Starting With Real Madrid

As everyone knows, whether it is a stadium or a training ground, the emphasis has always been on functionality, with little attention given to design.

Even for stadiums that cost huge amounts of money, the focus is often only on the outer shell, so most stadium designs are handed over to professional firms like Populous.

But in recent years, more and more famous designers have begun to enter the football world. Several stadiums carefully designed by Herzog & de Meuron, such as the Bird's Nest and the Allianz Arena, have made them internationally renowned.

Norman Foster was involved in the design of Wembley Stadium.

The design of Leeds United's training base is undoubtedly a pioneering concept.

During a long conversation with Norman Foster last time, Gao Shen mentioned his ideas for Leeds United's training base. Later, Norman Foster arranged for his team to gain a deeper understanding of Leeds United, and even placed a designer to live and work at the Thorp Arch training base.

This time, the proposal they presented was very innovative.

Leeds United's site is an irregular rectangle, 800 meters long from north to south and 300 meters wide from east to west, but due to roads and residential areas, the land narrows at both the north and south ends.

Based on these site conditions, Norman Foster and his team came up with a concept: floating islands.

For functional venues like training bases, the starting point is always the football pitches.

To meet the needs of Leeds United, from the first team to the youth academy, 13 standard outdoor pitches are required. These pitches will be given priority and spread across the entire site.

A multifunctional building integrating the club's administrative offices, big data center, restaurant, and underground parking will be the face of the training base, but it will be completely different from traditional designs.

This three-story low-rise building is divided into two sections by a central atrium and connected by a six-meter-wide floating island. The semi-open office spaces, created using large glass curtain walls, are completely integrated into the surrounding landscape, strengthening the connection between indoor spaces and the natural environment.

The building's roof extends over the atrium, with a huge skylight directly above, allowing natural light to flood into the atrium and the interior, making the entire space exceptionally bright.

According to Norman Foster, this semi-open office design will effectively improve the work environment and ensure the physical and mental well-being of employees. At the same time, the atrium and floating islands will create strong social spaces, blurring the boundaries between interior and exterior, and promoting a new way of collaboration.

This is all about connection and integration.

Moreover, the floating island design is particularly interesting. It is not a simple staircase, but an interlocking ring structure. Norman Foster said it was inspired by the arcs in a football game. The steel structure acts as both an arch and a truss. Even as a hand-drawn sketch, it looks elegant and serves as both a walkway and a viewing platform.

The atrium extends to the north and south of the training base, linking to the first-team and youth-team training buildings. These three buildings are further connected by longer and larger floating islands, with the longest nearly 100 meters in length.

From a distance, it looks like arcs suspended in the air.

The space beneath the floating islands is carefully designed and divided into sections of different shapes and sizes based on pedestrian flow, sightlines, scenery, and functional needs. These include basketball courts, volleyball courts, mini football pitches, beach courts, fountain squares, terraces, and other leisure activity spaces.

They appear separate, but in reality, they are closely linked.

Norman Foster's team believes that this area will be very popular with both first-team and youth players. The flow of people created by the design will allow them to organize various small competitions and social events here, achieving true integration between the senior and youth players.

The two training buildings are long, irregular structures arranged around the pitches wherever possible. Inside, there will be medical rooms, gyms, swimming pools, saunas, and other facilities, designed with great care.

The second and third floors of the first-team training building will house dormitories for staff and players. These will be designed as suites, each with an independent balcony. The rooms will be spacious, bright, and arranged to five-star hotel standards.

It is worth mentioning that the indoor pitch will be a full-sized standard football field, with a roof made of ETFE membrane material. This translucent material lets sunlight in while blocking harmful external factors. Even during blizzards, training will continue as normal.

The biggest challenge of an indoor pitch is ventilation, which has also been carefully addressed.

All 14 pitches will have advanced underfloor heating and drainage systems.

In the north of the training base, Norman Foster initially designed a competition field for youth matches. However, after receiving a call from Lucas, the design team modified the plan.

They proposed integrating the pitch with the municipal park outside, creating open steps at the junction with the Railway Bridge Park to serve as spectator seating and a resting area for park visitors, encouraging more citizens to watch Leeds United's youth training and matches.

At the same time, this area will be designed to be an attractive park landscape.

In addition, the roof of the training center will be equipped with a complete solar energy system, provided by Leeds United's Chinese sponsor. The electricity generated by the solar panels will be used directly at the base.

Huawei will also participate in designing the various smart systems for the training base.

Once completed, it will be the most advanced, intelligent, energy-efficient, and environmentally friendly modern training base in the UK, Europe, and possibly the world.

The cooperation plan between Leeds United and the city government also includes a ten-year Children's Fund.

Leeds United has pledged to donate over three million pounds to the city of Leeds over the next ten years, specifically for children's health, education, social inclusion, disability support, and sports development. The club will also organize a series of social programs in schools, communities, and hospitals.

The Children's Fund will also be open to attract more public and private contributions.

In Europe, almost all clubs are expected to take on such social responsibilities, and Leeds United is no exception. However, the White Rose's plan is currently the largest of its kind in the UK, reflecting the club's determination to give back to its fans and the community.

The club also hopes this commitment will help secure government approval when selecting contractors for construction.

According to projections, choosing a Chinese construction company could reduce costs by at least 20 percent.

…

Whether it was Norman Foster's design or Leeds United's funding and community program, Zidane and Carlo were full of praise.

This is exactly what is needed to gain a firm foothold in European football.

It also shows that Gao Shen really intends to run Leeds United for the long term.

Norman Foster's design is of his usual top standard, whether in terms of technique, style, materials, or the technology incorporated. Everything is at the highest level currently available.

This is characteristic of Norman Foster.

However, the cost is also extremely high.

According to discussions between Norman Foster's team, Lucas, and others, the entire project's budget will definitely be exceeded, and by a lot.

"How much more?" Su Qing, in charge of finances, was most concerned about the budget.

Lucas immediately looked at Norman Foster.

The veteran designer himself looked a little embarrassed. "It is estimated at 80 million pounds."

Everyone was a bit shocked.

Isn't that too much?

You know how much Wenger spent building Arsenal's Colney training ground.

Tottenham Hotspur just built a training base in Enfield with a small indoor pitch, and their total investment was only a little over 40 million pounds. Leeds United is now looking at nearly double that.

Sure enough, budgets exist to be exceeded.

"Of course, if the budget overruns too much, we can make adjustments, such as reducing the size of the indoor pitch, which would save a significant amount, as well as revising the stadium in the north and some landscape features..."

As the second party, Norman Foster's team was not domineering at all and was very considerate of the client.

After all, Leeds United is the one paying.

Now everyone, including Su Qing and Lucas, looked straight at Gao Shen.

The completed design was fascinating. Although it was just a hand-drawn sketch, it outlined a wonderful vision. Once built, it would surely become one of the world's best training bases.

It would even amaze fans around the globe.

As everyone looked at him, Gao Shen was thinking about something else entirely.

"Fernando, tell me, if we build a training base like this, a master's work, could we attract sponsors? How much could we get for naming rights?"

Everyone was stunned.

Title sponsorship for a training base?

Could that work?

"Last year Manchester United considered sponsorship for their Carrington training base. Didn't they sell sponsorship for their training kits at 10 million pounds? So they wanted to capitalize on that by getting sponsorship for the base itself, also for 10 million pounds."

Lucas shrugged. "But no one showed any interest."

Manchester United's so-called 10 million-pound training kit sponsorship was not just about wearing those kits at the base but also wearing them during warm-up sessions before matches, sponsored by DHL logistics.

That's why they could get such a high sponsorship fee.

And no matter how you look at it, that's a great deal.

But what can you do? They are Manchester United.

There is only one Manchester United in the world. You can't envy them.

"But what's so special about sponsoring Manchester United's run-down training ground? Ours is different." Gao Shen felt that what Manchester United failed to do, Leeds United might be able to achieve.

Manchester United wants 10 million pounds, and Leeds United does not need that much.

If they can secure a naming rights deal, that would be a huge benefit.

Lucas thought about it and felt it was worth a try. After all, as Gao Shen said, this would be a unique marketing point.

Leeds United now has considerable global online attention.

From the start of construction to completion, the project will undoubtedly attract global attention, which would also greatly benefit a title sponsor.

"We'll make some arrangements later." The more Lucas thought about it, the more he believed it was possible.

Even Norman Foster and the others were left speechless.

Is this sharp-minded guy really one of the world's top coaches?

(To be continued.)