On a cold spring morning in New Jersey, the largest and most innovative sports center in North America was inaugurated. And perhaps even in the world. It is the RWJBarnabas Health Red Bulls Performance Center, the new workplace and training facility for the New York Red Bulls. Two great former players, Thierry Henry and Bradley Wright-Phillips, had the honor of cutting the ribbon. Among those present was also Jürgen Klopp, former Liverpool coach and current Head of Global Soccer at Red Bull. The former Liverpool manager said that "if you don't have a dream, if you don't have something you want to achieve, you don't build this." He then joked, saying that walking through this center to the field made him nostalgic for coaching.
The facility, customized and spread over 80 acres, cost over 100 million dollars and includes eight regulation training fields, as well as spaces for the first and second teams and for the youth sector. Additionally, the center features a cafeteria with meals prepared by professional chefs, an innovation lab, a 430-square-meter gym with windows overlooking the fields, a lounge for first team players, spaces for academy kids, and much more. "It's not just a training center," explained Julian de Guzman, sporting director of the New York Red Bulls. "It's the most innovative training facility in all of North America."
The center will also host Brazil's training camp for this summer's World Cup. Not by chance, one might say. But the focus, inevitably, is and will be on the future of the New York Red Bulls: this facility will be the place where first team players will train, but also where future generations of talent from the Academy will be developed. It is no coincidence that this investment has been finalized now that former Roma player Michael Bradley is on the bench, a young emerging coach and former player whose brilliant career began with his professional debut in NY in 2005, when he was still a teenager. In short: the pathway from the Academy to the first team has never been as clear as it is today, and now, the facilities have never been so cutting-edge. But seeing results immediately, of course, is not automatic. It will take time, but results will come, it's inevitable.
Klopp also explained that "the most ambitious kids don't necessarily grow up in the nicest homes, but we want you to be ambitious, hungry in a good way, competitive. To all the kids who will train here in the future: make sure to take advantage of it. This is a place with no excuses." At the end of his speech, Klopp looked warmly at those academy kids who hung on his every word, some of whom could become the future stars the club hopes to nurture. "And now start training," Klopp suggested, flashing his typical big smile, before everyone entered. In such a facility, everything becomes easier.