England confirm Euro 2024 base featuring golf course as WAG circus avoided
England will be staying at a luxury 5-star golf resort during Euro 2024, with Gareth Southgate's side among the favourites to win the tournament.
The Golfresort Weimarer Land near Blankenhain will be England's base camp, with UEFA now confirming their "home away from home" will be the town. The resort is 90 minutes away from Leipzig and boasts 94 rooms, two full 18-hole golf courses, a nine-hole course and spa facilities.
There are also two full-size football pitches, a state-of-the-art gym and a wellness centre, making it an ideal base for the Euros. Suites cost around £300-a-night and there are plenty of leisure facilities as well, including snooker, table tennis and table football.
Speaking earlier this month about England's plans for the tournament, Southgate said: "We need that nice contrast of relaxation and areas where we can work. You want to minimise travel where you can but within the FA our staff are really good at picking venues that the players will enjoy and feel comfortable in.
"You want to be somewhere where you can zone out from everything that's going on around you, but somewhere with good facilities." Southgate and his FA bosses are hoping to avoid a repeat of what happened the last time Germany held a major tournament, the 2006 World Cup, when England's WAGs stayed alongside the players in Baden-Baden.
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Captain David Beckham was said to be very keen on having the WAGs stay near the players and manager Sven-Goran Eriksson backed his skipper. "We couldn't go against the captain's wishes and you have to give the coach what the coach wants," former FA chief David Davies told FourFourTwo in 2014.
Suites cost around £300-a-night at the luxury resort (Spa & GolfResort Weimarer Land)"Some managers go the other way and want privacy. Glenn Hoddle had it as a high priority in 1998, as did Fabio Capello in South Africa. It's horses for courses. Some coaches and managers believe in having wives and girlfriends nowhere near the team."
The WAGs regularly made front-page news and defender Rio Ferdinand later admitted the camp became a "bit of a circus". He said in 2008: "We became a bit of a circus, in terms of the whole WAG situation. People were worrying more about what other people were wearing and where they were going, rather than the team."
There are also three different golf courses (Spa & GolfResort Weimarer Land)Southgate is hoping to ensure there is more of a balance this time around, stating: "I wasn't involved in that tournament so I don't know how all that was but we have a great environment with our players. We want their families to be able to go and enjoy the tournament as well.
"We normally welcome them in at various times. It changes the dynamic of the hotel, especially if the kids come in, and those elements are important for the players. Really we want somewhere where we can be a little bit on our own."
The players will be able to relax and recover at the resort's luxury spa and wellness facilities (Spa & GolfResort Weimarer Land)Read more similar news:
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