FA’s New National Football Centre Gets Official Healthcare Partner

St. George’s Park, The Football Association’s new National Football Centre has gained a new Official Healthcare Partner in the form of Spire Healthcare, one of the UK’s leading private hospital providers.

With less than a year to go until the opening of the centre at Burton upon Trent, Spire Healthcare’s arrival at St. George’s Park will further add to the growing sense of anticipation amongst the English football community of the centre’s burgeoning status as a hub for the whole game.

Spire will be operating the facilities under its new Perform brand. At its core, Perform at St. George’s Park will provide a sports medicine, treatment and performance centre, with an emphasis on sports science and human performance. The partnership will create the first totally integrated sports medicine centre, supported by an advanced research programme, that is open to sport and the general public.

St. George’s Park will aim to be the very first FIFA F-Marc Medical Centre of Excellence in the UK, joining an exclusive club of only 22 other such leading facilities across the globe.

Within a 30,000 sq ft complex, there will be a state-of-the-art hydrotherapy suite, a physiotherapy and rehabilitation unit, as well as fitness and general health screening and diagnostics.

David Sheepshanks, Chairman of St. George’s Park, said: “The appointment of Spire Healthcare is a seminal moment in the development of St. George’s Park. We have secured a medical partner who shares our aim of creating a comprehensive National Sports Medicine facility that can serve the needs not only of football but the wider sporting community.

“The spheres of Sports Medicine and Sports Science and the study and improvement of Human Performance are very much compatible with that of Coach Education, another key plank of the St. George’s Park Business Plan. We are extremely excited about this new partnership with Spire Healthcare, which provides us with a joint platform of medical and sporting integrity, so important in meeting our combined objectives.”

Neil McCullough, Business Development Director at Spire, says: “We’re incredibly proud to work alongside The Football Association and be partners at St. George’s Park. The Perform at St. George’s Park facility will provide world-class treatment, research and education – this is a very exciting time for sports science and human performance medicine in the UK.”

Ian Beasley, Head of Medical Services at The FA, added: “St. George’s Park is a dream come true to those working in football medicine and science in this country. Gaining FIFA Centre of Excellence status will be a real fillip to our industry.”

Spire Healthcare is the latest in a growing list of commercial partners for St. George’s Park, headed by Lead Partner Umbro. Construction of St George’s Park is already well underway and the centre is on-track to open in the summer of 2012.