Academy Stadium

Academy Stadium

MiniCOMS, Minihad
Full name	Manchester City Academy Stadium
Location	Sportcity, Manchester, England
Coordinates	53°28′52″N 2°11′34″W / 53.48111°N 2.19278°W / 53.48111; -2.19278Coordinates: 53°28′52″N 2°11′34″W / 53.48111°N 2.19278°W / 53.48111; -2.19278
Owner	Manchester City F.C.
Operator	Manchester City F.C.
Capacity	7,000[1]
Surface	Natural grass
Construction
Opened	8 December 2014
Construction cost	£200 million (total value of training facilities)
Architect	Rafael Vinoly
Main contractors	BAM Construction
Tenants
Manchester City F.C. EDS and Academy Manchester City W.F.C.

Academy Stadium is a football stadium in Manchester, England, forming part of the Etihad Campus. Announced on 19 September 2011 as part of an 80-acre training facility to cater for around 400 youth players at a time,^[2] the campus was completed in late 2014 and unveiled on 8 December 2014.^[3] The stadium, known simply as Academy Stadium, was inaugurated by students of Manchester Metropolitan University, who played the official first games on the pitch on 14 December 2014.^[4]

Although not the biggest building of the facility the stadium still features numerous facilities more common to larger stadia, including a press room, board room, offices and retail space.^[3][5] Situated only 400 metres from the City of Manchester Stadium, the Academy Stadium is linked to the mother ground via a 190-metre bridge across the intersection of Ashton New Road and Alan Turing Way.^[6]

The stadium is the new home stadium of the Elite Development Squad and other senior academy teams, and also of Manchester City Women. In 2016, it will be used as one of the two venues for that year's World Rugby Under 20 Championship in rugby union, alongside AJ Bell Stadium in Salford.^[7]

References