The German Football Association officially inaugurates its new campus this Thursday. The new association headquarters, which cost 150 million euros, should point the way to a successful future.
When Bernd Neuendorf finally officially inaugurates the prestige object this Thursday (June 30th, 2022), he can already praise the advantages of the new German football centrepiece. “I have appointments with exciting people here almost every hour,” reported the President of the German Football Association (DFB) of the day-to-day work on the new campus that has been going on for months: “It doesn’t get boring.”
In fact, since spring there has been steadily increasing activity on the almost 50,000 square meter site in Frankfurt’s Niederrad district, with the city skyline in the background. Over the past few months, all of the more than 500 employees have gradually moved into the partly futuristic-looking premises of the new headquarters, which cost 150 million euros, including the academy.
The employees did not have to travel a long way to do this. Just under two kilometers separate the venerable association headquarters in the Otto-Fleck-Schneise from the new home in the Kennedyallee, which was admired by the sports directors and sometimes the trainers of the professional clubs during tours.
New campus to give the DFB “boost”.
“This is a quantum leap for the entire DFB,” said academy boss Tobias Haupt: “It gives the entire association a boost.” In fact, something has been created on the site of the former racecourse that has no equal in football in Germany.
The sprawling building complex, including the four outdoor soccer fields and a hall with a regular-sized artificial turf field (105 by 68 meters), is reminiscent of the headquarters of the large IT companies in Silicon Valley in terms of its style and the generously installed technology. What is particularly striking are the offices that are not separated from each other, which are intended to promote networking between the individual departments.
A lounge for the national coach
Even Hansi Flick doesn’t have a permanent office. The national coach works in the so-called coach’s lounge, from where all the seats – where the national teams will regularly prepare for their home games in the future – can be viewed.
The sports areas (fields, changing rooms, fitness rooms, regeneration facilities, technology laboratory) were recently inaugurated by the national soccer team during their preparation for the forthcoming European Championship finals (July 6th to 31st). This is where the foundation stone for future success should be laid.
Construction of the DFB Academy was delayed
The so-called athletes’ house with 33 rooms belongs to the campus. And this is perhaps the only shortcoming of the new DFB glory: Since the entourage of the men’s national team, the women’s selection and the U21s is too large for the hotel area, these teams will have to stay in the hotel in the future and be taken to the campus by bus will. There is “only” enough space for the junior teams.
The reason for the restriction is simple: the budget could not be exceeded. In the almost three years since the groundbreaking ceremony in September 2019, it was not easy to stick to this goal anyway. The corona pandemic and the Ukraine war increased costs and delayed construction.
Nevertheless, it was enough for a modern architecture with a lot of future-oriented aspects such as a multi-storey car park including charging stations for e-cars. With this – and with other structural highlights – the association will show off a bit later in the year.
Because when the qualification groups for the EM 2024 in Germany are drawn in the Frankfurt Festhalle at the end of September, the DFB will be welcoming around 700 international guests to the campus. Then Neuendorf can rave again.
