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Crystal Palace FC have agreed to buy the 27-acre HSBC Sports Ground in Beckenham, South London, in a move that will allow the club to significantly expand their training facilities.
The HSBC grounds, which currently comprise cricket and football pitches as well as a pavilion, border Palace’s academy complex, which is itself across the road from the first team’s training facility.
The land has been owned by the bank and its predecessor Midland for a century but was recently put on the market. It is not known how much Palace will pay to acquire it but its estimated value is between £20m and £40m.
Palace have invested heavily in their training ground and academy complex in the last few years to make the facilities among the best in the country.
The state-of-the-art academy site was finished in 2021 and has allowed the club to achieve Category 1 classification – the highest available – as part of its strategy of developing young talent.
Notable players to have come through the Palace youth system include Wilfried Zaha, Victor Moses and Aaron Wan-Bissaka as well as current left-back Tyrick Mitchell.
The locality is considered among the most fertile ground for recruitment in the world, with south London rivalling the wider Paris and Rio de Janeiro regions as the producer of the biggest volume of professional footballers.
Palace training ground improvements
Following the academy build, Palace invested in expanding their medical and performance facilities and this summer completed further improvements to the training ground.
They included a bigger gym and changing rooms, and a new media and team meeting room.
Commenting on the work and improvements to Selhurst Park, Palace CEO Sharon Lacey said they had “continued to invest in our facilities and support the future growth of the football club”.
Among the options available to Palace once the HSBC Sports Ground acquisition is completed will be extending the academy or moving the first team training centre into the new site.
The grounds are part of a hub of sports facilities in the area, which also includes Kent County Cricket Club’s second pitch – owned by Lloyds banking group until it was sold in 1999.
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