Sheffield United: Welcome to the "coolest" training ground in football - The Blades' base in Portugal
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The sweeping spiral staircases and sleek lines of the buildings surrounding its pitches remain truly impressive to this day, giving visitors the impression they are mooching around an opulent private health farm rather than football training ground.
But Sheffield United, who will spend the next week at the state-of-the-art centre located in Lisbon’s most well-heeled western suburb, are there for work. Not to admire the decor. So they should be delighted to learn this is the place where Portugal’s march towards the Euro 2016 title was plotted, organised and launched.
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Hide AdPaul Heckingbottom hopes spending time at the CDF has the same magical effect upon his own squad as it did the one Fernando Santos steered to a historic victory over France on that momentous, humid night in Paris.
Certainly, when the United manager and his players, including new signing Tommy Doyle, acquainted themselves with their new surroundings on Sunday, they discovered it boasts everything a professional athlete needs to deliver elite level performances.
“It is a milestone for us as an organisation,” the president of the Portuguese Football Federation, Fernando Gomes, said at the ribbon cutting ceremony. “Being able to use this doesn’t mean we have lesser or greater responsibilities. What we do have, though, is more chances to achieve our goals.”
Those words proved remarkably prescient when, only four months later, Eder’s added time finish fired A Seleção to their first ever major title. In another 35 they were crowned Nations League champions. If that isn’t enough, more superstitious members of United’s team will be pleased to learn that Eder now represents Al Ra’ed, who are based in the Al-Qassim region of their Saudi Arabian owner HRH Prince Abdullah bin Musa’ad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud’s homeland.
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Hide Ad“The infrastructure was built with the knowledge gained from previous European championships, particularly Euro 2004,” explained the project’s chief Antonio Laranjo, referring to the edition of the tournament Portugal hosted. “But also from the training areas of big clubs both here in our country and also abroad, in other parts of the world. We have considered everything and are convinced it is all here.”
United, who are residing at its on-site hotel ahead of Friday’s friendly against Casa Pia, have exclusive access to the CDF - meaning they can work privately and without any distractions as Heckingbottom attempts to lay the foundations for what he hopes will be a promotion winning campaign.
As well as boasting two full-sized playing surfaces, one of which is inside a small 340 seater stadium, other facilities include a logistics centre, purpose built office space for coaching staff, a conference hall, restaurant, cafeteria and specialised goalkeeping area.
Built at a cost of around £12m, the CDF now serves as the base for all of the PFF’s 22 national sides and also operated as a hospital facility at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.