Following on from picking up their first three points of the season in a 2-0 victory over West Ham United, Brighton & Hove Albion’s shared their brand-new £8.5million facility at the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre with the public and the results are quite stunning.
The team underwent their first training session on one of the new additional pitches on Wednesday and will benefit from, amongst other facilities: a brand new gym, medical centre, state-of-the-art changing area and recovery facility. Unlike many in the Women’s Super League, the Seagulls will be sharing this with their male counterparts.
A closer look at our new training facility, which we move into today! 🔜🙌
— Brighton & Hove Albion Women (@BHAFCWomen) September 8, 2021
🎥 @SkySportsNews // #BHAFC 🔵⚪️
Chairman Tony Bloom told the club’s website, “We are delighted to have opened the new building at the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre. It provides the women’s teams with unrivalled, world-class facilities and underpins our ambitions for the club on the pitch. We are also extremely grateful for the continued support from American Express as part of their partnership with the club which began an amazing ten years ago.”
Deputy chairman and chief executive Paul Barber added, “On behalf of all at the club and our supporters I thank Tony [Bloom] for yet another generous contribution to Brighton & Hove Albion.”
The new facility will house the women’s first-team, academy and staff, as well as providing a changing facility for Albion in the Community’s community pitch.
Ellie Brazil described the facilities as brilliant, adding, “As a female footballer, this is what you dream of, being at a complex like this and having access to facilities like this. We are extremely lucky and hopefully we can perform on the grass. Having better facilities always helps us, but it’s what we do as players, we can have the gym, we can have the facilities but it’s what we put in that can make us better. It’s up to us now.”
Photo: Paul Hazlewood