and cold aquatic recovery pools and amenities, plus a multi-purpose lecture theatre.

The building will also include a nod to the Sky Blues history in the lobby with club history and trophy displays while the administration office on level one will feature state of the art analysis and media rooms, a commercial kitchen and an outdoor terrace overlooking W-League and A-League training field.

Construction will begin mid this year on land at the club’s current training base at Macquarie University Sports Fields and is due for completion in June next year.

Sydney FC Chairman Scott Barlow said: “This project has been a few years in the planning so I am delighted we can now start construction to make Sky Park a reality.

“Sky Park will for the first time in our club’s history bring all of our operations together under the one roof in a state-of-the art football facility that will be our home for many years to come.

“The Sky Park precinct will enable us to supercharge our work in the community by delivering more outreach programs and delivering greater benefit to the community than ever before.

“The completion of Sky Park next year will coincide with the completion of our new Stadium at Moore Park and these two world class facilities will be the platform for our club’s next phase of growth and success.

The Sydney FC Centre of Excellence is being partially funded by the NSW Government with the focus being to establish integrated high-performance training, administration and community facilities to improve talent development pathways, provide female friendly facilities and expand community programs.

Meanwhile, the A-League’s newest club, Macarthur FC, have announced plans for their future headquarters, with a 42-acre site secured near the village of Cawdor, next to Camden and 65km south west of Sydney, to build a $35 million training and administration facility.

The facility will be home of the club’s new W-League team, its NPL sides and its community arm and feature five football fields, along with medical and sports science facilities.  The club hopes to have its new senior women’s team training there in little more than 18 months.

The $3.5m site at Cawdor was bought by the club’s owners from the Boardman family of Camden, who in turn were gifted it in the early 1800s by John Macarthur– the eponymous prominent landowner after whom Macarthur FC is named.

Club chairman Gino Marra revealed plans to build a $35m complex in two stages, with the aim of housing every team associated with the club bar the A-League squad. The first team will be based at the Centre of Excellence currently underway at Macarthur Heights in conjunction with Campbelltown Council.

The first stage of the Cawdor project, compromising five pitches, administration buildings and a sports science unit, is scheduled to commence construction in November and will take 12 months to complete. The second stage will add another six pitches, allowing the club’s academy sides to be based there in total.

Macarthur FC chairman Gino Marra said “This is part of a strategy to build a club that is not just in the A-League to make up numbers but also win championships.”