Prince of Wales visits St George’s Park for National Football Centre anniversary

The Prince of Wales met England manager Gareth Southgate during a visit to St George’s Park to mark the National Football Centre’s 10th anniversary.

Southgate is finalising preparations for next month’s World Cup and William, who is president of the Football Association, spent 15 minutes in private with the Three Lions boss.

William also watched training sessions involving the England men’s senior deaf team and the England men’s powerchair development squad and met girls and boys from community clubs, plus the England representatives at this year’s Street Child World Cup.

FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said: “St George’s Park continues to deliver on the vision we set out 10 years ago to provide consistent world class support for our England teams.

“Since St George’s Park opened, our teams have won 12 tournaments, and we are confident that our best-in-class facilities, coaching and learning will support more success for future generations.

“Our investment supported by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Sport England and the National Lottery continues to drive success for the English game.”

St George’s Park, which opened in 2012, hosts over 80 England team camps a year across men’s and women’s seniors, development and para squads, which benefit from the state-of-the-art pitches and strength and conditioning gym.

Facilities within the National Football Centre include cryotherapy, hydrotherapy and physiotherapy suites and a performance studio.

St George’s Park is also home to England Football Learning – the FA’s education arm – which offers grassroots coaching courses and supports the development of coaches within the professional game.

St George’s Park has hosted over 2,000 elite teams across multiple sports, including the likes of Barcelona, Benfica and Marseille, plus England’s cricket and rugby union teams.