US Soccer Federation to build training center outside Atlanta, Arthur Blank to contribute funding

December 7th, 2023

Arthur Blank speaks during a news conference, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Atlanta. Blank speaks about an announcement on Friday about the U.S. Soccer National Training Center. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

The U.S. Soccer Federation’s new training center will be built in Fayette County in an area about 20 miles from downtown Atlanta and a 30-minute drive from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

The USSF announced the specific site Thursday after saying on Sept. 15 it intended to construct a complex in the Atlanta area. Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United owner Arthur Blank is contributing $50 million for the project. The complex will be more than 200 acres.

The USSF said in 2002 that the complex in Carson, California, would serve as its national training center. While that has been used often for winter training camps, the men’s national team has located training ahead of games at sites more convenient for its matches, such as in Florida ahead of games in the Caribbean and Central America and near the venues of home games. U.S. Soccer also opened a national development center in Kansas City, Kansas, in 2018.

The federation’s headquarters was in New York, then moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, and has been in Chicago since 1991. The USSF said the new facility will be the training site for all 27 national teams and its headquarters.