The Manchester City Women’s team have officially submitted a planning application for a brand new purpose-built training ground to be built as part of the wider City Football Academy (CFA).
Set to join the other state-of-the-art training facilities over on the Etihad Campus and said to be valued at around £10 million, the creation of the standalone facility will house the women’s first team, who currently share a building with the academy teams at the club.
While Man City Women do currently have their own pitches, the plans look to bring further parity across male and female football at the club, as well as freeing up more space for the youth teams at the existing CFA in the process.
Should the planning application be approved, the new City Women’s training ground will open in 2025 and will feature a hydrotherapy area, a high-performance gym and an analytics space — all designed to enhance player development by mirroring the elite athletic environment of the men’s first team.
Manchester City Women have submitted a planning application to Manchester City Council for the development of a purpose-built training facility at our training centre, City Football Academy.
During the planning stages, the club have been working closely with first-team and multi-disciplinary experts to ensure the facility best meets the specific needs of the players. The 17,000-square-foot building has also been designed to be ultimately expanded over time as the team continues to grow.
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As a press release goes on to detail, “As well as benefitting from a private facility, the team will continue to be a central part of the eco-system at the £200m City Football Academy meaning they can take advantage of the resources and know-how across the organisation’s wider operations and facilities.”
Commenting on the plans, City Women’s Managing Director Charlotte O’Neill said: “Over the past decade, our shared space at CFA has been a huge asset to the team, providing unrivalled access to world-leading facilities and industry experts who’ve helped the team to adopt the Club’s philosophies on and off the pitch and establish itself as a pioneer in the development of women’s football in this country.
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“However, as the team evolves, so do their needs and that’s why we continue to invest in the right facilities at the right stage in the team’s journey.
“By building a new, state-of-the-art facility, we will provide our players with a bespoke industry-leading environment for them to train and recover together, and we believe this will further improve player welfare, and help attract even more talent to Man City and the next generation of aspiring women footballers.”
CGI renders of the newly proposed City Women’s training ground (Credit: MCWFC)
Club captain Steph Houghton also gave her thoughts on the exciting new development, adding: “I’ve been incredibly proud to call the CFA home for the past ten years and have seen first-hand how the integrated facilities we are a part of have contributed to the development of the women’s team…
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“As we look to take the next step in our journey of developing the women’s game, it’s right that we now develop our own purpose-built home, at the heart of City Football Academy, and I’m thrilled the Club has the ambition and commitment to keep investing in our future.”
City has been at the forefront of investment in women’s football ever since the Women’s Super League started, having already opened the league’s first purpose-built training facility back in 2014 before the academy teams were moved into the same area.
Manchester City plotting spending spree ‘before’ Club World Cup
Danny Jones
Manchester City are set to embark on somewhat of a spending spree this summer transfer window as the club’s higher-ups are looking to get business done before the 2025 Club World Cup.
With FIFA’s intercontinental club competition set to get underway in mid-June, the Blues don’t have too long to welcome in new players, but Man City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has reiterated their urgency regarding recruitment.
Despite having brought in four new acquisitions in a very short space of time last season, the 50-year-old argued that he wasn’t completely happy with the extent and speed of their business.
Giving a lengthy interview this week, CFG‘s founding chairman has imposed an internal deadline ahead of the lucrative knockout competition.
Speaking with club media, Khaldoon recognised that while there were incomings in January of this year, he believes they “should have been more aggressive in some of the changes we needed to do, adding that he believes it “cost [them].”
“I can tell you today, we have clearly identified who exactly [the targets are], in what positions, and we have our clear number one option, our clear number two option”, he continues.
More importantly, he goes on to add: “We’ll go about our business, and it will be very clear, very swift. Our objective is to try to be ready with the new squad for the Club World Cup.”
He also suggested the flurry of activity this past January was not just atypical of the administration, but felt the squad fell into a crisis state with the number of injuries, insisting they “had to act.”
City have already been linked with a hugely talented and highly-rated European target in the wake of Kevin De Bruyne‘s departure and a lack of strength in depth in midfield.
An initial bid is said to have been received already and will likely be the first of many City summer signings.
He also insisted that the players who joined last season weren’t scattershot, emergency transfers (perhaps barring the resigning of İlkay Gündoğan) but were the start of the rebuild and “gives [fans] an idea of what’s coming this summer.”
Another player linked with a move to the Etihad Stadium is Lyon star Rayan Cherki, who scored in big moments during their Europa League run this year, registering 32 goal contributions across all competitions throughout the 24/25 campaign.
Who would you like to see added to Pep Guardiola’s side this summer, then, Man City fans?
You can watch Khaldoon Al Mubarak’s interview in full down below:
Featured Images — The Manc Group/Manchester City (press shots)
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Ruben Amorim reacts as Manchester United are booed off after Malaysia friendly
Danny Jones
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has delivered a fairly brutal response after his club were booed off by supporters during a friendly in Malaysia.
The Red Devils recently embarked on a post-season tour following a calamitous 2024/25 campaign, both domestically and continentally, with that limp loss in the Europa League final, but have already resumed what has become alarmingly normal service with yet another defeat.
Finding themselves on the wrong end of a 1-0 scoreline against ASEAN All-Stars in Kuala Lumpur – a squad comprised of various talents from around the region who had never played together before and were only founded as an actual team back in 2014 – it was all far from clean slates and fresh starts.
In the wake of the shock result, Man United were booed off by the Malaysian and other international fans inside the Bukit Jalil National Stadium, which saw more than 70,000 in attendance.
It’s the end and that’s it. Man United got boo’ed by the fans after the final whistle.
They got beaten by non-full team Asean All-Star who just trained together as a group few days before the match. pic.twitter.com/fBxnMiZPN8
For context, the ASEAN All-Stars had only trained together for the first time just days before the game itself, but the de facto exhibition outfit still managed to break the deadlock in the 71st minute against a United side that rarely looked like scoring.
All that being said, Amorim had some choice words for his own players in his post-match duties after their first post-season tour fixture, insisting that while he always remains accountable, those out on the pitch perhaps received somewhat of a deserved reckoning too.
He began by stating, “I’m always guilty of the performance of the team, no matter what. [I have been responsible] since the first day”, but went on to argue: “The boos from the fans, I think it something that we need, maybe.”
Citing that the Old Trafford faithful and die-hard away fans have always been loyal and supportive despite frustration in the league, he suggested that “maybe they will change the way they behave” following this latest reality check.
Despite adding that he has seen reasons for optimism in performances against Man City and Liverpool, for instance, where he felt he saw “belief” and seeds of what’s to come, he’s made very few excuses for the poor displays up to now.
United face the Hong Kong national team in their next friendly on Friday, 29 May, and it’s fair to say anything less than a win would be beyond bad for the predictably unpredictable Premier League club.
You can see his full post-match press conference down below.
Danny Jones -
12th January 2024 
