Brazilian Soccer Club Considers Alpharetta for Training Facility

UPDATED: A Brazilian soccer club known for developing players is considering Alpharetta for a training facility that would have multiple fields.

"It's Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, a team that was founded in 1926, one of the top teams in the world," said Al Nash of Progress Partners, an initiative of the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce.

The club hasn't returned requests for information.

Nash said the club's forte over the years has been as one of the top soccer clubs in the world at developing players.

The club has a brand something like the Boston Red Sox, but in soccer, especially in South America and around the world, said Nash. Now they want to bring that brand to the United States. They are very knowledgeable about training players and developing players, he said.

"What they've identified is that North Fulton is the centerpiece of youth soccer in the United States," Nash said.

As an example of that, a team in Alpharetta last year won the nationals in its age group.

"So they feel like this is ground zero for youth soccer," Nash said.

They want to build a training facility that's a place where major youth tournaments can be held.

He said this is a great opportunity to help fill local hotels, plus the city getting green space and park space on the private side.

Rick Skirvin, executive director of Georgia State Soccer Association, said a complex as designed would be the first in Georgia that would be large enough to host regional and national soccer championships.

"The number of soccer fields and facilities in North Fulton in relation to the number of players lags far behind the other soccer hotbeds in Cobb and Gwinnett," Skirvin said.

This area is a suited for such a facility first because of the clear need for fields. All the proposed sites being near GA 400 lend themselves well to hosting may types of tournaments, Skirvin said, up to and including national championships. Along with the transportation advantages, there are also a growing number of hotels and motels to house teams visiting.

Georgia Soccer has been working with the club for about a year.

"We were approached about a year ago by representatives of Cruzeiro to get our input on the need for fields and the variety of potential uses. Our role in the recent meetings, was to provide a variety of scenarios on the potential use as well as the need for fields per our viewpoint," Skirvin said.

The chamber helped facilitate meetings with the state and got the city involved.

"We think that they are very interested, if they can work out a site. The problem is finding that site that fits," Nash said. "It takes a bit of land to put in 18 international regulation soccer fields."

The club leaders were in town for about three days last week and are evaluating different sites in North Fulton.

"I think they feel very comfortable with the community and the area," Nash said.

He wouldn't identify any possible sites or confirm sites suggested in a recent Atlanta Business Chronicle story.

By Aug. 31, the end of the soccer year, Georgia Soccer anticipates it will have registered approximately 82,000 youth players and 6,000 adult players in Gerogia. More than 70 percent of them come from 28 counties with about 40 percent of them being female.