As every professional sportsperson knows, if you want to stay on top of your game, your training can’t stop for anything – not even the long, cold months of winter. Even when the official season for competitions or tournaments is over, in order to stay in peak physical condition and prepare for the next season it’s imperative you stay focused and motivated.
Warm Weather Training Camps for Footballers
If you’re a footballer playing at a professional or semi-professional level, heading off to a warm weather training camp in Europe is one way of keeping fit during the UK winter period. With more and more purpose-built, hi-tech sports facilities being developed abroad, these camps are not only a way of maintaining condition, but also serve to allow players to improve skills, with the opportunities to play in ‘friendlies’ with other international teams.
While there are plenty of destinations throughout Europe that offer excellent accommodation and facilities for some warm weather training, how could you resist the opportunity to spend some time working on your skills in such football-oriented places as Italy or Portugal?
Italy
Ge Tur Sports Village, in Lignano Sabbiadoro, is a purpose-built village with excellent sporting facilities and a pretty spectacular location within the surrounds of a pine forest, just a stone’s throw from the beach. Perfect for football training, Ge Tur has several football pitches, a FIFA and UEFA approved grass training pitch, a gymnasium with free weights and machines, and an Olympic sized pool. Lignano Sabbiadoro is easily accessible from Venice, taking just over an hour on an airport transfer.
If you fancy heading to the other end of Italy for some warm weather football team training, the Melia Olbia, overlooking the Gulf of Olbia, in Sardinia, is an excellent choice. The hotel complex is surrounded by picturesque gardens and is home to an extensive sports centre, which includes an Olympic sized pool, gym, health spa, and clay tennis courts. The football training facilities are superb, consisting of a new 3G synthetic pitch and two 8-a-side pitches.
Also in Sardinia’s Costa Smeralda region, the GeoVillage is a multi-purpose sport, wellness, and convention centre, with excellent football (and other discipline) training facilities. The multiple football pitches are equipped with 3G synthetic grass and tower lighthouses for night training, as well as anti-shock rubber mat. There is also a 1000 sqm, fully-equipped gym and luxurious onsite spa. The high quality accommodation at the GeoVillage is part of its appeal, with suites and garden villas available.
Portugal
The Madeira Sports Centre (also known as the Ribeira Brava Sports Centre), in Meia Legua, is a 60,000 square metre sporting facility set within the rugged terrain of the Ribeira Brava Valley, in Portugal. For footballers, this is a dream training destination, with two football pitches (one grass, one synthetic), an indoor synthetic futsal field, stadium and grandstand (seating 2,300), gym, and a wide range of other sporting facilities to add variety to a training regimen. At just 14km from Funchal, the centre is easily accessible to accommodation, recreation and the beaches of Madeira’s south coast.
In the Algarve region of Portugal, the Vila Real St Antonio Sports Centre, in Monte Gordo, offers a relaxing place for a warm weather football training camp. Teams can stay in the popular resort in comfortable hotel or apartment accommodation and travel the short distance to the sports centre to train in the extensive facilities, which include multiple football pitches, a physio room, gym with machines and free weights, tennis courts and swimming pool. The centre is under an hour from the airport and just 30km from the wonderful beaches of Portugal.
North of Lisbon, the well-renowned Rio Maior Sports Centre has received a ‘special recognition’ award from the Olympic committee for its superb sporting facilities. Used as an official training venue for the 2004 European Football Championships, it is also the home of the Portuguese team, so if you want to brush shoulders with the opposition this is the place to do it! Accommodation is just a short walk from the centre, which includes artificial and natural grass pitches, gym, Olympic sized pool, training centre, and a sports hall.
Get to Your Warm Weather Football Training Camp With Shuttle Direct
If you’re heading off with the entire team or on your own for a warm weather football training camp in Europe, Shuttle Direct’s airport transfers can get you and any sporting equipment you are travelling with to your final destination in Italy, Portugal or wherever you choose to go.
You can book your transfer online and one of our friendly drivers will meet you at the airport, so you’ll be able to concentrate on planning your training schedule rather than worrying about your travel arrangements. Shuttle Direct offers a range of private and shared transfers, so whatever your budget, we have a service to suit your needs. We’ve been transporting sportspeople to training camps all over Europe for many years, so we know the best routes and the fastest, most efficient way to get you to your accommodation without any delays.
