Bournemouth players to move into ‘state-of-the-art’ training centre within weeks

Foley told Talksport: “We are opening our own training facility [and] should be ribbon cutting that when I’m over there in April. The players are moving in before the end of the month. 

“The Academy will move over probably in late April or early May. That is a big first step. This is a serious facility. Our players have already seen it, they have already toured it. 

“We will have an indoor pitch, four outdoor pitches, they will be under the lights. It really is a state of the art facility.”

The project was first approved in October 2019, after Cherries purchased the former golf club site for £3.75m in January 2018. Work began before being paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, resuming in the summer of 2022, following the club’s promotion back to the Premier League.

The 6,000 square-metre dome, constructed by Collinson Tensile, was completed in January 2024 and some Academy and women’s training sessions are already taking place there. An indoor dome is a requirement of Category Two Academy status and the new building helped Bournemouth gain promotion in the summer of 2023.

The architects were AFL, who said their design “minimised the visual impact within this sensitive green belt site while maintaining privacy for all.”

Bournemouth’s Technical Director is Simon Francis. He joined the club as a player in 2011 and remembered: “When I joined the club, 200 yards over that way we were training at Canford School.”