How the Football Association helped US Soccer build its new home

Britain’s so-called ‘special relationship’ with the US may be under renewed scrutiny, but when it comes to football, it appears to be in good health.

US Soccer’s chief executive hailed the soccer association’s role in establishing a “transformational” new 200-acre national training center outside Atlanta.

JT Batson said governing body officials had been “incredible partners in helping us learn from what works well in England”.

“It definitely factored into our thinking about building a national center, as well as designing what we call the ‘US Way,’ which is our strategy for sports success,” he said.

“Think of it as St George’s Park, but slightly bigger and obviously new,” Batson said, speaking exclusively to BBC Sport from the $228m Arthur M Blank training complex, which opens this week.

The FA’s Staffordshire base opened in 2012 and has been credited with playing a key role in the subsequent revival of England’s men’s and women’s teams.

US Soccer officials visited the site as part of a fact-finding mission while designing their own version, which will host the national team’s pre-World Cup camp. FA officials are said to be happy to share knowledge with their US counterparts, who have also visited the training grounds of Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City.

“There’s a lot to learn around the world, but the United States is different,” Batson added.

“We’re really big both geographically and in terms of people. We think having a home for soccer in America for the first time is going to be really transformative for us.”

Batson also paid tribute to former US Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker, formerly head of the FA’s team at St George’s Park.

Welshman Crocker was responsible for hiring Mauricio Pochettino and Emma Hayes as head coaches of the US men’s and women’s senior national teams, respectively, but left last month to take a similar role at the Saudi Arabian Football Federation.

“Matt and the team have done an incredible job getting us from where we were to where we are now from a strategic standpoint… and it gives us the foundation to be able to move forward… how we support the entire soccer ecosystem in the United States to be successful,” Batson said.