Le Centre Technique National Henri Guérin (Henri Guérin National Technical Centre), commonly referred to as PEF Ploufragan, is the regional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

centre and is one of the nine ''élite'' academies of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

; only the best players from the

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

'' région'' train there. There are eight other ''élite'' youth academies in Metropolitan France ( Castelmaurou,

Châteauroux Châteauroux (; ; oc, Chasteurós) is the capital city of the French department of Indre, central France and the second-largest town in the province of Berry, after Bourges. Its residents are called ''Castelroussins'' () in French. Climate ...

, Clairefontaine,

Liévin Liévin (; pcd, Lévin; ) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The inhabitants are called ''Liévinois''. Overview The town of Liévin is an old mining area of Pas-de-Calais. Near Lens, this town is of modest size bu ...

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

Vichy Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais. It is a spa and resort town and in World War II was the capital of ...

and Reims) covering the whole territory.

History

Located in

Ploufragan Ploufragan (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department of Brittany in northwestern France. Ploufragan lies adjacent to the southwest of Saint-Brieuc, the prefecture and largest city of Côtes-d'Armor. Population Inhabitants of Ploufrag ...

, the facility, known nationally as Pôle Espoirs Football de Ploufragan, began operation in 1995 as a result of an initiative created by former

France national football team The France national football team (french: Équipe de France de football) represents France in men's international football matches. It is governed by the French Football Federation (FFF; ), the governing body for football in France. It is ...

manager Henri Guérin, whom the centre is named after, and Paul Le Hesran. It trains players between the ages of 13–15. However, like its other regional counterparts, it is only a stepping stone for a few of the most promising players, while a second-tier center for the rest, compared to the national center Clairefontaine and its high reputation of producing the most gifted French players. The center did have the honor of training current

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

member and former Ligue 1 Player of the Year

Yoann Gourcuff Yoann Miguel Gourcuff (born 11 July 1986) is a French former professional footballer who played mainly as an attacking midfielder. He could also be utilized as a withdrawn striker, and was described as a "playmaker of real quality" who "is an a ...

Youth development

PEF Ploufragan incorporates the same training methods as Clairefontaine: * Making the player’s movements faster and better * Linking movements efficiently and wisely * Using the weaker foot * Weaknesses in the player’s game * Psychological factors (sports personality tests) * Medical factors * Physical tests (

beep test The multi-stage fitness test (MSFT), also known as the beep test, bleep test, PACER (Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run), PACER test, FitnessGram PACER test, or the 20 m Shuttle Run Test (20 m SRT), is a running test used to estimate ...

) * Technical skills * Skill training (juggling the ball, running with the ball, dribbling, kicking, passing and ball control) * Tactical (to help the ball carrier, to get the ball back, to offer support, to pass the ball and follow the pass, positioning and the movement into space) The center also provides students with a normal education curriculum, allows them to spend weekends and holidays with their families, and gives them the opportunity to continue training at their local club.PÔLE ESPOIRS FOOTBALL PLOUFRAGAN
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Notable former players

* Romain Danzé *

* Pierre-Yves Hamel * Sylvain Marveaux *

Virgile Reset Virgile Reset (born 3 August 1985) is a French football midfielder, who currently plays for Sporting Toulon Var. Career Reset began his career with Lorient and joined than in summer 2006 to Sion. On 21 July 2009 the 24-year-old forward has lef ...

Frédéric Sammaritano Frédéric Sammaritano (born 23 March 1986) is a French former professional footballer. Career Born in Vannes, Sammaritano spent three seasons at local club Vannes. In his last campaign with the club, he converted three goals and added seven as ...

* William Stanger

References

External links

PEF Ploufragan Home Page
{{Football in France Football academies in France Football venues in France Sports venues in Côtes-d'Armor Sports venues completed in 1995 Association football training grounds in France