The elite training base and community precinct, which will be called Sky Park, will bring all club operations under one roof. The Sky Blues A-League and Westfield W-League squads, the Sydney FC Academy and the club’s administration team will all be based at Sky Park.
Construction will begin mid this year on land at the club’s current training base at Macquarie University Sports Fields and is due for completion in June next year.
Vice-Chancellor and President of Macquarie University, Professor S Bruce Dowton, says the agreement builds on the University’s existing relationship with Sydney FC and will benefit the sporting community, students and researchers, with access to the facility for teaching and development.
“Bringing Sydney FC’s new Centre of Excellence to our North Ryde campus will not only provide a world-class facility that will encourage sporting participation in our community, but will open up new collaborations with our health sciences centre MQ Health, opportunities for student athletes and student work experience, and research and development partnerships.”
Sydney FC Chairman Scott Barlow says: “This project has been a few years in the planning so I am delighted we can now start construction to make Sky Park a reality.”
“Sky Park will for the first time in our club’s history bring all of our operations together under the one roof in a state-of-the art football facility that will be our home for many years to come.”
“The Sky Park precinct will enable us to supercharge our work in the community by delivering more outreach programs and delivering greater benefit to the community than ever before.”
Sydney FC Centre of Excellence is being partially funded by the NSW Government that aims to establish integrated high-performance training, administration and community facilities to improve talent development pathways, provide female friendly facilities and expand community programs.
The sports fields will continue to be owned and operated by Macquarie University and the agreement will not impact on student sport access and use of the facility, with the upgrades promising additional benefits to clubs and students.
Artist's impression of the Sydney FC Centre of Excellence at Macquarie University Sports Fields
