Gawthorpe training base shortlisted as Euro 2028 venue

Burnley’s Gawthorpe training base has been shortlisted as one of 36 possible practice venues for UEFA Euro 2028.

The competition’s organisers UEFA has unveiled its “official team facilities catalogue”, which invites potential participants to begin planning their tournament setup.

The catalogue includes a wide range of options within and close to host cities to minimise travel times.

After the UK and Ireland were selected as tournament hosts in 2023, an extensive inspection programme was carried out, assessing hotels and training sites across the host countries.

According to UEFA, the process focused on “hotels with strong team experience and elite sports facilities, resulting in a carefully curated selection of high-quality team base camps”.

Burnley’s Gawthorpe Hall training ground features in the Manchester section, alongside Crow Wood Hotel & Spa Resort.

The training grounds of Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers and Manchester City are also shortlisted in the same section, as well as Champneys Mottram Hall and York City’s Community Stadium.

EURO 2028 will be jointly hosted by England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and will run from June 9 to July 9 2028, across eight host cities and nine venues.

The cities are: Birmingham, Cardiff, Dublin, Glasgow, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Newcastle.

The Clarets first acquired the land at Gawthorpe in 1955 under chairman Bob Lord, making it one of the earliest purpose-built club training bases in England.

The facility oversaw a £10.6m rebuild during the Sean Dyche era, opening a modern complex in 2017 to replace the older, outdated facilities.

The approximate 18-acre site houses the men and women’s first teams and the academy sides all under one roof.