Le Centre Technique National Fernand Sastre (Fernand Sastre National Technical Centre), commonly referred to as Clairefontaine, is the national association football centre and is one of the nine élite academies of France; only the best players from the Île-de-France région train there. There are eight other élite youth academies in Metropolitan France (Castelmaurou, Châteauroux, Liévin, Dijon, Marseille, Ploufragan, Vichy and Reims) covering the whole territory.

Located 50 km southwest of Paris at Clairefontaine-en-Yvelines, Clairefontaine is arguably the finest football academy in the world. It has a high reputation of producing some of the most gifted French players including Nicolas Anelka, Louis Saha, William Gallas and national team top scorer Thierry Henry.

Contents 1 History 2 Youth development 3 Grounds 4 Photos 5 Famous former students 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

[edit] History

In 1976, French Football Federation president and longtime official Fernand Sastre desired for the creation of a national centre of football. Six years later, the FFF selected Clairefontaine-en-Yvelines as the site of the center. Construction of the centre commenced in 1985 and lasted nearly three years - the centre opened its doors in January 1988. During the 1998 World Cup, which France hosted, Clairefontaine housed the French national team. That same year, the FFF named the centre in Fernand Sastre's honor. A bust of Sastre was put on the grounds in 2000; also present on the grounds is a statue of the FIFA World Cup.

The best young football players from the Île-de-France region (of which Paris is the capital) stay at Clairefontaine from 13 to 15 for training and development of their technical skills. Most of the players that attend here are often being tracked by established French clubs and go on to have very successful careers. Today, many top local clubs play at the grounds. The academy continues to develop some of France's most promising talents in Hatem Ben Arfa, Vassiriki Abou Diaby and Gabriel Obertan.

[edit] Youth development

Youth development at Clairefontaine incorporates many principles on football with their students, such as:

• 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)
• 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)

[edit] Grounds

Clairefontaine is an immense football centre, encompassing 56 hectares of land and boasting 66,000 square meters of turfed grounds. It is located in the valley of Chevreuse in the heart of the Rambouillet forest. Clairefontaine has several training grounds, a stadium pitch and even an indoor pitch made of artificial turf. The centre also includes a medical building, gym, fitness room, restaurant and cafeteria. There are even three tennis courts on the grounds.

[edit] Photos

[edit] Famous former students

Name	DOB	Club before Academy	Years at Academy	Club after Academy	Current Club	International
Jérémie Aliadière	March 30, 1983 (1983-03-30) (age 26)		1996–1999	Arsenal	Middlesbrough	France U21
Nicolas Anelka	March 14, 1979 (1979-03-14) (age 30)	Trappes FC	1993–1996	Paris Saint-Germain	Chelsea	France
Habib Bamogo	May 8, 1982 (1982-05-08) (age 27)	ASV Châtenay-Malabry	1994–1998	Montpellier	Nice
Sébastien Bassong	July 9, 1986 (1986-07-09) (age 23)	FC Saint-Leu	1999–2002	Metz	Tottenham	Cameroon
Habib Bellaïd	December 26, 1986 (1986-12-26) (age 23)	Red Star FC	1999–2002	Strasbourg	Eintracht Frankfurt	France U21
Hatem Ben Arfa	March 7, 1987 (1987-03-07) (age 22)	AC Boulogne Billencourt	1999–2002	Lyon	Marseille	France
Jimmy Briand	August 7, 1985 (1985-08-07) (age 24)	CSF Brétigny	2000–2001	Rennes	Rennes	France
Garra Dembélé	December 5, 1985 (1985-12-05) (age 24)		1998–2001	Auxerre	Pierikos
Cheik Doukouré	September 11, 1992 (1992-09-11) (age 17)		2007–2008	Lorient	Lorient
Abou Diaby	May 11, 1986 (1986-05-11) (age 23)	Red Star FC	1999–2002	Auxerre	Arsenal	France
Issiar Dia	June 8, 1987 (1987-06-08) (age 22)	AC Boulogne Billencourt	1999–2002	Amiens	Nancy	Senegal
William Gallas	August 17, 1977 (1977-08-17) (age 32)	AVG Football	1992–1994	Caen	Arsenal	France
Hérold Goulon	June 12, 1988 (1988-06-12) (age 21)	ES Viry-Châtillon	2002–2005	Lyon	Le Mans	France U21
Thierry Henry	August 17, 1977 (1977-08-17) (age 32)	ES Viry-Châtillon	1992	Monaco	Barcelona	France
Rudy Haddad	February 5, 1985 (1985-02-05) (age 24)	Maccabi Paris	1998–2001	Paris Saint-Germain	Châteauroux
Jacques Faty	February 25, 1984 (1984-02-25) (age 25)	CSF Brétigny	1997–2000	Rennes	Sochaux	France U21
Ricardo Faty	August 4, 1986 (1986-08-04) (age 23)	VSG Football	1999–2002	Strasbourg	Roma	France U21
Jirès Kembo Ekoko	January 8, 1988 (1988-01-08) (age 21)	AS Bondy	2001–2004	Rennes	Rennes	France U21
Blaise Matuidi	August 9, 1987 (1987-08-09) (age 22)	CO Vincennois	1999–2002	Créteil	Saint-Étienne	France U21
Mourad Meghni	April 16, 1984 (1984-04-16) (age 25)		1999–2000	Bologna	Lazio	Algeria
Gabriel Obertan	February 26, 1989 (1989-02-26) (age 20)	Paris Saint-Germain	2004–2005	Bordeaux	Manchester United	France U21
Grégory Sertic	August 5, 1989 (1989-08-05) (age 20)	ES Viry-Châtillon	2003–2005	Bordeaux	Bordeaux	France U21
Jérôme Rothen	March 31, 1978 (1978-03-31) (age 31)	Versailles FC	1991–1994	Caen	Rangers	France
Louis Saha	August 8, 1978 (1978-08-08) (age 31)		1991–1994	Metz	Everton	France
Moussa Sow	January 19, 1986 (1986-01-19) (age 23)		1999–2001	Mantes	Rennes
Quentin Westberg	August 6, 1985 (1985-08-06) (age 24)		2000–2003	Troyes	Troyes	USA U20

[edit] See also

• Aimé Jacquet
• Gérard Houllier
• PEF Ploufragan
• France national football team
• Ligue 1
• National Football Centre - England's planned centre, inspired by Clairefontaine
• Coverciano - Italy's own national football academy

[edit] References

• "Site Officiel de la F.F.F. - Présentation". http://www.fff.fr/presentationfff/ctnfs/1028.shtml/. Retrieved 1 August 2005. 

[edit] External links

• F.F.F. - Clairefontaine

Coordinates: 48°36′52.07″N 1°55′27.55″E / 48.6144639°N 1.9243194°E / 48.6144639; 1.9243194

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