Urartu Training Centre, is the training ground and

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

base of the Armenian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

club

Urartu Urartu (; Assyrian: ',Eberhard Schrader, ''The Cuneiform inscriptions and the Old Testament'' (1885), p. 65. Babylonian: ''Urashtu'', he, אֲרָרָט ''Ararat'') is a geographical region and Iron Age kingdom also known as the Kingdom of V ...

. It houses the club's main stadium, 3 additional full-size training pitches, mini football pitches as well as an indoor facility. The current technical director of the academy is the former Armenian footballer Rafael Nazaryan.

History

Urartu Training Centre was officially opened on 23 May 2003 on the grounds of the former Malatia Football School named after Eduard Grigoryan, located in the

Malatia-Sebastia District Malatia-Sebastia ( hy, Մալաթիա-Սեբաստիա վարչական շրջան, ), also nicknamed colloquially as Bangladesh, is one of the 12 districts of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, located in the western part of the city. As of the 2 ...

of the capital

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and i ...

. The opening ceremony was attended by then-presidents of

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

Sepp Blatter Joseph "Sepp" Blatter (born Josef Blatter; 10 March 1936) is a Swiss former football administrator who served as the eighth President of FIFA from 1998 to 2015. He has been banned from participating in FIFA activities since 2015 as a result o ...

, then-president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan, and then-president of the Football Federation of Armenia

Ruben Hayrapetyan Ruben Rafiki Hayrapetyan ( hy, Ռուբեն Ռաֆիկի Հայրապետյան, born 9 March 1963 in Yerevan, Armenia), also known by his nickname Nemets Rubo (''Rubo The German''), is an Armenian football official, a former member of the Armenia ...

. The centre was renovated and completed as part of FIFA's ''Goal'' development programme. Occupying an area of 65,000 m², the centre is used for youth and senior teams training. On 16 October 2007, Sepp Blatter along with then-presidents of the

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs fo ...

Michel Platini Michel François Platini (born 21 June 1955) is a French football administrator and former player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'Or three times in a row, in 1983, 1984 and 1985, a ...

, visited the centre during their 2-day official visit to Armenia. On 7 October 2015,

Fabio Capello Fabio Capello (; born 18 June 1946) is an Italian former professional football manager and player. As a player, Capello represented SPAL 1907, Roma, Milan and Juventus. He played as a midfielder and won several trophies during his career whi ...

visited the training centre. Admired by the club facilities, Capello told the journalists that "Banants has a great base for training and work". In November 2016, the centre hosted the training sessions of the

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland *Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia *Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports * Swiss Internation ...

and the Italian under-19 teams, participating in the

2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification The 2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-19 football competition that determined the seven teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Georgia in the 2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final t ...

, group 7. Impressed by the centre, the Swiss team manager Gérard Castella told the journalists that the "conditions here are simply fantastic". On 15 December 2017, a new artificial pitch was installed in the centre with the financial assistance of the Football Federation of Armenia. As of April 2017, the academy runs 6 youth teams with ages ranging between 13 and 17.FC Banants academy
/ref> The directing coach of the academy is Artashes Adamyan. The centre frequently hosts local and foreign football clubs for periodic training camps and friendly matches.

Facilities

With a total area of 65,000 m², Banants Training Centre is the largest football academy in Armenia owned by a club and the 2nd largest football training base in Yerevan following the

Yerevan Football Academy Officially, the Technical Center-Academy of the Football Federation of Armenia ( hy, Հայաստանի ֆուտբոլի ֆեդերացիայի Տեխնիկական կենտրոն-ակադեմիա), commonly known as the Yerevan Football Academy o ...

. It is home to a large number of training facilities including: * Urartu Stadium with a capacity of 4,860 seats, is the home stadium of

. * 2 full-size artificial pitches, with the first pitch having a seating capacity of 600 seats, used by Banants-2; the reserve team of the club. The first artificial turf was installed in 2007 with the assistance of the Football Federation of Armenia and the

Goal Programme. * 1 full-size natural grass pitch. * 2 natural grass and 1 artificial turf seven-a-side training pitches. * 1 artificial turf five-a-side training pitch. * 1 indoor mini football training hall. * Service centre with swimming pool and gymnasium. The club headquarters are located at the 2nd floor of the building.

References

External links

Training Centre page at Banants official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Urartu Training Centre FC Urartu Association football training grounds in Armenia