INF Clairefontaine

For the women's football centre, see CNFE Clairefontaine. For other uses, see Clairefontaine and INF.

Clairefontaine
Established1988[1]
Location
  • France
Coordinates48°36′52.07″N 1°55′27.55″E / 48.6144639°N 1.9243194°E / 48.6144639; 1.9243194
OwnerFrench Football Federation

The INF Clairefontaine (French: Institut national du football de Clairefontaine), known as INF or simply Clairefontaine, is the national football centre that specialises in training French football players.[2] The INF Clairefontaine is a section of the CNF Clairefontaine. The academy is one of sixteen élite academies located in and around France that are supervised by the French Football Federation (FFF). Only the best players from the Île-de-France région train at the Clairefontaine academy. The twelve other academies are situated in Castelmaurou, Châteauroux, Liévin, Dijon, Marseille, Ploufragan, Vichy and Reims, Réunion, Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire, Guadeloupe and Talence.[3]

Clairefontaine opened in 1988 and is named after Fernand Sastre, the president of the FFF from 1972–1984. The academy is located 50 km southwest of Paris at Clairefontaine-en-Yvelines and is one of the best known football academies in the world. It has a high reputation of producing some of the most gifted French and non-French players including Nicolas Anelka, Louis Saha, William Gallas, Hatem Ben Arfa, Abou Diaby, Medhi Benatia, Blaise Matuidi, Raphaël Guerreiro, Kylian Mbappé, and Thierry Henry. The CNF Clairefontaine is also used to house the national football team of France and the centre drew media spotlight following its usage as a base camp by the France team that won the 1998 FIFA World Cup.[4]

  1. ^ Hayward, Paul (8 December 2000). "The French Connection". Telegraph. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  2. ^ "Mihir Bose: Inside Clairefontaine". BBC. 25 February 2008. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  3. ^ "Football : opération commando à Clairefontaine". Le Monde.fr. Lemonde.fr. 2 May 2013. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  4. ^ Hayward, Paul (14 February 2001). "FA sow seeds of prized crop". Telegraph. Retrieved 15 August 2013.