Royal couple tour football centre (From Hampshire Chronicle)

Royal couple tour football centre

2:05pm Tuesday 9th October 2012 in National News © Press Association 2013

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have arrived at the new national football centre to officially open the world-class facility which aims to produce the country's next manager.

England's soccer stars will be taking time out from World Cup qualifier training to welcome William and Kate to the Football Association's £105 million St George's Park site near Birmingham.

David Sheepshanks, the centre's chairman, summed up the aims of the new project, which was completed in July: "St George's Park will be a world-class facility providing top-class education for future generations of English football coaches. It will also be an internationally leading sports medicine and performance research centre, a training home to enhance international team development, and an inspirational hub for everyone involved in football from the grassroots to elite."

It is hoped that St George's Park - where coaches will be coached - will improve the quality of football leaders in the dugout and in turn boost the performance of players on the pitch, both for their clubs and the national side.

All of England's 24 national teams will use the site as their training base ahead of international fixtures and the country's top football stars were put through their paces at the centre for the first time.

Based just outside Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, the facility covers 330 acres and has 11 external pitches, a dedicated practice and training area for goalkeepers, and sports pavilions for post-training de-briefs. Among other facilities it also has a world-class sports and exercise medicine, human performance and research centre.

Football Association chairman David Bernstein hailed the St George's Park complex as key to the future of football in England. He told Sky Sports News: "We expect to get a huge amount out of this, probably first and foremost the development of more and better coaches. We have good coaches in this country but we need many many more and this will be a centre driven to produce better coaching. It's a multi-faceted site, but it should make a huge impact on English football over a period of time."

William and Kate, who wore a grey coat by Reiss, were greeted by a long line of local dignitaries, including Burton Tory MP Andrew Griffiths, when they arrived by helicopter from London.

As the royal couple were introduced in turn to the local politicians and council leaders, the Duke, who is the FA's president and a keen Aston Villa fan, was ribbed about whether any of his club's players would make it into the national side but he laughed off the question saying it was not his decision.

Kate, who wore calf-length black boots, was overheard joking about donning a pair of "trainers" to have a kick-about later. The royal couple had arrived at a St George's Park community pitch named after David Beckham and watched as youngsters raced up and down playing a fast-paced game of five-a-side.