Clairefontaine Academy Views

General Goods

Le Centre Technique National Fernand Sastre (English: Fernand Sastre National Technical Centre), commonly referred to as INF Clairefontaine ( Institut national du football de Clairefontaine ), INF, or simply Clairefontaine, is the national association football centre that specializes in training French football players. The academy is one of twelve 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 eleven other academies are situated in Castelmaurou, Châteauroux, Liévin, Dijon, Marseille, Ploufragan, Vichy and Reims, Réunion, Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire, and Talence.

Clairefontaine opened in 1988 and is named after Fernand Sastre, the president of the FFF from 1972–1984. The academy is located 50e 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 players including Nicolas Anelka, Louis Saha, William Gallas, and national team top scorer Thierry Henry. The academy is also used to house the national football teams 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.

The best young football players from the Île-de-France region (of which Paris is the capital) stay at Clairefontaine from 13 to 15 for training and development of their technical skills. Most of the players that attend here are often being tracked by established French clubs and go on to have very successful careers. Today, many top local clubs play at the grounds. The academy continues to develop some of France's most promising talents in Hatem Ben Arfa, Vassiriki Abou Diaby and Gabriel Obertan.

In order for a player to be selected to the Clairefontaine academy, he/she must be at least 13 years of age, have French citizenship, and be living and playing within the Île-de-France region, though players living in the departments of Seine-Maritime and Eure can also apply and be selected. Registration for new players at the academy normally begins in October the year before players enroll at the academy when perspective applicants are 12 years of age. Players have until December to register with their club for acceptance into the academy. The first set of trials are carried out by each district within Île-de-France. Each district selects a set number of players who will traveled to Clairefontaine to attend a tryout, which is usually held over a three-day period during the Easter school holidays. After the three days, the academy director and officials will convene to select a maximum of 22 players with three or four of the 22 being goalkeepers.