The Academy, Kirkby
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Liverpool Training Centre is the training ground and academy for
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
. Known for sponsorship reasons as AXA Training Centre, it has been the home of Liverpool's reserve and youth teams for several years. The facility formerly known as The Academy or often referred to as its geographical location of Kirkby. Beginning in 2017, it was expanded and renovated to provide space for the senior team to move there from
Melwood AXA Melwood Training Centre, in West Derby, Liverpool is the training ground and academy for Liverpool Football Club's Women's first team, youth teams and academy. It was formerly the men's first team's training ground from the 1950s until N ...
. Construction was eventually completed in October 2020, having been delayed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. The first-team moved into the facility in November 2020.


History

Liverpool FC's first-team historically had been based at the Melwood Training Facility in
West Derby West Derby ( ) is an area of Liverpool, Merseyside, England, in the east of the city. At the 2011 Census, the population was 14,382. History West Derby Mentioned in the ''Domesday Book'', West Derby achieved significance far earlier tha ...
since acquiring the site in 1959. In 2001, the facility underwent extensive modernisation under the management of
Gérard Houllier Gérard Paul Francis Houllier (; 3 September 194714 December 2020) was a French professional football manager and player. Clubs he managed include Paris Saint-Germain, Lens and Liverpool, where he won the FA Cup, League Cup, FA Charity Shield, ...
, however by 2017 it was determined that Melwood did not have enough space to house the growing backroom teams of modern football clubs, and had been overtaken by the newer, state-of-the-art facilities of Liverpool's rivals. Furthermore, upon his arrival at the club, first-team manager
Jürgen Klopp Jürgen Norbert Klopp (; born 16 June 1967) is a German football executive and former Manager (association football), manager and Football player, player. He is widely regarded as one of the best football managers in the world. Klopp has been ...
grew frustrated at the 5-mile geographical distance between the first-team and the club's younger players, who trained at the Academy in
Kirkby Kirkby ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. The town, Historic counties of England, historically in Lancashire, has a size of is north of Huyton and north-east of Liverpool. The population in 2016 wa ...
. As there was no further space to expand Melwood, in 2017 Liverpool announced that first-team operations would be permanently relocated to the Kirkby site, and that a new £50 million building would be constructed for the first-team. Construction started in September 2018, with the aim of moving in by summer 2020 ahead of the 2020-21 season. Construction was eventually completed in October 2020, having been delayed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. The first-team moved into the facility in November 2020. Players such as Lucas Leiva, Alisson, and Jamie Carragher all paid tribute to Melwood as they moved to Kirkby.


Facilities

The facility is split lengthwise into two halves: the north side of the building houses the first-team, whilst the south side of the building houses the U21 team. The two halves are separate, with separate entrances and facilities. At the request of first-team manager
Jürgen Klopp Jürgen Norbert Klopp (; born 16 June 1967) is a German football executive and former Manager (association football), manager and Football player, player. He is widely regarded as one of the best football managers in the world. Klopp has been ...
, only a single corridor joins the two halves of the building together, symbolic of the "pathway" to the first team. The training centre has three Desso Grassmaster pitches measuring approximately 32,000m², with dedicated goalkeeping and warm-up areas separating two of the pitches and an outdoor sports area with a full-size tennis court, artificial grass head tennis court, a large artificial grass training area, two padel tennis courts and a
beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side o ...
court. Large wind-screens surround the playing surface, and an additional pitch is located on the other side of the building for use by the U21 squad. The new 9,200m² building includes separate gyms for the first and U21 teams, a large indoor sports hall, swimming pool, an extensive hydrotherapy complex, specialist sports rehabilitation and medical suites as well as relaxation and dining areas. Press conference facilities and in-house TV studios are also situated inside the building.


The Academy

The Academy is situated at the south end of the overall complex and was opened in 1998 as a dedicated training base for the club's youth teams. The facility consists of a main building with an adjoining indoor pitch. There are four full-size grass pitches and one with a
Polytan Polytan GmbH is a German manufacturer of artificial turf systems and synthetic sport surfaces. It is based in Burgheim, Bavaria, and is a subsidiary of Sport Group Holding GmbH. History Polytan was founded in 1970 as Firl + Schretter Sportstätt ...
surface. There are also a further seven smaller pitches and an indoor arena. The grounds cover an area of 56
acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...
s. Pitches are allocated according to age group; younger teams play on pitches closer to the Academy building, older teams play on pitches closer to the first-team complex. This provides both a physical and metaphorical progression for young players toward the first team. Scouts attend many local youth matches looking for talented boys. A boy will then be invited to attend training sessions at the Academy. They are currently taken in as young as the age of six. Former England International player Jamie Carragher started at Liverpool when he was aged just nine, with
Michael Owen Michael James Owen (born 14 December 1979) is an English former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker for Liverpool F.C., Liverpool, Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid, Newcastle United ...
joining at eleven, and
Steven Gerrard Steven George Gerrard MBE (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and a former player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time and one of Liverpool's greatest ever players, Academy director
Alex Inglethorpe Alexander Matthew Inglethorpe (born 14 November 1971) is an English former footballer who played as a forward for Watford, Leyton Orient, Exeter City and Barnet. He is now the Academy Director at Liverpool FC. Playing career Born in Epsom, E ...
has said the remit of the academy is to produce physically, technically, tactically and mentally elite players with enough quality to represent the senior side in the Champions League. Liverpool won the 2005 Champions league with two locally born academy graduates starting in the final.


See also

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Melwood AXA Melwood Training Centre, in West Derby, Liverpool is the training ground and academy for Liverpool Football Club's Women's first team, youth teams and academy. It was formerly the men's first team's training ground from the 1950s until N ...
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Anfield Anfield is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Anfield (suburb), Anfield, Liverpool, England, which has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since its formation in 1892. The stadium has a seating capacity of 61,276, making it the ...
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Liverpool F.C. Reserves and Academy Liverpool F.C. Under 23s is the reserve & senior youth team of Liverpool F.C. It is the most senior level of the Liverpool academy beneath the first team. In the summer of 2012, the whole English reserve football system was overhauled and replac ...


References

{{Liverpool F.C. Liverpool F.C.
Kirkby Kirkby ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. The town, Historic counties of England, historically in Lancashire, has a size of is north of Huyton and north-east of Liverpool. The population in 2016 wa ...
Sports venues in Merseyside Sport in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley Buildings and structures in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley 1998 establishments in England Sports venues completed in 1998